"Contemplating is receiving." (St. John of the Cross) What we receive in prayer is the Spirit, who makes all creation new, moment by moment. It is the Spirit who rebirths us within the caves of our hearts. The case is a metaphor for this silent withdrawal, this going away to be alone, to listen, to gestate the Spirit, to rebirth ourselves. The reborn self is the child of wisdom born in solitude.
A mystic is a person who is deeply aware of the powerful presence of the divine Spirit; someone who seeks, above all, the knowledge and love of God, and who experiences to an extraordinary degree the profoundly personal encounter with the energy of divine life. Mystics often perceive the presence of God throughout the world of nature and in all that is alive, leading to a transfiguration of the ordinary all around them. However, the touch of God is most strongly felt deep within their own hearts.
Fifty years of marriage is the essence of a journey that spans uphills and downhills, goals achieved; unexpected joys, and times of failure, disappointments, and offenses that sought forgiveness. The thirteenth chapter of Corinthians is a discipline and a constant for the days and years. Love is not arrogant or rude, love glories not in one-upman-ship or being right, love suffers and is kind, love hangs in there. And ultimately this delicate, gentle but tough bond supersedes all else and becomes the one imperishable gift we can have if we are humble enough to receive it.
~ Ross Cameron in DEEP IN THE FAMILIAR by J. C. Borton
I had found a kind of serenity, a new maturity. I didn't feel better or stronger than anyone else but it seemed no longer important whether everyone loved me or not--more important now was for me to love them. Feeling that way turns your whole life around; living becomes the act of giving.
Alone with God, we feel no need to perform, to do. The pressure is off. That good, refreshing feeling is nothing less than an experience of God's accepting love. It is the healing power of an eternal passion that is consummated in the reunion of creature and Creator. God is delighted by our act of will in which we love and place ourselves in the Presence. That divine delight is the lover who draws each of us back and forth between twin poles, the loving opportunities of solitude and solidarity.
"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard?"
Blessings of the new year, dear companions on the journey. Just as the daily renewal of sunlight sustains the earth, so our inner soul-light nourishes and guides our lives.
"You are the light of the world."
Astonishing! In stillness and silence may you recognize the light you are and the Light you bear. May you more consciously radiate your heart-light out to the world and shine, wherever you may be.
... the visible quality of the divinity, of the energies of grace in which God is made known ... This light is a light which fills at the same time both intellect and senses, revealing itself to the whole individual, and not only to one faculty. The divine light, being given in mystical experience, surpasses at the same time both sense and intellect
May the Light that lighteneth Everyone come into this world, pierce the darkness of the age, so that the tree of life may survive and bring forth new shoots!
