Two Worlds, One Love

Fascinating, traipsing back into the temporal world, blending in, living in Christ in the Order of the Present Moment.  This evening, re-read Pope Paul VI's selection from an address, reprinted in the Breviary Office of Readings for the Feast of the Holy Family.

He writes of learning about Christ's life in Nazareth, and that Nazareth in its own way, is a school for us, too.  Then we might learn to imitate Jesus from what He learned and how He lived. 

"Here we can learn to realize who Christ really is.  And here we can sense and take account of the conditions and circumstances that surrounded and affected His life on earth: the places, the tenor of the times, the culture, the language, religious customs, in brief everything which Jesus used to make Himself known to the world  Here everything speaks to us, everything has meaning. Here we can learn the importance of spiritual discipline for all who wish to follow Christ and to live by the teachings of the Gospel."

The responsory with this selection, from 2 Cor 13:11, Eph 5:0, and Col 3:23, motivates the desires for God.   

"Have a rejoicing heart, try to grow holy, help one another, keep united, live in peace. Sing and make music to the Lord in your hearts. What ever you do, put your whole self into it, as if for the Lord and not for men. Sing and make music to the Lord in your hearts."

The errands, the gifting, the shopping necessary for supplies, the returns, the mailing and delivering--charity in its own way, and how requisite to offer all, even the most tedious and tiring, for Christ, for some aspect of prayer in Him, for others.

Perhaps this is the greatest gift this Christmas: the realization of joy especially when doing that which I'd prefer not, but doing what others who do not understand the joy of the Nine S', love to do. And how precious to sacrifice, and to do so joyfully and then learning to love the aspects of that which perhaps to a degree, I used to disdain.  It is all life, this is our culture, our language, our customs, and I am in the world.

Humbling, yes, to be in the world when I could remain out of it for the most part, physically.  The pain is a good reason, and the inner vocation.  But now the call is the Order of the Present Moment, to live the Gospel Rule, to remain in Christ's love, and to love others as He loves me. 

This, too, is the cross, depending upon the inner motives, and the distractions are meaningful when they are considered to be the nails.  Remaining in Christ's love humbles and also expands the view.