Visit the Abbey of the Arts online retreat platform to access your programs:

The Fire of Courage

  

In the Christian church, today is the feast of Pentecost.  It is considered to be the birthday of the church because it celebrates when the Spirit descended upon the disciples and filled them with the fire of courage to go and spread the message of liberation witnessed to them.  Vestments and banners usually are red, filling the church with a sense of the energy that must have rushed into the room that day. It is a joyful feast, bringing the fifty days of the season of Easter to a dynamic close.

I like to imagine that ragtag group, gathered together “in fear,” locked in the upper room.  And there in the midst of their fright and attempts to secure themselves against a world full of unknowns, right in that place of locked doors and barricades, the Spirit is unleashed and they are forever changed.  They breathe in courage, they are freed from the bonds they made for themselves.

This story gives me tremendous hope.  Even in the places of my life I most try to keep walled off from the world, in my fear of death or vulnerability, pain or humiliation, or worse–the fear of not knowing what the worst might be–in that place of constriction and unwillingness to share myself with the world comes grace flooding in.  Grace in the form of fire and rushing wind.  Grace that floods the heart and breaks it wide open. Grace that makes the fears of the world easier to bear, because I have also known profound love, joy, beauty, goodness, freedom, and I can suddenly see that these are the simple gifts I have to offer a world trapped by its own fear.

For me, the spiritual journey is essentially above this movement toward freedom and greater love.  The opposite of love is fear and it takes tremendous courage to allow ourselves to love freely. One of the signs to me of an authentic spiritual practice and encounter with holy presence is whether it leads the one practicing it towards an opening of the heart.

May you be blessed with strength and courage in a world of unknowing and doubt.  May you find the strength to break free of whatever has been keeping you locked securely behind the door.  May you dance out into the world and witness to a life of liberation and beauty. May you become fire.

  

-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbeyof the Arts

You might also enjoy

Holiness of Work ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, Tomorrow Simon and I will be joined by guest musician and Wisdom Council member Jamie Marich for our monthly Contemplative Prayer Service. Our theme this month is the 5th principle of the Monk Manifesto. Here is an excerpt from our Monk in the World self-study retreat.

Read More »

Monk in the World Guest Post: Judith Jessop

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Judith Jessop’s reflection on solitude and community. A sabbatical is a precious gift. In my tradition it arrives like clockwork every 7

Read More »

5 Responses

  1. What a beautiful post! It triggered some great memories of the night the HS descended on my life. If I remember right, I was a smoldering ember for awhile before I finally figured out what had happened…but then the fire caught hold!