Practice, Practice, Practice!

“Practice” – how many times as kids were we told how important it was to practice if we wanted to learn something new!  From piano scales to riding a two-wheeler, from driving a car in the church parking lot to secretly learning new dance moves in our bedrooms, we all had to learn that it took a lot of practice to truly master something we cared about.  

We also well remember the tasks or skills we didn’t practice, because we just didn’t care about them!

So now we come to this time of an upside down world, where we are called to practice the holy intangibles of patience, charity, and faith in the unknown as well as the personal challenges of self-control and self-discipline.  Probably the best admonition for this season of both Easter and the pandemic is a line from a poem by Wendell Berry:  “Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.  Practice resurrection.”  How we practice that is a life-long task, I believe, and a challenge, and a goal.  That phrase truly defines the kind of practice demanded by these times.  There’s no time like now – start practicing!

Priscilla Wood, OP

Dubuque, IA