This week we've spent most of our time in class. It's been an interesting transition for me to sit and listen as I am usually teaching! The bulk of the lectures and our discussion centered on what it is to be a spiritual leader. This weekend we will be going to Cliffview Retreat Center and then to Gethsemane Abbey for a weekend of reflection, prayer and meditation. After a very full two weeks of writing, reading, traveling and studying, I am ready for the silence.
Today we watched a tape of a May 15, chapel service where Dr. Robert Mulholland, professor of New Testament, preached. He said our union with Christ is a mystical union. He used "I am the vine you are branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart form me you can do nothing" (John 15:5) as his text.
No work can be done apart from God. God must dwell at the heart and
center of our being. Unless we are fully
conformed to the image of Christ we are living a false life. He challenged his listeners to nurture a deep inner life so “that Christ may dwell in you richly.” God has already revealed himself to
us…we need to abandon ourselves to God.
That's what this weekend is about... abandoning ourselves to God and God's good pleasure. I'm looking forward to my time away in retreat. I can't wait to let the silence bathe my thirsty spirit in divine love.
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