Historical Setting, 610 C.E. the old road from Besançon to Luxeuil
It’s true. I did have a silent prayer in my thoughts just now, it is gratitude. “So, Gabe, do you miss hearing all the prayers spoken aloud as they do at Luxeuil?”
“No Papa. At Luxeuil I keep my prayers silent too. I miss talking with you and Momma and everyone at home where we can listen to God, invisible, and no one thinks we are pretending to be a saint or a bishop or a prophet.”
“So you worry you will be mistaken for a saint if you pray aloud?”
“Novices live two to a cell, and I told you, how I worried with my cell-mate over the meaning of the ‘fear of God’. You assured me God is not ferocious and when I want to know about God, I should just ask God. God glints her beauty differently in different situations, making Godself known in a variety of ways and maybe comes to each person differently. So, I learned, too late, to keep peace with my cell-mate, that people meet God always only knowing a small facet which may be different from one person to the next. He called me disrespectful of God and reported me to our teacher. My teacher, Father Eustasius, called me before him and asked if I was spreading heresy. I touched the sign of the cross and said, ‘Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I never speak a heresy.’ He asked me if it was true that I heard God speaking, and then I was telling others what I thought God was saying. I said, I surely hadn’t meant to be speaking for God. I was just telling my cell-mate that I had a bright moment, an ‘ah-ha’ when God answered my prayer of doubt.”
“What did your teacher say?”
“He said not to talk to that fellow about this anymore. And then he asked me what language does God speak?”
“What did you say?”
“I said I don’t hear God speaking with words, in any way that I could even call language. Then he asked me how I know it is God who is speaking. And I wanted to turn the question back to him and ask how he knows God’s voice. But that seemed personal and disrespectful of his position. So, I told him the exact thing that I told my cell-mate, that thing that riled the fellow who said I spoke heresy.”
(Continues, Tuesday, December 19)
Lazarus Ink 