At one time religious people agreed that 'secular" things were tainted and less noble than holy" things. They were taught that the world was an evil place compared to the domain of God. And to find God they believed that they must turn their backs on the world.

In this day we are coming to a more affirmative view of the world. After all, each of us is called to love, and what is there to love if not the world? "We take those things which fill our hands," says Edward Hays, "and we transform them with love into ourselves. They will still smell like carburetors, still look and sound like IBM machines, but by our loving-prayerful touch, they can become sacraments of ourselves.

Father Edward M. Hays is director of Shan- tivanam, a contemplative house of prayer in Easton, Kansas sponsored by the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas.