Leighton Ford rhetorically asks in Chapter 8 of The Attentive Life if we wake up in the world with a “holy longing” for the Kingdom of God that is “already” and “not yet”. Ronald Rollheiser writes of this “holy longing” in his book The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality: “Sensing that we are […]
In Chapter 8 (Lighting the Lamps: The House with Golden Windows”) of The Attentive Life, Leighton Ford covers the hour of Vespers. The counterpart to Lauds, Vespers “celebrates the lighting of lamps as the evening descends.” David Steindl-Rast offers additional insights on the meaning and application of Vespers: “Vespers is the hour that invites peace […]
At the end of Chapter 7 of The Attentive Life, Leighton Ford tells a story from the life of Jerry Sittser (A Grace Disguised), who lost his wife, 1 daughter, and mother instantly when the car in which the 3 were traveling was hit head on at 85 miles per hour by a drunk driver. […]
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone: but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” -John 12: 24 (RSV) In Chapter 7 of The Attentive Life, Leighton Ford cites author Ronald Rollheiser, who devotes a chapter in his book The Holy Longing […]
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.”- Jeremiah 31: 33 “Man has places in his heart which do not yet exist, and into them enters suffering in order that they might have existence.”- Leonard Blum Leighton Ford notes in Chapter 7 of The Attentive Life that early church […]
In Chapter 7 (“When Shadows Come: Darkness Comes Early”) of The Attentive Life, author Leighton Ford discusses the hour of None (rhymes with “lone”). which marks mid-to-late afternoon- when the sun begins to set and shadows lengthen. None is the time we realize that things don’t last forever, yet we pay more attention to things […]
“We must be still and still moving.”- T. S. Eliot Leighton Ford takes an interlude (“Holy Stillness”) from his discussion of “the hours” in The Attentive Life to focus on Psalm 46: 10- “Be still and know that I am God.” He cites novelist Susan Howatch, who writes novels about clergy in which she talks […]
Leighton Ford continues his description of the 4 veils of spiritual disarray in Chapter 6 of The Attentive Life. 3. Anxiety– on a personal note, the author states that he often has awakened in the morning with overnight messages from his inner voice worrying him. While these morning messages may be welcome solutions to problems […]
There is a huge difference between illuminating distractions (divine interruptions) and distractibility. So often we become tangled in veils of inattention, apathy, and fatigue that blind us to God’s “witnessing presence”- the veils of spiritual disarray. Leighton Ford continues Chapter 6 of The Attentive Life by describing 4 such veils. The first two are covered […]
In Chapter 6 (“The Noonday Demon: Our Distractible Selves”) of The Attentive Life, author Leighton Ford describes Sext, high noon in the course of hours. David Steindl-Rast explains that Sext is “the hour of fervor and commitment, but it is also the hour of temptation to laziness and despair: the hour of the noonday devil […]
“The heart has reasons that reason knows nothing of.”-Blaise Pascal As Leighton Ford concludes his discussion of Mary and Martha at the end of Chapter 5 of The Attentive Life, he asserts that “hurry is the great enemy of the life of the spirit.” When Jesus tells Martha that only one thing is needful, He is […]
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset (distracted) about many things, but only one thing is needed.”- Luke 10: 41 (NIV) In Chapter 5 of The Attentive Life, Leighton Ford discusses Luke’s account of Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha (Luke 10: 38-42). The author specifically notes Jesus’ choice of […]