{"id":21002,"date":"2010-08-28T13:37:43","date_gmt":"2010-08-28T17:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?p=21002"},"modified":"2017-03-09T22:34:12","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T22:34:12","slug":"return-to-bliss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/08\/28\/return-to-bliss\/","title":{"rendered":"Return to Bliss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Isn\u2019t this a great picture? Flowers in the Utah desert, after a rain.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Even what is hard and barren may be cracked open, to reveal an inner beauty hardly guessed at.<\/p>\n

Bliss.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s revisit a little bliss<\/a>:<\/p>\n

. . . we are His raiment, and whether we consent to it or not, we will eventually be worn out and put away, and He will go on, living in others,<\/a> arrayed in whatever garment they offer. Whether we are thin, fat, old, young, fit or paralyzed<\/a>, or even \u201cborn with half a brain,\u201d<\/a> God suits up within us, and we either let him do his thing, or we hold him back. If we cannot make him a perfect Temple, we have the opportunity, at least, to say \u201cit\u2019s all I have, O Christ, but please use it as you will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, if God is going to suit up with us\u2013and he is\u2013then no wonder Thomas Merton looked at the people at Fourth and Walnut and saw them shining like the sun<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Of course, if we offer to be used, we had better mean it, because as we have seen time and again, when you make that offer, Christ will use you until you are completely and wholly used up, until you are nothing more than cinder. Until you can\u2019t be summer anymore and must burst into splendid autumn.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A little quiet of a Saturday, is not a bad thing.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Isn\u2019t this a great picture? Flowers in the Utah desert, after a rain. Even what is hard and barren may be cracked open, to reveal an inner beauty hardly guessed at. Bliss. Let\u2019s revisit a little bliss: . . . we are His raiment, and whether we consent to it or not, we will eventually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,163,199,209],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs-and-blogging","category-liturgy-of-the-hours","category-patheos","category-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nReturn to Bliss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Isn't this a great picture? Flowers in the Utah desert, after a rain. 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