Lectio
“[God] prefers the unskilled language of a humble peasant boy, knowing that he would say more if he had more to say, to the speech of the wisest and most learned men, however elegant may be their arguments, if these are not accompanied by humility.”
— Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection
Meditatio
God does not care about our so-called spirituality. He cares about us. He does not want our theology as a stand-in for faith. He wants our faith and trust. He does not desire elevated vocabulary or catechized dogma in place of a relationship. He desires a relationship.
Our effort and our education cannot earn us God’s love, because it was never for sale. He offers Himself freely to every one of His creatures, and He makes His presence known to all through creation.
None of us earns more of God by what we believe, what we say, or what we give. He is all in all. No more of Him can be given than all of Him, and He has given Himself completely to us. That gift is never withdrawn. We can turn from it, but He never turns from us.
God did not come into this world through Christ because educated or righteous people made it so. Nor was He moved by the prideful gifts of the wealthy, the pompous piety of the self-important, or the uptight postures of the self-justified.
What Christ smiles at and praises is poverty of spirit, generosity in both purse and tongue, and the faith of children. It is not how much we have that delights Him, but how much we are willing to give. It is not how much we know that opens us to Him, but how much of our beliefs, our desires, and our fears we are willing to let go of in order to follow Him. And it is not even how often or how elaborately we pray that honors Him, but how much of our heart, how much sincerity, and how much faith we bring to it. Even that willingness is not our achievement, “for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
God treasures the single coin of a poor widow more than an entire bag of gold from a wealthy man who has so much more. He treasures a single word of sincerity from a child more than an entire treatise from a scholar who honors only himself with his lengthy prose and complex theology. And He treasures our ordinary, impoverished lives more than all the other things we have gathered and hoarded in this world in an attempt to secure ourselves a fraction of the peace, joy, and consolation that He offers us in Himself even before we choose to accept Him.
Oratio
Back To The Giver
my lowly utterances
could not increase God
no matter how many words
or how elaborate my prose
the infinity of love
needs not my explanations
the eternity of goodness
needs not my praises
He desires only my faith
my loving affection
my very self
given back
to the Giver of all
the great all in all
Contemplatio
Come as a child comes, with nothing prepared and nothing rehearsed. No speech is needed here, no vocabulary, no credentials. Be still, and let Him be to you whatever He wills.
Related Scripture
“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”
— Matthew 11:25-26 (NRSVCE)
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Even a Pin Picked Up in Love: Thérèse of Lisieux and the Little Way of Sabbath (Lectio Divina), which turns from great things to the smallest ones, where an ordinary act offered in love is never too little.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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