Lent’s Invitation to Desolation & Consolation

Walking with St. Ignatius and his Spiritual Exercises has me wanting to be more aware of the consolations of God (those times of nearness and contact with Spirit and Grace) in my daily living.

As a “1” on the Enneagram (and a not so resourceful 1, at that), I have no problems seeing the desolations (the points of departure and distance from God) in a day.

I knew it from my days in the Emmaus movement of the United Methodist Church and reunion groups therein: that the more you were asked “what was your closest moment to Christ?,” the more readily you saw them in a week.  Must be one of those muscles you have to work…  or you risk losing.  And so, I am re-working old muscles – looking for “close moments” or “consolations” throughout my days.

Enter Andrew McCormick, a student in one of my online spiritual formation courses.  In an assignment to further introduce himself to peers, he shared a video from one of his “sacred-music-composer-idols, Heather Sorenson.” 

 “Not One Falls” premiered at “A Leap of Faith Concert” benefiting The Grace Center Texas on February 29, 2020 at Lovers Lane United Methodist in Dallas Texas.

Taking time to view it (really view it)…
and claiming space to let it soak in —
at a point when I was otherwise
about a frantic rush through my “to do list” –

was and remains a clear and obvious consolation
for which I am truly grateful.

I pray it is the same for you –
even as I pray that you, too,
are being ushered into a fuller awareness
of the consolations of the Divine in your life
and the ways that “Earth is crammed with Heaven.”

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