Wherever we have some sign of God’s will, we are obliged to conform to what that sign tells us. We should do so with pure intention, obeying God’s will because it is good in itself as well as good for us.
It takes more than an occasional act of faith to have such pure intention. It takes a whole life of faith, a total consecration to hidden values. It takes sustained moral courage and heroic confidence in the help of divine grace.
But above all it takes the humility and spiritual poverty to travel in darkness and uncertainty, where so often we have no light and see no sign at all.
Thomas Merton, No man is an island
All I ever needed to know
"As far as you are in God, thus far you are in peace, and as far as you are outside God, thus far are you outside peace." Meister Eckhart, The Talks of Instruction.
My Spirit Longs For Thee – John Byrom
My spirit longs for Thee
Within my troubled breast,
Though I unworthy be
Of so divine a Guest.
Of so divine a Guest
Unworthy though I be,
Yet has my heart no rest
Unless it come from Thee.
Unless it come from Thee,
In vain I look around;
In all that I can see
No rest is to be found.
No rest is to be found
But in they blessed love:
O, let my wish be crowned,
And send it from above!
J. Byrom of Manchester, England (1692-1763)
Receive a kingdom
As Easter unfolds, I am on day 4 of a water fast. Not only does the Christian rhythm invite fasting and prayer at this time of year, but the unusual space created by the current (fallacious) narrative of pandemic and resulting national house arrest offers the ideal occasion for a healing fast. What better moment to strip back distractions even further and invite more stillness, more silence, more contemplation, more being?
“A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.” Luke 19:12
Easter asks us to consider the template of resurrection portrayed in perfection by Christ. In extended fasting and prayer I am making my own modest gesture of humility in the face of this great act. I am engaging in deep gratitude for the most radical and potent of all Christian teachings.
"Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit." ” Luke 23:45-46
Within the timeless realm of fasting, prayer and quarantine, where days expand in inactivity, I find myself resting repeatedly in a zone of quiet and thoughtless neutrality. From the lowest registers of this space, small, personal revelations bubble up. These micro revelations are of a type that I can’t yet put into words in a manner that expresses their significance objectively. The closest I can come to articulating the contours of this territory is to say that I am resting somewhere between the truths conveyed in these two biblical passages:
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:29 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her.” Hosea 2:14
From here, the horizon to which I look is most beautifully depicted in the words of Meister Eckhart and Saint Augustine. For those who are paying attention, the wisdom they share is a bold incentive to change, metanoia.
“The true servant of God does not desire to be told or to be given what they would like to hear or see, for their prime and highest wish is to hear what is most pleasing to God” St Augustine
“You should know that the friends of God are never without consolation, for their greatest consolation is what God wills for them, whether it be for their comfort or not.” Meister Eckhart
I wish everyone a fruitful Easter, and I hope that you all experience the joys of a transforming mind, heart and will.
The wisdom of transience
The contemplative life
…is to retain indeed with all one’s mind the love of God and neighbour, but to rest from all exterior action, and cleave only to the desire of the Maker, that the mind may now take no pleasure in doing anything, but having spurned all cares, may be aglow to see the face of its Creator; so that it already knows how to bear with sorrow the burden of the corruptible flesh, and with all its desires to seek to join the hymn-singing choirs of angels, to mingle with the heavenly citizens, and to rejoice at its everlasting incorruption in the sight of God.
St Gregory of Nyssa
A Gift
Who else could have imagined a gift so wide and bold, as emptiness abundant for all from young to old? Each home a sudden cloister into which we are installed - take note, this points unswervingly to whom we are now called. Seize the chance to seek release into the real embrace, of that which fills the depth and breadth and height of every space. Stilled England, 2nd April 2020
I Never Saw A Moor – Emily Dickinson
I never saw a moor, I never saw the sea; Yet know I how the heather looks, And what a wave must be. I never spoke with God, Nor visited in heaven; Yet certain am I of the spot As if the chart were given.
Authority
No preacher No professor No policeman Nor police state No prince No president No prime minister Nor pope No general No journalist No expert Nor idol I know No authority But God. Stilled England, 24th March 2020.
I asked for strength
I asked God for strength that I might achieve. I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health, that I might do greater things. I was given infirmity that I might do better things. I asked for riches, that I might be happy. I was given poverty, that I might be wise. I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life. I was given life, that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that I asked for - but everything I had hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am, among all men, most richly blessed. Prayer of an unknown confederate soldier (1861-3)
Being a walking question mark 