Holiness and Simplicity go hand in hand

We forget that sometimes. Often.

I like to stop by Leo Wong’s place every day, because he has some wonderfully complex graphics that are helpful for centering – to slow the breathing and shut out distractions – to prepare the mind for prayer, or even sometimes to simply fall into that interior quietening which is perfect contemplation.

You never know what you’ll find when you pop in there. Sometimes, you’ll find excerpts from George Bernard Shaw’s play, Saint Joan, or you might peek in and find and utterly delightful pun that touches on the human experience of temptation. You might find a draft of a talk he is planning to give about Time, Talent and Treasure (or, what some of my friends call “tithing”).

And sometimes, because holiness and simplicity are soul mates who share the great kiss, you find a little gem which combines both, like this reflection on The Lord’s Prayer. Disarmingly simple. Probably holy. :-)

I like Leo Wong. I have no idea who he is, and his profile doesn’t really tell me, but I think I understand him. I stumbled into him from a Catholic site – I couldn’t tell you which – and his quiet, powerful site draws me to it everyday.

And…if find that you’ve a liking for simplicity and quiet, you might want to stop in and visit the photodiary of a Trappist Monk who shares photos of quiet places to mull things over and the odd comforting things that layabout in our lives and connect us to our past, even the unknown past.

It’s a Friday in Lent. For Catholics, that means no meat, some extra time spent in prayer – some of us might pop into church, find a pew and sit quietly, pray, browse through the bulletin and read a fellow parishioner who has written something we, strangely enough, need to hear at that moment. Perhaps tonight some of us will attend the Stations of the Cross in some small obscure parish. If it’s a lucky parish it will include Benediction…what a lovely way to end the week.