Day Twenty-One – Love Bade Me Welcome

Question: Chapter 44, “Maintaining Our Health and Creativity” has come up many times in these discussions. Why do you think that is?

Br. Kevin Hackett: It’s interesting, because this chapter is one of the few that causes me to “tremble” or at least squirm a little when it comes around, and I know I’m not alone in that. It’s a chapter that I both love, for its steely-eyed, unflinching  frankness, and hate—for its steely-eyed, unflinching frankness! I am thrilled that we included such an eloquent testament to our potential and such a blunt measure by which to assess our progress—or lack thereof! It’s really an invitation to grace, to accept the grace of our creatureliness.  I always hear George Herbert’s  poem, “Love Bade Me Welcome,” singing between the lines of this chapter and the one on Rest and Recreation (45).