I started reading "Seven Sacred Pauses" by Macrina Wiederkehr this past week. Its subtitle is "Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day." I've been pleasantly surprised by it.
From what I gather, Macrina lives the monastic life, but her writing is such that it makes the Benedictine concepts of pausing for prayer seven times a day very accessible to the average working person. She explains the tradition of praying at each of the times: in the middle of the night, at daybreak, at mid-morning, at noon, in the mid-afternoon, in the evening and at bedtime and highlights the themes from each of the "hours." She also includes prayer suggestions and thoughts to meditate on.
What I love most about this book is that her idea of pausing in the midst of work - to remember who I am; to remember Whose I am - instills a real sense of sacredness and dignity to my everyday comings and goings. The practice of pausing, if even for a moment, has a way of bringing me back to being and it reminds me of God's accompaniment with me throughout the day.
My favourite quote from the book so far is this. I'll leave it with you to ponder:
"Work is love made visible"
- Khalil Gibran (quoted by Macrina Wiederkehr)
No comments:
Post a Comment