JOY OF JOYS – 31 dear souls joined me tonight for the first of our monthly Monday Meditations – representing a wide age-range, incidentally. Rachael Elizabeth has posted here; and Tim Moore has described the half hour’s deep peace, in company with one another and with God, as “serene”. Exactly. And joyfully. Serene is the word. Serene is how I’ve always and everywhere thought of God. Serene is the Jesus I’ve pictured headed off up a hillside, or aboard a boat on Galilee, soaking up “the silent music of His praise”. Serene is the lovely bloke who whispered “I’ve waited a long time for this”. Serene are the hearts of those who are not frightened half to death by conciliar talk of the demise of the Church – because they know at some deep level that “Church” is you and me, alive in the presence of God and one another, and our demise on earth is only another gateway into aliveness in the deep peace of eternity, the ultimate home and heart of serenity. Hearts ache and ache for want of the silence that so many in our noisy Church and World maintain they’re frightened of: until they experience it …