Awoke quite early with severe pain--and no wonder with the on-going manual labor recently in the Te Deum Hermitage! Just a few tasks yet to fine-tune the interior, and then I will play "gardener." The trees and perennial flowers, the roses, the vegetables and fruits, and also the weeds have been neglected this summer due to bodily mishaps and all the interior work done in order to have the house finished.
But this Scripture from Ephesians 5 in today's Mass readings rivets my attention as it is so positive and uplifting--as always the Word of the Living God uplifts!
"...be filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks always and for everything
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father."
I particularly love the aspect suggested of "singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts." As a consecrated Catholic hermit whose daily horarium has been heavy on the manual labor and thoughts necessarily needing to be attentive to tasks at hand in order to ready the property for closure and the transition to where I know not--it is good to be reminded that within our hearts we are able to sing and play (music or whatever love-musings and actions) to Jesus.
Even in the night when using some laptop program to distract with the sound of accented voices (somehow British or other foreign or even a regional accent or drawl helps lull my pained body to sleep), I can utilize the voices as a form of music and turn all with intention of my heart, as singing and playing to the Lord. It may seem pathetic, that--but praise be to God that it works when I yet cannot take anti-inflammatory medications as have not been cleared yet with the head injury and brain bleeds.
Increasingly I am reminded that intention is so crucial in our approach to all matters temporal, and thus spiritual. We can use hone our hearts and minds and bodies to creating all aspects in our daily lives to become, in effect, spiritual songs. I have slipped in this aspect of inner singing and playing simply due to the intensity of trying to finish the manual labor here with a deadline set not so much by myself but by finances and others now engaged in this final phase with the old farmhouse hermitage.
As to addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs--I have not done so recently and not so much directly in the past, either. It is a lovely suggestion--perhaps more an abjuration! We can say to friends, "Blessings to you" or "Much love to you" or "God love you" (as my spiritual father usually says when a phone conversation is at end or his letter concludes. How about "The Lord be with you" or "God bless!"?
Depending upon our location amidst people in "the world", our greetings may vary or be attenuated by how well we know the other or in what way they may be comfortable or not with our greetings. Yet it does not take long or much to develop a way with others that allows them to accept our good intentions and our own way of being--spiritual being, and indeed, filled with the Spirit. We can assess the persons and situations in the present moments, and by the power of the Holy Spirit can be guided as to loving praise and joyous remarks.
While I currently live in an area that is mostly quite secular, others detect in me rather easily, the spiritual. I do not mention that I am a consecrated Catholic hermit as I try to live the Church's guidelines for her hermits to be "hidden from the eyes of men." However I do not hesitate to reflect in action and word that I am a child of God--in subtleties merging into more overt depending upon the situation and person with whom I'm interacting.
The Holy Spirit most often speaks for us even if we think we are the ones thinking and speaking. Although I've been woefully too busy and distracted with manual labor and attention to details of temporal transactions--the Holy Spirit yet guides and reigns over my mind, heart, and spirit. The love of God we have within and our living within His Real Presence, filled with His Body and Blood, greets others in our thoughts as well as others we meet in person. The message and effect are there even if we speak not a word.
And our angels are with us even when we neglect thinking of them or thanking them--as I have been neglectful in this, as well. The other day when the two teens were here helping spread more gravel and then trying to tidy up the pole barn, I was sweeping rat droppings and other debris and noticed a lovely white feather fringed with rust-color--and thought it might be a hawk's feather--a red hawk. But only this morning did I remember the old saying that angels leave reminders of their presence through a bird's feather. Even if not an actuality--although could be, who are we to say?--the linkage of a feather as a reminder of our guardian angel's presence is lovely and of value.
Just as St. Paul's reminder in Ephesians is lovely and of value and so very, very true....
"...be filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks always and for everything
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father."
(And yes, giving thanks always and for everything--which means even that which we think not what we needed or wanted, that which causes us pain and inconvenience and distress.)
God bless His Real Presence in us!
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