‘In perfect contemplation we don’t do anything ourselves. Neither do we labour, nor do we bargain, nor is anything else necessary – because everything else is an impediment and hindrance – than to say fiat voluntas tua:
Your will Lord be done in me in every way and manner that you, my Lord want.
If you want it to be done with trials, strengthen me and let them come;
If with persecutions, illnesses, dishonours and lack of life’s necessities, here I am;
I will not turn away, my Father, nor is it right that I turn my back on you.
Since your Son gave you, this will of mine in the name of all, there’s no reason for any lack on my part.
But grant me the favour of Your Kingdom that I may do your will, since He asked for this kingdom for me,
And use me as you would your own possession, in conformity with your will.’
Amen
St. Teresa of Avila Way of Perfection 33:10
THE LEDGE OF LIGHT
I climbed up out of a narrow darkness
On to a ledge of light.
I am of God; I was not made for night.
Here there is room to lift my arms and sing.
Oh God is vast! With Him all space can come
To hole or corner or cubiculum.
Though once I prayed, “O closed hand holding me…”
I know love, not a vice. I see aright,
Set free in morning on this ledge of light.
Yet not all truth I see. Since I am not
Yet one of God’s partakers,
I visualise Him now: a thousand acres.
God is a thousand acres to me now
Of high sweet- smelling April and the flow
Of windy light across a wide plateau.
Ah, but when love grows unitive, I know
Joy will up soar, my heart sing, far more free,
Having come home to find God’s infinity.
Jessica Powers
Quotations submitted by Gillian Coxhead
