Prayer of Endurance

 

Prayer in such a place; imagine !

It is summertime in Seattle, and yesterday was very hot, by our standards. Occasionally we hit 90 or above, fahrenheit, but usually the air flow shifts and ocean air flows in with its characteristic cool temperatures and normal moisture content. I remember years when I had to walk through snow that had accumulated to my hips, and it was treacherous going. Getting on or off a bus was a challenge; the snow had piled up, the bus is abnormally far away from the curb and you had to struggle to get on the bus. It doesn't generally stick around for long, and the snow pack in the mountains is prodigious, making for merry hearts for skiiers. This year might be one of those years when the skiirers are ecstatic and everyone else either hunkers down at or sets in for a siege against the snow and ice until the weather changes and the ice and snow are melted by warmer air

You might think that it ought not to matter to a hermit or a monk, but winter can be a challenge. Some ot the old eremitical orders had wood stoves and piles of wood for heating the cell. Whether it is cold or hot, weather is undeniable. A wool habit is fine for winter, but innappropriate for summer. If the abbot decides it is too hot to work and wear the habit at a certain point, he can call for removing part of the habit to relieve the struggle in the heat.

Father Lewis of the Kentuckey Trappists related such occaisions as being noteworthy. Very little things can become significant in a monk's life or the life of a hermit. Whlle penance is beneficial in a spiritual life, after a certain point, it becomes more than intrusive, and tends to be a distraction; hence removing part of the habit to relieve the heat becomes a moment of grace.

enduring the attitude of the political climate in the world becomes a spiritual matter when I intrudes in our attitude to God and fellow human beings. 

There are millions in the world, after all, who endure exactly the same heat or worse in Saia Europe, from time to time, and one might questions what happens to the merit collected in enduring the unendurable. There are people in the world who live without food or water, and no one recognizes their merit for enduring to the bitter end; people die of thirst and hunger, and their brothers in the world think nothing about it as they trudge through the shimmering desert trying to reach water and food. Women and children are caught up in the fury of the weather with no escape, and life goes on.

Prayer is like the fragrance of a rose. It is there for a moment, then fades from sight, and the monk or hermit who markes its passage is carried on the wind of its passing. One might remember such occasions for a long time. A person enduting many such days reaches a point when the question arises, how long, O Lord?