Do not speak and speak with haughty words,
let not arrogance come from your mouth…
the bow of the mighty is broken
but the feeble have girded themselves with strength.
– Hannah’s Song, mother of Samuel, 1 Samuel 2
From Therese of Lisieux
One evening, after Compline, I looked in vain for my lamp on the shelves where they are kept. As it was the Lent Silence, I couldn’t ask for it. I thought – rightly – that a sister had taken it in mistake for hers. So, because of this mistake, I had to spend a whole hour in darkness and it was an evening when I’d planned to do a lot of work. But for the interior light of grace I should certainly have been very sorry for myself. As it was, instead of feeling upset, I rejoiced and thought that true poverty meant being without essentials, not only pleasant things. And in the darkness of my cell my soul was flooded with divine light. – The Autobiography… p94
Dallas Willard: Secrecy rightly practiced enables us to place our public relations department entirely in the hands of God, who lit our candles so we could be the light of the world, not so we could hid under a bushel (Mt. 5:14-16). We allow him to decide when our deeds will be known and when our light will be noticed. – Spirit of the Disciplines, p173
Keep the steam bath door shut.
