"Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy. Sabbath time is set apart for
remembering the holiness of life. If we speed up and saturate ourselves
with accomplishment and worry, we may defile what is sacred with our mindlessness.
Time is the key. Time, and attention. If we grab a sandwich as we run out
of the door, this is eating. If we take a small crust of bread and a sip
of wine, in a mindful gathering of other beings, this is a sacrament. It
is neither the food nor the eating but the time and the
mindfulness that reveal what is holy." Wayne Muller, Sabbath, PP.195-196.
Today is the anniversary of my baptism, an event I am inclined to call the most significant in my life. Its significance is the more fully perceived as I understand, little by little, more and more, what it means to be baptized into the Lord Jesus, to be a son of God not only in name but in inner transformation, to be an heir destined to glory, to be dead to sin in spite of the struggles and alive to God ( ). Pennington, Basil. (1978). O Holy Mountain! Journal of a Retreat on Mount Athos. P.188.
I once spoke to my friend, an old squirrel, about the Sacraments he got so excited and ran into a hollow in his tree and came back holding some acorns, an owl feather, and a ribbon he had found. And I just smiled and said, Yes, dear, you understand: everything imparts His grace. St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), quoted in: Ladinsky Daniel (2002). Love Poems from God. Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West. P.53.
Last updated: 2008/10/29