In window into What or Who you're partnering with when you open yourself in prayer. Richard Rohr and the Pattern of the Trinity (this is a video; it starts as a black screen here on my blog; be sure to click the play button below): If your browser won't play this film directly from my site, follow this link to the video at Work of the People.
How to find the heart you'll need to meet the God you seek
The sixth in a series of posts on companionship and the spiritual journey. Please pass along to those you consider companions on your journey into the fullness of God. In the previous post in this series I told you that there are two paths into the presence of the God you seek: one path is the path of renunciation. This is the path of the monk; and many have taken it.
The other is the path of loving another so deeply and completely that you are initiated into the love of God.
If you're reading this, you're likely on the second of these two paths.
So, keep this in mind . . .
Key to your spiritual work is your ability to enter more deeply and authentically into the relationships God has or will send your way. They will help you find the heart you’ll need to meet the God you seek. I’m not saying this path is easier than renunciation—it’s not. I’m just saying that it’s a genuine sacred path for folks like you and me. And frankly, history teaches us it’s the safer of the two ways to God.
To be continued . . .
Two paths into the presence of God
The fifth in a series of posts on companionship and the spiritual journey. Please pass along to those you consider companions on your journey into the fullness of God. There are two paths into the presence of the God I’m leading you toward.
One is the path of renunciation—the complete dedication of yourself to the relational life of prayer and service.
The other is the path of loving another so deeply and completely that you are initiated into the love of God.
Both are valid, and both can be vibrant. But for most of us, the second is the best path for us, even if we’ve not yet found our way into the kind of loving relationships we’re looking for.
To be continued . . .
Companionship is the pathway to God
The fourth in a series of posts on companionship and the spiritual journey. Please pass along to those you consider companions on your journey into the fullness of God. This follows the post: "Being human can also make us miserable, but we must not flee from our humanity" . . . Good theology teaches us that relationships are the essence of God as Trinity—that divine mystery of eternal community and companionship.
Good science agrees; contemporary cosmology tells us that relationships weave the universe together.
So, oneness with the God of the cosmos does not obliterate the need we have for one another. Instead, intimacy with God, like intimacy with others, requires relationship.
It’ll only take a single good relationship, a true spiritual companion, and you’ll know what I mean.
Companionship is the pathway to God.
To be continued . . .
Being human can also make us miserable, but we must not flee from our humanity
The third in a series of posts on companionship and the spiritual journey. Please pass along to those you consider companions on your journey into the fullness of God. This follows a post: "Humanity is the cradle of divinity" . . . Humanity is the cradle of divinity; the Incarnation of God in Jesus is evidence for that.
But all is not bliss. Being human can also make us miserable.
Our bodies break, and so do our relationships. The sheer inhumanity of human beings toward one another can seem like a just reason to run from our humanness.
But just because some people are rotten, and a good many of our relationships are dysfunctional, doesn’t mean the whole human enterprise is corrupt and the sooner we escape it, the better.
Some spiritual paths teach this, even Christian ones. But this kind of thinking pushes against the relational current that flows from the Incarnation of God in Christ, and it’ll never carry you into the presence of the God you seek and who is ever seeking you.
We cannot flee from our humanity--not if we want God.
To be continued . . .