Lectio
“Let us throw ourselves into the ocean of His goodness, where every failing will be canceled and anxiety turned into love.”
— St. Paul of the Cross, Letters
Meditatio
Jesus tells us not to worry. That doing so does not add another hour to our lives. Echoing the Psalms — cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you — Jesus tells us to come to him when we are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and that he will give us rest.
The world has enough problems of its own without us imagining new ones that have not yet happened. The world does not need our help creating trouble. Nor can we ease our troubles or solve the problems of the world merely by worrying.
In Christ, we are called to have faith, to trust, and to believe, even if we cannot see. The Lord does not promise to light the path far ahead, but to be a lamp at our feet and on the path directly in front of us. Grace calls us forward into the light one step at a time.
But the farther we go into the light, the more the Lord proves his faithfulness and the more we find that the love into which we walk was always there, on the horizon and in our hearts, drawing itself to itself. In graced moments of revelation, we are given glimpses into the truth that what at first seemed like a faint flicker is actually a boundless ocean of light, goodness, and love that calls us to let go, to throw ourselves in, and to become the very light that mysteriously draws us both outward and inward at the same time.
Oratio
This cursed mind
this unrelenting why
why can I not let me be?
picking at my scars
reopening old wounds
creating future trouble
where it need not be
why can I not let the ocean
be the ocean
the tree
be the tree
why can I not let God be God
creation be creation
why can I not let me be?
Contemplatio
Where in your life do you see a faint flicker of God’s light that may, in fact, be a boundless ocean of luminosity — waiting for you to dive in by faith?
Related Scripture
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’” — John 8:12 (NRSVCE)
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Waiting for You Who Never Left: On Longing, Absence, and God’s Unceasing Love, which explores the ache of divine absence and the faith that sustains us even when the ocean of God’s love seems far away.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
Leave a Reply