Sunday, March 1, 2009

Personal?

We like to make a distinction between our private and public lives and say, "Whatever I do in my private life is nobody else's business." But anyone trying to live a spiritual life will soon discover that the most personal is the most universal, the most hidden is the most public and the most solitary is the most communal. What we live in the most intimate places of our beings is not just for us but for all people. Our inner lives are lives for others. Our inmost thoughts and feelings make our "light" shine.

Jesus says, "No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on a lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house" (Matt. 5:14-15). The most inner light is a light for the world. Let's not have "double lives"; let us allow what we live in private to shine in public.

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