Wednesday 23 April 2008

I'd like to pick up on directly on what was quoted yesterday - by Thomas Merton.

Our external, superficial self is not eternal, not spiritual . Far from it. This self is doomed to disappear as completely as smoke from a chimney. It is utterly frail and evanescent. Contemplation is precisely the awareness that this "I" is really "not I" and the awakening of the unknown "I" that is beyond observation and reflection and is incapable of commenting upon itself. It cannot even say "I" with the assurance and the impertinence of the other one, for its very nature is to be hidden, unnamed, unidentified in the society where men talk about themselves and about one another. In such a world the true "I" remains both inarticulate and invisible, because it has altogether too much to say - not one word of which is about itself.



But the true "I" is there. That is just the point. As we run around....as we attempt to figure out the meaning of all things so that we can somehow claim to be alive...as we build ourselves up in the hope that we are worth something...as we attempt to master life or own it or rule it, the true "I" is patient and waiting to be greeted. Somewhere in the middle of all we try to do to become someone...we are already someone who is blessed and worthy and beloved without any need to understand why. The "yes" of our God is the first word about us and it is the ground from which are given the opportunity to blossom into who we are without trying to make something of ourselves. Most times, we don't allow ourselves to hear the still, small voice that will feed us for life.



Connection: Sometimes a pause (however it may come within this day) is enough to open up a window to see this gift that we are and to hear how we are blessed to be alive in the midst of this day.



Come, O Spirit, and tap us...awaken us, so that we may recall how deep is the root that goes down into the very essence of your love. For there, we begin to see the "I" that you stand with and love and redeem without hesitation. Amen.