I finished a seven part series yesterday on the prophetic message of the Old Testament Book of Malachi with the RiverLife Church from Singapore. This conference took place in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. I presented this verse-by-verse study on Malachi around the prophetic theme of being recaptured by God. I experienced my own recapturing moment in the midst of these wonderfully passionate and humble Christians. I am reminded of the following prayer of Thomas Merton. I echo the sentiments in this prayer:"Give me the strength that waits upon You in silence and peace.
Give me humility in which alone is rest,
and deliver me from pride which is the heaviest of burdens.
And possess my whole heart and soul with the simplicity of love.
Occupy my whole life with the one thought and the one desire of love,
that I may love not for the sake of merit,
not for the sake of perfection,
not for the sake of virtue,
not for the sake of sanctity,
but for You alone.
For there is only one thing that can satisfy love and reward it,
and that is You alone."
Thomas Merton. New Seeds of Contemplation. New York: New Directions Press, 1961: 45.
I will leave Singapore tomorrow on my way to Rome to lead a studies abroad trip on the Leadership of the Apostle Paul and Francis of Assisi.
