The Mystic Gaze

The Mystic Gaze. Don't you just love that phrase? It hints at the ability to see beyond the veil into things hidden from the normal view.

Every time we search for God, be it within a circumstance, a word, a book, an interior prompting, we are gazing mystically. Every time we attempt to discern God's plan for us, we are practicing it. Every time we sit in silence and think within our heart of God's goodness, mercy and compassion, we are enjoying it.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. You don't have to live in a monastery to live like a monastic. We are all called to that life lived above the noise and frustration of daily circumstances. And living there requires a mystic gaze, a remembrance of God within, and realization that we have here no lasting city, but to stretch forth toward the light that is eternal.

Naming The Divine

Artwork by Sr. Mary Grace Thul, OP

Olivier Clement in The Roots of Christian Mysticism expounds on the many names we give to God. Quoting the Patristic Dionysius the Areopagite's treatise on Divine Names he writes theologians praise the divine Origin for having no name and yet possessing all names...Goodness, Beauty, Wisdom,...Giver of life, Intelligence...Ancient of Days, Eternal Youth, Salvation, Justice, Sanctification, Liberation, as surpassing all grandeur, and manifesting himself to humanity in a gentle breeze. (29)

It is this all encompassing aspect of the Divine that Clement sees surrounding humanity, which we see only when we pierce through the veil that blinds us and look beyond the superficial to the Divine within, be it ourselves or others. That is why God is referred to as Light, because as Clement writes, According to the Fathers, the fall impaired the capacity of creatures to see the divine light, but did not destroy it.

As we can see just from the multiply names applicable to the Divine, the search for the Divine takes us gently but deeply into the essence of what it means to be God. Such a journey opens up the world of the spirit for us, giving us a better perspective on life in the here and now, and allows us to go beyond the tangible to things intangible. This is the journey of the monastic. This is your journey.

Inescapably Determined

As an English major, I love words. So when I saw the words: inescapably determined" I was captivated! The writer referred to attitudes toward family influences, how we believe that where we come from totally influences what we can be. But I can see a broader use for these two words: life itself.

Know of anyone who seems "stuck" in a pattern of depression or self-pity? It can be a thankless job, a loveless marriage or an empty relationship. The individual will act as though there is no solution, as if they are "stuck" and cannot escape. That is where they are wrong.

Life doesn't deal out bad things to good people, people do. And we have the power to accept or reject many such incidents because we have a weapon  given to us by God: our own powerful free will. Our problem comes when we find it easier to complain rather than to change! Because such actions are hard, demanding, threatening to our security, our identity, our circle of life. Yet, if we take the courage needed, we can experience life-altering changes.

Perhaps it is good to keep the psalmists words in our heart: Look to the Lord in his strength: seek to serve him constantly. (105). When life calls for drastic change, when the choice will alter the way we live and the circumstances we live in, we need the Lord and his strength.  I know, because I have had to make such choices. And my only regret is I waited longer than I needed to.

A Tag for your Mirror

We all look in the mirror in the morning, be it to brush teeth, shave, check out the newest grey hair or wrinkle. So, here is a quote that is worthy of your mirror:

Jeremiah: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you.

Such words carry a powerful message. God has plans for us, plans he conceived of even before we were born.  Shouldn't that be a reminder of how God loves us not for what we do but for who we are?

Life takes on a different quality and meaning when we are on a mission. God has a mission for us, one he decided before we came into being. Let us rejoice in that calling, and keep it ever before our face. Like on the bathroom mirror...

Let Freedom Ring!

Celebrating Independence Day is a wonderful occasion, especially when you consider what men and women have done to preserve that independence. Yet, we all need an "Independence Day" for ourselves, a day when we step away from our neediness and begin to realize just how strong we are as persons in faith.

The 13 colonies stepped away from Britain because they felt their God given rights were being violated. But each soul has its own God given privileges, its journey, its purpose particularly its own. From your mother's womb I knew you, says God to Jeremiah. Before you were brought forth, I consecrated you.

What prevents us from enjoying that freedom of soul that finds its joy so deeply embedded in God? Usually our dependencies on material and emotional ties. They don't have to be bad to prevent us from being free. They usually are just our distractions from a serious interior life.

Freedom is part and parcel of being an American. It is also expected through our life with God, as St Augustine says in his Rule, we should be free, in the liberty of Divine Grace.

Memory and me.

Memory. It plays such a critical role in our lives, and in our religion, and in our family. In fact, it would be hard to imagine life at all without its memories.

Yet, like anything else, memories need moderation. We all probably know of someone (perhaps oneself, God forbid!)for whom memory played a bad role, causing that person to live in the past, and forget that the present and future still exist, still hold promise, still need to be made into a memory. That kind of memory is a tomb.

At the last supper, Jesus said, "Do this in memory of me."  But he didn't specify what kind of memory he wanted us to bring to mind each time we do this action. He didn't say, "remember me on the cross," or "think of my sermon on the Mount." He just asked that when we do this action, this supper, that we think of him in a way that brings him to our mind's eye.

Our memories should be likewise. They should make us think of the past without keeping us in the past. For each, it is a matter of sorting out, letting go, moving forward or simply moving on. Only the individual can find a way to keep memory a companion and not a task master. And then, truly, memory becomes enriching and rewarding. For it keeps us always in company with those we never want to lose.

I Love you Lord...

I sat down to meditate today, and could not bring a single thought forward. Ever have a day like that? So, I concluded, this will be a dry day for me.

And then I went to Office of Readings, and the very first line of the very first psalm (118) was, I love you Lord, you are my strength. And with that line, years of spiritual living burst forth, and I remembered.

I remembered how that line took my fancy, and I made it my mantra, repeating it often: in times of joy and despair; in times of faith and doubt; in times of emotions and dryness. That line from the psalm was like my link to God, and it became the first line on my lips when anything happened to me, be it good or bad. And when I saw it this morning, all those many years tumbled before me, and I felt like I'd put my hand in the hand of my best friend, and told him sincerely (because he was now familiar to me and knew how much I'd been through) just how much he meant to me.

The psalms offer us a depth of emotion and honesty not found in our formalized prayers. Take a line, make it your own, and let it build your relationship to the Lord. You will not regret the results