Thursday, April 19, 2012

Heaven in the Midst

I've been doing a lot of work in the "Basics" page above!  But again, I say it is blessed work, and certainly conducive to prayer.  

I would like to share just a bit from today's treasure hunt.  This is a sample of material you can find in the page entitled "quotes," at the top of this screen.  I want to share this right away, right here in a post ... for as a long-time homemaker and now a very busy grandmother, I certainly identify with what follows...

"We must try to converse with God in little ways while we do our work... we should purely and simply reveal our hearts as the words come to us."  (Brother Lawrence)
 
“I find a heaven in the midst of saucepans and brooms.” (St. Stanislaus Kostka)

"For the humble lay brother (Brother Lawrence), prayer was the consciousness of the continual presence of God.  This realization never left him, whether he was cooking eggs in the kitchen or kneeling in the sanctuary.  In order to be with God, he said, it was not necessary to remain constantly in church; man's heart, too, could be his oratory."  (Walter Nigg, Warriors of God, Alfred A. Knopf)

May our hearts continue to be oratories of prayer...  "oases" of praise to our God in offices, traffic jams, subways, carpools, malls, soccer games, grocery lines.  May we be able to find heaven in the midst of saucepans and brooms.  

("The Figurine" painting by W. Paxton, 1921.  Now in US public domain)