Lectio
“Only in love can I find you, my God. In love the gates of my soul spring open, allowing me to breathe a new air of freedom and forget my own petty self. In love my whole being streams forth out of the rigid confines of narrowness and anxious self-assertion, which make me a prisoner of my own poverty and emptiness. In love all the powers of my soul flow out toward you, wanting never more to return, but to lose themselves completely in you, since by your love you are the inmost center of my heart, closer to me than I am to myself.”
— Karl Rahner, Encounters with Silence
Meditatio
God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the garden. He wrestled with Jacob through the long night at the ford of the Jabbok river. He spoke to Moses from within a burning bush that was not consumed on Mount Sinai. He led Israel through the wilderness as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He came to Elijah not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire — but in the sound of sheer silence. He met the Samaritan woman at the well in the heat of the day, when no one else was there. He called Zacchaeus down from his tree by name. He appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden, and she mistook him for the gardener. He walked with two grieving disciples on the road to Emmaus, unrecognized until the breaking of the bread. He cooked breakfast on the shore for disciples who had fished through the night and caught nothing.
God does not show us his divine face, but he does show himself to us in many faces. He arrives for us in all things. In our everyday encounters. In the movement of our hearts — Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us? He shows his face to us in the way we need to see him, he speaks to us in the way we need to hear him, and draws each of us near to him exactly the way we need to be drawn near to him. He is closer to us than we are to ourselves. He knows what we need before we ask for it. He awaits us within our own hearts, his presence already given, already dwelling there — needing only our consent to join him in heavenly union.
And so it is in the ordinary movements of our days. In the face of our spouse, our children, our parents and siblings and friends. In the colleague across the table, the student in the next seat, the stranger on the road. He is already there, already present, already drawing near in exactly the way we need — even if not in the ways we desire or expect — and drawing each of them near as well. We do not need to summon him. We need only the grace to recognize him. To consent to see what is already before us. To let ourselves be called by name — in every moment, every relationship, and every interaction — and to know it for what it is. To know him for who he is.
Oratio
cast me into
your loving inferno
make my life an offering
upon the altar
of heavenly union
purify me with your grace
burn away
all that is not you
until my face
becomes your face
forever
Contemplatio
What face is God showing you today — and are you willing to be drawn near in exactly the way he is offering?
Related Scripture
“See, I am making all things new.” — Revelation 21:5 (NRSVCE)
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like The Daily Rendezvous With God: On Freedom, Longing, and The Gift Already Given, which explores how God’s gift of self-communication is already given and already dwelling within us — and how freedom is the space in which that gift can be freely received.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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