“The treasure is the real presence of Christ in our midst.”
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Friday, July 3, 2009
Receiving, submitting, praying
“Having the Bible, defending and celebrating the Bible instead of receiving, submitting to, and praying the Bible, masks an enormous amount of non-reading.” (Eugene Peterson, Eat this Book, 140). One of the wonderful aspects of the The Springs retreat is that we have time to really receive the Word.
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The Word
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Love and Do as You Will
Carlo Carretto writes: I have known the satisfaction of unrestrained action, and the joy of the contemplative life in the dazzling peace of the desert, and I repeat again St. Augustine's words: "Love and do as you will." Don't worry about what you ought to do. Worry about loving. Don't interrogate heaven repeatedly and uselessly saying, "What course of action should I pursue?" Concentrate on loving instead.
And by loving you will find out what is for you. Loving, you will listen to the Voice. Loving, you will find peace.
Love is the fulfillment of the law and should be everyone's rule of life; in the end it's the solution to every problem, the motive for all good.
"Love and do as you will."
This is the crux. When I love I can no longer do as I will.
When I love I am love's prisoner; and love is tremendous in its demands when it has God as its object, especially a crucified God. I can no longer do my own will. I must do the will of Jesus, which is the will of the Father.
And when I have learned to do his will (to love), I shall have fully realized my vocation on earth and I shall have achieved the highest stage a man can reach...if the will of God urges you to seek out the poor, to give up all you possess, or to leave for distant lands, what does the rest matter? Or if it calls you to found a family, or take on a job in a city, why should you have any doubts? "His will is our peace," says Dante. And perhaps that is the expression which best brings into focus our deep dependence on God.
And by loving you will find out what is for you. Loving, you will listen to the Voice. Loving, you will find peace.
Love is the fulfillment of the law and should be everyone's rule of life; in the end it's the solution to every problem, the motive for all good.
"Love and do as you will."
This is the crux. When I love I can no longer do as I will.
When I love I am love's prisoner; and love is tremendous in its demands when it has God as its object, especially a crucified God. I can no longer do my own will. I must do the will of Jesus, which is the will of the Father.
And when I have learned to do his will (to love), I shall have fully realized my vocation on earth and I shall have achieved the highest stage a man can reach...if the will of God urges you to seek out the poor, to give up all you possess, or to leave for distant lands, what does the rest matter? Or if it calls you to found a family, or take on a job in a city, why should you have any doubts? "His will is our peace," says Dante. And perhaps that is the expression which best brings into focus our deep dependence on God.
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Transformation
The goal of the spiritual journey is the transformation of self which requires knowing both our self and God -- if we are to discover our identity in Christ we must know both.
I would think that it would be much harder to know God than to know ourselves. But since the fall, we have become masters at hiding. We tend to create a public, idealized self that we disclose to others. Deep down inside, we believe that our value depends on what we have, what we can do, and what others think of us. It's not so much that we tell lies about who we are...we live the lies.
The only way to unmask the lie is a radical encounter with the truth.
Experiencing the love of God gives us the courage to peak behind the curtain and see our true self. Spending time at The Springs focused on experientially knowing God's love for us, leads us to confession and transformation.
As John Calvin wrote: "There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self, and no deep knowing of self with a deep knowing of God." This deep knowing can occur at The Springs.
I would think that it would be much harder to know God than to know ourselves. But since the fall, we have become masters at hiding. We tend to create a public, idealized self that we disclose to others. Deep down inside, we believe that our value depends on what we have, what we can do, and what others think of us. It's not so much that we tell lies about who we are...we live the lies.
The only way to unmask the lie is a radical encounter with the truth.
Experiencing the love of God gives us the courage to peak behind the curtain and see our true self. Spending time at The Springs focused on experientially knowing God's love for us, leads us to confession and transformation.
As John Calvin wrote: "There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self, and no deep knowing of self with a deep knowing of God." This deep knowing can occur at The Springs.
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