Every person is already radically open [to God] in the very core of his or her being.
Richard McBrien
In prayer we discover what we already have. You stand where you are, you deepen what you already have, and you realize that you are already there. We already have everything, but we don’t know it, and we don’t experience it. Everything has been given to us in Christ. All we need is to experience what we already have.
Thomas Merton
Jesus invites us to become what we already are. Jesus reveals or uncovers for us how we stand before God – and how God stands before us.
This openness of God to us, and us to god – seen in Jesus – is nothing less than what Paul talks of “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ”. The grace (or gift) of God is such that it wins the response of grace (or gratitude) from us.
Grace – giving and receiving, attractive and attracting, gift and response, gracefulness and gratitude, graciousness and generosity – all in one, all in the grace of Jesus….and we are created to be caught up into this.
What’s it like to think of Jesus as a “mirror”, showing you your “true self”?
This self is not someone you have to fabricate or work hard at.
This is the One who simply asks you to accept and embrace “the stranger who has always loved you”.
Julian of Norwich says that there is a godly will in every one of us that has never consented to sin. Each one of us has been perfectly kissed and caressed before we were born. Each of us is made in the image of God. What would it be like to live out of this place, rather than the inadequate or insecure self which too often hijacks or drives you?
We need to fall, and we need to realize this. If we never fell we should never know how weak and wretched we are in ourselves; nor should we fully appreciate the astonishing love of our Maker.
By the simple fact that we fell we shall gain a deep and wonderful knowledge of what God’s love means. Love that cannot, will not, be broken by sin, is rock-like, and quite astonishing.
Julian of Norwich 61
Here is another song from Music that Makes Community, God is Here in the Breath of Me.
I am here in the heart of God
God is here in the heart of me
Like the wave in the water and the water in the wave
I am here in the heart of God
I am here in the breath of God
God is here in the breath of me
Like the wind in the springtime and the springtime in the wind
I am here in the breath of God
I am here in the soul of God
God is here in the soul of me
Like the flame in the fire and the fire in the flame
I am here in the soul of God
I am here in the mind of God
God is here in the mind of me
Like the earth in my body and my body in the earth
Like the flame in the fire and the fire in the flame
Like the wind in the springtime and the springtime in the wind
Like the wave in the water and the water in the wave
I am here in the heart of God
For a printable PDF of the text of this meditation please click on the link below.
