{"id":35619,"date":"2020-07-22T06:56:33","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T10:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/?p=35619"},"modified":"2019-08-02T07:17:15","modified_gmt":"2019-08-02T11:17:15","slug":"st-mary-magdalen-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2020\/07\/st-mary-magdalen-2\/","title":{"rendered":"St Mary Magdalen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mary-Magdalen.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-35620 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mary-Magdalen.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"166\" height=\"227\" \/><\/a>The emphasis in the spiritual life is on our searching for God. It is difficult not to admit this from the abundance of scriptural sources and the the witness of the saints. We know the accent of seeking when St Benedict makes this the key vocation matter in\u00a0his Holy Rule. Sometimes I wonder, however, if it is more of realization that we do\u00a0not find Him, but He has found us. Do we believe that God seeks us? Perhaps it is the experience of both of God seeking us, and we Him. I am thinking of the poem of Francis Thompson, &#8220;The Hound of Heaven.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, St. Gregory the Great describes in terms applicable to anyone seriously engaged in the search for God: \u00a0&#8220;At first she sought but did not find, but when she persevered it happened that she found what she was looking for. When our desires are not satisfied they grow stronger\u2026 Holy desires likewise grow with anticipation\u2026 Anyone who succeeds in attaining the truth has burned with such a love.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Back to St. Benedict. His first idea for his school is that prayer should be central to those who seek God. Like the saints teach us, you can\u2019t find the Lord without spending time with Him, listening to Him, learning from him and praising Him. Mother\u00a0Church gives\u00a0various methods of prayer: in her liturgies like the Sacrifice of the Mass (Divine Liturgy)\u00a0and the Divine Office, in Eucharistic Adoration,\u00a0<em>lectio divina,<\/em> the Holy Rosary, silence, quiet works of charity, and just simply opening your heart and mind to God, giving Him praise and asking for His help and intercession. Then there is obedience to all of the above and to our spiritual director, the way of humility and the experience of community.<\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t find God alone, but with and through others; so with\u00a0St. Mary Magdalen, may we search and find God. May the Magadeln pray for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The emphasis in the spiritual life is on our searching for God. It is difficult not to admit this from the abundance of scriptural sources and the the witness of the saints. We know the accent of seeking when St Benedict makes this the key vocation matter in\u00a0his Holy Rule. Sometimes I wonder, however, if &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2020\/07\/st-mary-magdalen-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">St Mary Magdalen<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2382],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35619"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35621,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35619\/revisions\/35621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}