Light the match! What is the potential of a wet wick?

You may want to review the last meditation, which discusses the historical figures of Noah, Moses and David, before continuing.  Click here, or page down to refresh your recollection of who Thomas is referring to in paragraph 5:

5. O my God, how much did they endeavor to do to please You!

Alas! What I do is so little in comparison!  I spend so short a time when I prepare myself to receive Holy Communion, being seldom fully reconciled,  and very seldom free from all distraction!

And yet, surely in the life-giving presence of Your Self, no unbecoming thought should occur, nor anything created take up my mind; for it is not an angel, but the Lord of Angels that I am to entertain within me.

Thomas concentrates his worship, not by clearing his mind, but by focusing his mind on the Lord. As with the last reflection, we should first realize Who we are to receive and then prepare accordingly. Stop looking at who is passing by, quit chasing the fly around or fiddling with your change in your pocket.  Get busy focusing!

6. An yet there is a very great difference between the Ark of the Covenant with its relics, and Your most pure Body, with its unspeakable virtues; between those sacrifices of the Law, which were figures of things to come, and the true sacrifice of Your Body, which is the fulfillment of all these ancient sacrifices.

Even though the most revered relics of ancient Israel were precious and worthy of being treated with reverence, there is little comparison with Christs atoning sacrifice on the Cross.  The Ark and The Law prefigured Jesus - His Body in the Host fills up the shadows of the past, even today.

And in knowing all of this, Thomas then asks us:

7. Why then am I not more inflamed, considering Your venerable Presence?



Why do I not prepare myself with greater care to receive Your sacred gifts, seeing that those ancient holy patriarchs and prophets, yes – kings and princes, with the whole people, have shown so great an affection of devotion towards Your divine worship?

The answer, as you will see, is that there is a great deal of fruitfulness in the trying. Sometimes we have to dry out the wick before it can be lit. We are all working toward that holiness of the Angels, the Saint, the Patriarchs.
     One of the reasons I come back to The Imitation of Christ time and again, is that Thomas directs his prayerful thoughts toward his own (and my) inadequacies and continues to reach the same conclusion in 1400 that I do in 2011....that my desire to be more holy and reverent is its own consolation, its own foreshadowing of things to come.  "The kingdom of God is like........"  We can only look at how we want to be, then take steps toward that goal of being that humble servant of Christ.  Light the match!

Thanks for praying with me.

'Til next time, be imitators of Christ!
tim