March 15, 2023

At Second Glance- 01

Sr. M. Anrika Dold, Susanna Denkinger; Illustration: Sr. Francine-Marie Cooper

“Let us take every created thing

as a great picture book of God,

As a book of readings about him.”

 

Bicycle

“Every created thing is an incarnate thought of God. Every created thing contains a bit of the goodness of God.”
Father Kentenich held steadfastly to this conviction in every situation of his life.

Madeleine Delbrêl (1904-1964), a French woman who lived out her faith in an atheistic environment once prayed: “The saints of old possessed a kind of spiritual assurance (…) They had fixed times of prayer, practices of penance, and a whole collection of counsels and prohibitions. But you placed us into a time that is in love with its freedom, a little off track; in this epoch your adventure of grace is taking place.”

In the context of this “dizzying imbalance” of our time, Madeleine Delbrêl developed a kind of “bicycle spirituality.” An equilibrium that can only be entered and maintained by moving forward in an energetic manner: “It is like a bicycle that remains upright when it is moving (…) We cannot stay upright unless we keep going, unless we give ourselves into the momentum of love.”

We are unable to stabilize much around us, but we can find our inner balance if we get on the bicycle again

The bicycle of love – toward HIM,

the Redeemer of the world. Our way leads through the night, but we have a companion on our journey: the Blessed Virgin Mary.

BLESSED MOTHER,

Please accompany me on my journey, keep me in balance as I now set off to HIM.

TODAY

I am going to go on a bicycle ride or for a walk in the fresh air today — with you, Blessed Mother.