Lectio
“Cherished emptiness gives God space in which to work. We are pure capacity for God.”
— Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB, A Tree Full of Angels
Meditatio
God speaks in the silence. He walks through the empty spaces. His whisper is heard in stillness. And he makes his presence known where there is room for his good work to be felt inside us.
It is not that God stops communicating to us when we are loud, busy, or preoccupied. He never stops gently drawing us into his loving abyss. He never stops calling us deeper into relationship with him. However, when we make time for God, and when we make space for God, we make it easier for us to hear him and to feel his presence.
Our capacity for God is God-shaped and God-sized. Only he can fill that space, and he does. But we choose to ignore or deny our capacity for divinity and the divine presence already within us. In all of our striving, we fail to see the image and likeness of God in which we were formed — and we attempt to fill our capacity for God with all manner of not-God. But this is a vain effort that leaves us restless and discontent until we return our attention to the one who sustains us, who is within us, and who loves us.
And while God is calling us to God even when we are looking, or even running, in another direction, it is easier to hear him and to feel him when we clear away all other distractions — including our own thoughts — in silence and stillness, creating a Sabbath in our hearts, a restful absence of self that allows God to shine forth in his glory.
Oratio
In my nothingness
without you
you are everything
my all in all
you spoke me into being
a thought
a word
a life amidst life
you breathed into me
your spirit
your love
your grace
you sustain me in my emptiness
in my nothingness
without you
Contemplatio
What would it mean for you to create a Sabbath in your heart today — not as an absence, but as an inner room where God, alone, may speak?
Related Scripture
“But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” — Matthew 6:6 (NRSVCE)
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like The Cry From The Cross: God Longs for Us as We Long for God, which explores how our longing for God is itself an echo of God’s infinite longing for us — and how even our emptiness is held within that mutual desire.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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