The mysticism of the soul

Isn’t it our greatest wish that God not be some faraway abstract entity, but somehow like us? writes Heather King.

I think she is on to something here. Perhaps a faraway abstract entity satisfies us when things are going well, and we are operating on cruise control. But when life needs direction, we’d like our deity to be near, very near, to us.

Mysticism is all about that understanding, that knowledge, that awareness that God is somehow like us, near us, available to us. It is journeying into the light without having to see the light at all times. It is taking the hand of God without needing to see the signs of God.  It is struggling without losing heart, fearing without terror of the future, grieving without despairing, because we know our deity is within the chapel of our own soul.

Headache, heartache, anxiety; God knows them all in Jesus. Loneliness, fear, terror, we see it in the Gospel stories. Our God is someone we can identify with, someone who can understand our struggle, who knows our pain and suffering.

Do not let your hearts be troubled, Jesus says in John 14:1. Jesus would not have us stay in our fear and anxiety of heart. He would have us remember his own life, his own struggles, and realize that God is very much like us. He is indeed, not some faraway abstract entity. He is very near to us.

Gazing Toward the Divine

Work done by Sr. Mary Grace Thul,OP

Bede Jarrett writes To contemplate is perfectly simple; it is to gaze... The truth of that statement can only be realized with time and patience. For we will not immediately see the Divine when we look. We must take the hunter's stance and watch and wait. We must re-tune our senses to the spiritual world, and learn to see the light in the darkness. We must hear the whispers of God that only come from sustained silence. When we have done this, we have not yet contemplated.

For that, we must accept that God comes to us through the silence. He comes when the prayers we've said seemed unanswered. When the answers we've accepted fail to sustain. When what seemed solid begins to fail, and what seems straight becomes crooked. Then, when our world has been turned upside down, and we continue to believe, then we pierce the veil that shields the Divine from our soul. Then, we touch the untouchable with a sensitivity only given to the patient.

Jarrett says Gradually I find that there are inner meanings to all these sanctities of God, which come to those who patiently await the unfolding of the seed of the kingdom (Classic Catholic Meditations).

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, Good things come to those who wait.

Reading the Psalms

If you are ever in need of inspiration, open up the book of psalms and start reading. In there you will find  a whole array of human emotions, from joy to anger, hope to despair, gratitude to questioning God and his ways.

I'd like to share what I read this morning from psalm 91: You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, Say to the Lord, "My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust."

I love the image of abiding in the shadow of the Almighty. It implies being so close to God that you are never farther away than a shadow can throw, and you are there "abiding" meaning, that's your regular spot. That image reminds me how as kids we tended to stay close to mom or dad, just because it felt safer. We sensed if they were close, nothing bad could happen to us.

Abiding also implies sensing a presence. For us mortals, that sense has to be a gut sense, an intuition, an awareness of something not seen. Becoming aware of God makes us also aware of the spiritual. And that leads us into a whole new realm of life.

I'd love to know what psalms you opened to this morning, and your thoughts on them.