spirituality cafe.

QUOTE:"Accompany us then on this vigil and you will know what it is to dream! You will then know how marvelous it is to live threatened with resurrection! To dream awake, to keep watch asleep, to live while dying, and to already know oneself resurrected." (Julia Esquivel, Threatened with Resurrection: Prayers & Poems from an Exiled Guatemalan; Brethren Press)

SAINTS: "We are brothers and sisters of the saints. They became holy in their way; we must become holy in ours. Otherwise sanctity would be for nothing but a wearisome routine .... They lived before us and did not absolve us from the responsibility of independent thought or of deciding for ourselves what suits us best. ... Every saint is a pattern; but no saint is a pattern of everything." (Abbe Henri de Tourville, in Letters of Direction: Thoughts on the Spiritual Life; Morehouse Publishing, 2001)

INVISIBLE GRACE.

"And if we find this grace through our labor, with our fingers finding the loose thread in the garment, our ears late at night hearing the cries no one else hears, catching the milk in the pot as it begins to boil, the body bent over rocking, rocking, the pieces of cloth sewn together in patterns, the taste of thyme with rosemary ... the grace of economy, the soup of leftovers ... the grace of the unspoken, spoken in movement, the hand reaches, the blanket is wrapped around, the arms hold this daily mulish grace, without which we do not choose to continue, and if we find this, we have something of our own.

"This is our secret grace, unnamed, invisible, surviving." (Susan Griffin, quoted in The Outrageous Pursuit of Hope by Mary C. Grey; Crossroad, 2000)

To learn more about resources quoted here, visit Spirituality Cafe online: www.uscatholic.org.

IN PRACTICE. In The Blessing of Candles: 58 Simple Mealtime Prayer-Celebrations (St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2000), families can discover the delightful simplicity of adding a couple of candles to meals. Authors Cronin and Rathschmidt offer guidelines that could accompany any kind of candlelit prayer: "Place two candles, symbolic of past and future, on the table." Choice of candleholders can also be important symbols: "homemade holders, wedding gifts, gifts from deceased family members, and holders from other cultures." And "encourage whoever lights the candles to take his or her time. Striking a match can remind all to be and bring light to everyone." Blessing contains simple, scripted prayers that cover nearly 60 occasions, including such summertime standards as graduation, Father's Day, travel, and Pentecost.

POWER. PEACE. PENTECOST. To help celebrate the spirit of Pentecost in June, this classic bit of verse from Ian Price's practical-yet-poetic The Spirit of Life: Five Studies to Bring Us Closer to the Heart of God (Wood Lake Books, 2001):

   Spirit of God that moved of old / Upon the water's darkened face, Come,
   when our faithless hearts are cold / And stir them with an inward grace.

   Thou art power and peace combined, / All highest strength, all purest love,
   The rushing of the mighty wind, / The brooding of the gentle dove.

   Come give us still thy powerful aid, / And urge us on, and keep us thine;
   Nor leave the hearts that once were made / Fit temples for thy grace
   divine.

   Nor let us quench thy sevenfold light; / But still with softest breathings
   stir Our wayward souls, and lead us right, / O Holy Ghost, the comforter.

   -- Cecil Francis Alexander (1818-1895)