There are things that help me by giving me space so that I have time and inclination to do a clean-up of my spiritual soul.
I usually like to have a nice clean desk when I work. I have always liked this.
Since I was a little girl, I have worked on the assumption that a clean desk means an organised mind. And the cleaner and more organised my desk is the clearer and more efficiently my mind works.
This is not to say that my desk does not become messy. Of course, it does! When I am terribly busy or overwhelmed or just plain tired, I tend to leave things on my desk that I would otherwise pack away quite neatly.
Well, as New Year was approaching a few weeks ago, I decided to give my desk a nice good clean up. This meant that I went through the papers on it and the stationery and sorted out what I actually needed and used and what was simply a nice bonus of keep on my desk. I keep a lot of images and icons of the Saints around my desk (on a shelf) where I work. This is to remind me of the purpose of my work and the reason for my Earthly journey. When a problem overwhelms me, I have only to look up at the images of the Saints surrounding me and I reminded to ask for their intercession. But these too had become quite messy over time. After all, as I tend to collect these during the year it is very easy to just add the new one to the pile without any thought for arranging the images in an appropriate order. And so it was, just before the New Year Celebrations, I decided to clean up not only my desk, but also the shelves surrounding my desk and the images of the Saints.
And I have been reflecting on that clean-up today. You see, the clean up of my desk was really no different from a clean-up of my spiritual life. Just as my desk and shelf becomes messy when I am busy and pre-occupied, so too does my spiritual soul become corrupted when I am busy focusing on other things than my spiritual well-being. It takes all my concentration to maintain the discipline to remain sinless (in a world full of temptation).
And just as it is easier for me to do a nice big clean-up of my desk during the quiet lull between Christmas and New Year celebrations, so too is it easier to clean-up my spiritual soul when I allocate a bit of quiet time to do this.
And I have been thinking about that today because it seems to me that there is a reason that we as Catholics are called to pray at certain times of the day and week. You see, that Sabbath worship on a Sunday (or during the Saturday Vigil Mass), is essential for my spiritual health. The morning and evening prayers. The prayers before meals. The Holy Rosary. The Divine Mercy. The Stations of the Cross. And the myriad of other prayers and acclamations made during the day and week and month and year… These are the things that help me by giving me space so that I have time and inclination to do a clean-up of my spiritual soul. And today, it seems that I should be doing more of this… Much, much more…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.