We were conceived in the mind of God as the partner in a dialogue.
Hans Urs von Balthasar
We are the beings created as bearers of the Word, and only in responding to the Word do we rise to our full dignity. We were conceived in the mind of God as the partner in a dialogue.
Hans Urs von Balthasar
Image: James Cockerill, Remember Me Please, Multiple layers of screen printed and hand painted enamels and paints onto antique glass
The best and most wonderful thing that can happen to you in this life is that you should be silent and let God work and speak.
Dag Hammarskjold
[Christ] is present in his word since it is he himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are read in Church.
Vatican II
The biblical text mediates mystery, meaning and miracle.
It asks of us nothing less than the giving over of ourselves in loving, engaged attention.
(While this is true of the text of Scripture, it is also true of other people,
this created universe,
and the Eucharistic action).
As we open ourselves to what lies before us it can become the place of encounter,
and revelation,
a participatory and transformative event
where we are changed from one degree of glory to another.
The intent of the Gospels- and of the Church’s sacramental life- is that these places become privileged places – genuine and real experiences of the living and contemporary Spirit of God.
I came to understand that God…is not an unctuous palliative, or a super-pill, or a sugary abstraction, but …someone present in the quick of being, one’s own being, and in the present tense itself, in existence as it exists, in the fibre and pulse of the world, and in the minute-by-minute drama of an ever-continuing, ever-poised, ever-accessible creation.
Dennis Potter
Image: Andrew Taylor, Tamara’s Hand of Peace, English Antique Glass and St Just with extensive acid etching, traditional vitreus paint and silver staining.
Pedro Arrupe SJ talked of “the capacity for a renewed ‘reading’ of reality (all of reality) from the point of view of the Gospel, and for continual confrontation of that reality with the Gospel.” Spend some time with a part of the reality of your life – an event or feeling etc – and expose it to the reality of the Gospel story.
The images in this post are taken from the Centenary Exhibition of the British Society of Master Glass Painters. Members were invited to create a 30 x 30 cm panel. While there was no theme or restriction on subject matter, the entries had an overwhelming sense of contemplation of beauty and dignity. To see all the exhibition entries please go to the exhibition page.
For this final post in the series on Scripture – a privileged place of meeting, we have included one of Eric Whitacre’s beautiful compositions from his cycle, The Sacred Veil.
Whenever there is birth or death,
The sacred veil between the worlds grows thin and opens slightly up,
Just long enough for Love to slip,
Silent, either in or out of this, our fragile, fleeting world,
Whence or whither a new home waits.
And our beloved ones draw near,
In rapt anticipation, or in weary gratitude, they stand
Our loved ones stand so close, right here,
Just on the other side Of Eternity.
Text: Antony Silvestri
For a printable PDF of the text of this meditation please click on the following link.
