Lectio:
“Love has so transformed this Soul into itself that she is nothing but Love.”
~Marguerite Porete, The Mirror of Simple Souls
Meditatio:
Our soul’s deepest longing is for union – or rather reunion – with God. But God is just a name for that essence from which our souls originate, by which our souls are sustained, and into which our souls ultimately return. Call it God, Father, Source, or Love, our soul’s ache for reunion with that divine nature, ineffible substance, or infinite consciousness out of which all creation emerges.
This is true whether or not we know it, believe it, or accept it. In fact this longing – a longing that cannot be satisfied by other-than-God – fuels our every desire and drives every decision. We pursue it with every hope, craving, and passion, and in every disappoinment, discouragement, and defeat, we feel our powerlessness to attain it.
Yet, in the rare alchemy of grace and surrender, we may find that there are moments – fleeting, life changing, paradigm shifting moments – when the veil is lifted, our eyes are opened, and the illusion of separation vanishes just long enough that we know. We know it is real, and we know it longs for us too.
These moments of longing fulfilled, if we accept them for what they are, have the power to change everything. They have the power to change us, to give us new hope, new purpose, and new meaning. We want to get back there, and so we try and we try, but God is not found through effort. Divine reunion cannot be forced. It is the slow, sometimes blissful, often painful, process of letting go, giving in, and, if not of saying yes, at least not saying no.
Oratio:
Once I felt your presence
I never wanted to let go
I want to live there
I want to die there
yet I can’t get there
on my own
take me back
take me back
into your love
into your grace
where there is no suffering
nor temptation
no division
nor hate
take me back
where there is no I
nor other
to break
or to cause pain
take me back Lord
take me back
into the beyond all words
from whence I came
Contemplatio:
Where in my life am I being invited to stop striving and simply surrender to the Love that already longs for me?
Related Scripture:
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.” — Psalm 42:1
For Further Reading: If this post resonated, you may also feel consoled to read Do You Hear Me: The Longing For Divine Union Of An Embodied Soul
~Robert Van Valkenburgh, Grappling with Divinity
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