Drawn to God

To say that God is Infinite is to say that He may be apprehended and described in an infinity of ways. The Circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere, may be approached from every angle with a certainty of being found.

So says, Evelyn Underhill in her book, Mysticism, P. 163

Draw me, we will run after thee. Song of Solomon 1:4a (King James’ Version)

God draws us to himself, even when we are only just beginning on the path of mystical prayer. God desires us to know him and, because each one of us is different, we can “run after God” in our own unique way and unite with God in our own unique union with the Sacred One.

The circle and circumference of God’s being is vast, in fact, it is infinite; the centre of God’s circle is where God desires each one of us to be—it is our spiritual home.

We do not have to be all the same. God does not require us, nor even want us, to be the same as one another. God delights in diverse responses and relationships with his creatures. As no two woodpeckers have exactly the same red markings on the back of their heads, and no two snowflakes have exactly the same pattern as any other snowflake, so it is with spiritual/human beings—no two have exactly the same makeup or the same relationship with God. Each one of us is created by God to be unique and therefore each one’s bond with the Sacred One is delightfully different and special from any other.

Perhaps even God would get bored with his creation if we were carbon copies of one another.

© Judith Lawrence

First published in Meditations on www.judithlawrence.ca

Birth of God within Us

If I understand what Meister Eckhart says, the birth of God within us, within our souls, needs our passivity. No amount of our doing, asking, or pleading for God’s birth within us makes any difference; only our total passivity—being quiet in our inner selves—allows God to be born within us.

The Holy Spirit needs us to be quiet and waiting, in order for the divine being to come and reside within our souls. It is through our daily waiting in stillness, quiet, and silence that the divine will be born in us. It is not of our doing that God comes to us, but of our waiting. Even when we withdraw from the world and wait for God, it is still God’s doing whereby God is born in us.

God searches us out and knows us. God comes to us, and we allow God’s coming by our passivity. The Holy Spirit moves the waters of our passivity so that God is born within our souls. In our silent waiting God comes to us.

The divine seed is born within the soul and matures in holiness through the breath of the Holy Spirit. The daily silence is important and should not be rushed or hastened but peaceful and calm. In order to hear the voice of God we must be still, quiet, peaceful, and attentive.

In the morning stillness God’s presence is to be found. Too much hustle and bustle, too many things to do, or too many people around, gives rise to the divine life not being consummated within us. God desires to be with us. Time must be put aside for quiet where God can come and be born in us.

Lord, I desire to know your sweet presence within my soul; I am yours. Unite yourself with me; be born in me that I can be holy as you are holy.

©Judith Lawrence

First Published as Meditation for February 2011 www.judithlawrence.ca

Striving to Know God

Bernard McGinn in The Mystical Thought of Meister Eckhart, says:

 “Striving to know God is a constant pursuit of what is by definition unattainable. ‘This not knowing draws [the soul] into amazement and keeps her on the hunt, for she clearly recognizes that he is, but she does not know what or how he is. . . . Therefore, the unknown-knowing keeps the soul constant and still on the hunt.’ ”

I would have thought that one would become discouraged by a constant pursuit of an unattainable God; a pursuit of God to know him who is unknowable, I would think, would be very discouraging and would cause one to give up on the hunt, not continue to search as Meister Eckhart suggests.

God gives us, I believe, little enticements to continue the hunt. As in the children’s game of hide and seek, the person who is hiding may give little clues as to his whereabouts, I believe God gives us little hints of where the Sacred One may be found.

It is as important for the one who is hiding to be found, as it is for the one who is seeking to find the hidden one. God hides himself to have us seek for the divine in greater depth. God gives us clues of where to find him by little encouragements such as showing God’s love for us, or God’s light shining in our dark moments, or God’s answer to prayer.

“Seek and you will find,” Christ says, “Knock and the door will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9

Keep on searching then for God surely wants to be found so that we can discover God’s beauty and holiness within and around us.

© Judith Lawrence

This was first published in meditations on www.judithlawrence.ca

A Holy Tryst

Evelyn Underhill says, in her book, Mysticism, The true end of [mystical prayer], like the true end of that mystical life within which it flowers, is the supreme meeting between Lover and Beloved, between God and the soul.…It means, during the hours of introversion, a retreat from and refusal of the Many, in order that the mind may be able to apprehend the One. P. 207/208

It takes much practice and patience in prayer before one experiences a few moments of union with the Sacred One. The practice and patience of this quiet waiting upon God is the “mystical life within which it flowers”.

It is a meeting with God in quiet, restful silence, day after day, in expectant waiting upon God with loving anticipation of a tryst with the Holy One.

Faithfully, the contemplative must come each day to be with God, holding herself still within her centre where God would dwell within her soul.

Joyfully she must prepare herself to be ready to receive the Sacred One who desires to live within her soul eternally, bringing her to spiritual maturity and holiness.

[The soul’s] method is the method of the mystic life, transcendence: a gradual elimination of sensible image, and bit by bit approximation of the contemplative self to reality, gradually producing within it those conditions in which union can take place. (Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism. Page 208)

© Judith Lawrence

This was first published in meditations on www.judithlawrence.ca