Encounter

I hope that my prayer life develops into a spirituality of encounter.   Not one of confrontation or of a put down.  I think of the Visitation scene between two pregnant women, in Gospel of Luke 1: 39-56.  One woman is way beyond the normal age for pregnancy and the other with child but not with husband.  The young one does not say to the old one, "Wow, you will be way too old for that kid when it becomes a teenager.  You will look like a grandma!"  The older one does not say to the younger, "Wow, is your life a mess, pregnant out of wedlock."  Rather they welcome and support one another, accepting and celebrating their respective situations.  They respect and listen to one another.  Neither is looking for a "solution."  Being a support to one another in a loving relationship of service is the spirituality of encounter.