This morning and also later, and still yet, I read this selection, written by the 12th c. Cistercian Abbot, Bl. Guerric of Igny. The message seems ideal for this second day of our temporal world's new decade: 2020.
Blessed Guerric of Igny (1080-1157) Cistercian Abbot
"'Prepare a way for the Lord.' Brethren, however far you journey along it... from the very nature of goodness there is no limit to the way along which you travel. And so... the wise and indefatigable traveler... can say to himself each day: 'Now I begin'... And how many 'go astray in the wilderness'.... None of them can yet say: 'Now I begin.'
"For 'the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.' If the beginning of wisdom, then surely it is also the beginning of the way of goodness.... It is this that encourages praise...; it also moves the proud to penance, so that they hear the voice of him crying in the wilderness, ordering the preparation of the way and thus showing how to begin it: 'Do penance for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand'....
"If you are on the way, then fear only one thing: lest you leave it, lest you offend the Lord who leads you along it so that he would abandon you to 'wander in the way of your own heart'.... If you feel that the way is too narrow, look forward to the end to which it leads you.
"If you were to see how everything is to be attained, then you would say without hesitation: 'Broad indeed is your command!' If you cannot see so far, believe Isaiah who could.... 'Behold,' he says, 'the redeemed shall walk by this way, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Sion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain also joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.'
"Those who dwell sufficiently on this end, I think will not only make the way easier for himself but also grow wings so that he no longer walks but flies.... May he who is the track of the runners and the reward of the winners, lead and guide you along it: He, Christ Jesus.'"
Each thought, each expression and line, offers much to gratefully embrace and to be inspired to allow Jesus Christ to always lead and guide us along the narrow path--the "track of the runners and the reward of the winners."
Let us fear the Lord in the beginning of wisdom; let us fear nothing but offending the Lord and wander off in our own ways and wills. Let us walk by the way of the Lord, as His humble, trusting, guileless, loving children.
Today we choose; and each and every day we renew our choice to be for ourselves, or to be for Christ. Choose the way of Christ, the path He has laid out, even if seeming quite narrow. We must not deceive ourselves nor be deceived by others, nor remain in the company of those who knowingly choose to leave the way of righteousness, of Christ's teachings, of truth, beauty, goodness.
God bless His Real Presence in us!
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