The Watch of the Risen King

Greetings, Duffy.

It's 5:42 AM on Friday morning here in Albany as I begin to write.

This is the first time I have written you from the 5-6 AM watch of my horarium. It's the third watch in my day:

1. Watch of the Primordial Word | 12-3 AM
2. Watch of the Empty Tomb | 3-5 AM
3. Watch of the Risen King | 5-6 AM

Generally, I sleep through the first two watches. My normal wake-up time is 5 AM. I prepare my morning herbal tea, rinse my sprouts, take my Vitamin B-12, and sit on my meditation cushion in front of my Jesus sacred heart wall icon until 6 AM or a spiritual quickening drives me to my computer for some writing.

Today I realized that I should start to park those messages on this blog.

After a marathon session two weeks ago, you and I have decided to conference call biweekly through Eastertide, see how that goes, and possibly take up synchronized reading of Saint Aelred's Spiritual Friendship classic over the summer. Our next call is this Monday morning.

Here are three quick thoughts from my Jesus wall icon meditation today that I want to bring up when we talk next week:

1. Confession: poor follow through on the daily Traditional Latin Mass reading
2. Highlight: spiritual fasting webinar with Shantree Kacera from The Living Centre in Canada and related dietary changes plus weekly 36-hour fasting resolution ("Monk Fast")
3. World Federalism, the Church as Bride and the Sacred Feminine Discussion Point: two candidates for the next UN Secretary-General, one man, one woman, and two excellent arguments for each, including from and against the gender equality principle; how this relates to The Seasons of a Man's Life and how a descent into serious mental illness (maybe as part of a call from God) crucified my life dream in 2012; finding the love of my life again - should I think about pursuing a spiritual marriage, not a hermit's life? In what sense could the distinction between the two fall away in the later years and stages of the path? Even if that is true, and the distinction does fall away, what is the point of rushing it?

Today is day 20 of the 40 days to the Ascension and the 50 Days to Pentecost.

Have a blessed weekend. Talk to you soon.

End 6:37 AM.