St. Thomas Aquinas points out that “Charity signifies not only the love of God, but also a certain friendship with him.”39 And so it is. For if the love of God is in us, then the Great Lover is hauntingly close. If grace is given, then the Great Giver is at hand. If healing comes our way, then the healing presence of God is within and around us. The presence of love in the relationship of friendship with this awesome God means that we may call God “Father” and “Friend.”
The worship of God, while recognizing God as wholly Other, is also worship in the joy of friendship. The God of the Bible is hauntingly close, is the unceasing lover and the faithful friend.
Thought
God is so close. God is within us through the Spirit. God is always closer than we think or feel.
1 John 1:9
February 9
A Deeper Confession
There are sources of human goodness out of which I act that may not be immediately apparent to me. There may also be fault lines and ungoodness in my life of which I am not fully aware. A deeper self-reflection is, therefore, called for.
St. Augustine makes a seemingly strange confession: “I would therefore confess what I know about myself; I will also confess what I do not know about myself.”40 This is both a revealing and an appropriate statement.
Revealing in that this ancient church father knows something of the
psychology of the human person. Appropriate, in that since part of what we do lies below the surface, such a confession is always called for.
Confession should occur not only at the level of awareness of wrongs done. It lies much deeper. It also lies at the level of my intentions and
motivations. Actions of the hand find their source in both the goodness and dysfunctionality of the heart. But there is more to this story. Confession also has to do with what I am, not only with what I do. It has to do with my essential being. It has to do with ontology.
To acknowledge that I have committed a particular sin is one thing. To confess that I am a sinner is something that goes much deeper. The one has to do with an act; the other with who I am. And it is also at this deeper level that the grace and healing presence of Christ in the Spirit needs to be embraced.
Reflection
It is not only what I do, it is also what I am that matters. And the renewing work of the Spirit in making me a new person builds on the forgiveness that is found in Christ.
Psalm 61:5–6
February 10
Reflection
Ours is a world of busyness and we live with many
distractions. Our inner world is, therefore, restless and
preoccupied. In the midst of this, we are invited into the
practice of solitude and reflection.
Inwardly restless and outwardly preoccupied, ours is the journey of flight—away from ourselves and away from God. And thus away from an inner peace and centeredness. We are, therefore, both distracted and fractured.
God’s invitation however is one of homecoming—coming home to God’s grace and healing and coming home to accept God’s gifts and
calling. This calls us to stop running and to turn in the right direction. This also means that we come home to ourselves.
The spiritual discipline of silence, solitude, and reflection is an
important part of this homecoming. It helps us to see who we are, where we are, and where we need to be. Thomas à Kempis challenges us regarding these matters. He writes, “Set aside an opportune time for deep personal reflection and think often about God’s many benefits to you.”41
This simple advice poses a challenge for us. On the run, we are invited to stop. Ever planning, we are invited to reflect. Wanting to do things, we are called to pray. Ever restless, we are invited into the place of surrender.
As we reflect on ourselves and our world we are called to cling to the God who alone can make us whole and bring our world to peace. Thus, reflection will always call us to prayer.
Thought
Publicly, we are known by what we do. But God also knows us in the quiet places of the heart. These latter places should be the places where we are most truly at home.
John 10:10
February 11
Generativity
While some think that Christianity is all about doctrines,
rituals, and ceremonies, they miss the heart of the biblical story. The heartbeat is God’s creative and sustaining presence in our lives and communities.
The fourteenth-century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart sees God not as some remote and static being, but as close and dynamic. He writes: “God in things is activity, reality, and power, but in the soul he is procreative.”42
God’s Spirit—personal, creative, life-giving, healing, forward moving—is no lover of dull conformity and repetitive ceremony. Instead, the Spirit is ever animating and revitalizing. Through the Spirit the tired places are renewed, the broken places are healed, and the places of despair are filled with hope. The work of the Spirit is ever to renew.
Through inspiration and illumination, the Spirit brings not only new insight and wisdom, but also new energy and vitality. Thus, we do not only see more clearly, but we are carried forward by the breath of the Spirit. The Spirit blows us to new places. This is important. It is never simply a matter of new ideas. It is much more a matter of a new inspiration and motivation, and the will to do and the passion to move forward.
Thus the work of God in us is life-giving and generative. And this generativity is one that blesses others and seeks to cooperate with God’s renewing work in our world.
Thought
Like a mother, God brings the new into being. And in being and doing the new we are nourished.
Ephesians 1:7–10
February 12
Union with God
The great longing of Christians throughout the ages has not so much been a longing for heaven, but to be more fully united to God. The great love of the Christian is to be lost in the love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
In our world of pragmatism and activism driven by the economic dream of much-having—a dream that has also impacted the vision of the church—we need to be careful that we do not lose the central thrust of the biblical story.
That central thrust, while it includes the call to serve God in our world in the ministry of evangelization and the work for justice, is the invitation to know God and to enjoy him forever. The first call is always to spiritual intimacy before we hear the call to loving service. Homecoming to the embrace of God is always the first move before being scattered to be salt, light, and leaven in our world.
While we need to be immersed in the world, we first need to be
enamored with God. While there is the call to serve, there is also the call to love and friendship.
The medieval mystic Jan van Ruysbroeck reminds us how important it is to become friends with God and to enter into a fuller communion with God. He writes, “All our powers then fail us and we fall down in open contemplation. All become one and one becomes all in the loving embrace of the threefold Unity. When we experience this Unity, we become one being, one life, and one blessedness with God.”43
Reflection
To enter more deeply into the love of God in Christ through the Spirit is to find our true home and our true purpose.