Lectio
“Contemplation is a gift we have already received. Waking up to it is a good metaphor because one wakes up from sleep to whatever one’s level of consciousness normally is.”
— Thomas Keating, Reflections on the Unknowable
Meditatio
Christ alone was perfectly awakened to the will of God. Christ, alone, was the perpetual and unwavering yes to the Father’s light, love, and grace. Christ, alone, never said no to the cross, never took the selfish path, and never chose the dubious comfort of spiritual lethargy, apathy, or cynicism.
Not so with us. We spend our lives in and out of sleep. We waver between following the quiet pull of grace and the noise of worldly clamor and fleshly desires. We turn back and forth between the light and the darkness, never quite content to simply do God’s will, to abandon ourselves entirely to love, or to disappear into the eternal horizon.
But in Christ we are saved from ourselves. We are delivered from spiritual lethargy, apathy, and cynicism. Through Christ joining himself to us, we are drawn into the light, we are transformed by love, and we are awakened from our slumber. In Christ, his yes becomes our yes, his obedience becomes our obedience, and his cross becomes our own. With Christ we die to the flesh and the ways of the world, and with Christ we are reborn into the Spirit, to do the will of the Father. For he is the way, the truth, and the life — now and forever.
Oratio
Gently you shook me
with the delicate care
of a tender lover
you roused my sleeping heart
whispering in my ear
stirring my longing for you
at first I resisted
desiring the dubious comfort
of the darkness I knew
but once I tasted your light
I could no longer deny
your loving advances
I never want to go back
keep me my love
may I sleep in darkness no more
Contemplatio
Where in your life is God gently rousing you from sleep — and what darkness are you still reluctant to leave behind?
Related Scripture
“So then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:6 (NRSVCE)
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Opening the Heart: Love, Grace, and the Practice of Saying Yes, which explores how Christ’s perfect yes becomes the ground of our own — and how the practice of opening our hearts to the neighbor is the path by which we grow into the love that has already found us.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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