the sensation of life
There comes a time when God appears to change. This may happen many times in a life. It is not so much that God feels distant or absent, though this may also be the case. It is more that you look for God in the usual place, or you think of God in the usual … Continue reading When prayer stops working
Stop asking God for what you think you want. What God is waiting for is not a right conclusion to a matter but for our suppleness in falling into His hands for Him to work in us.Benedicta Ward, Discernment: A Rare Bird When I ask people what they say to God, they often tell me … Continue reading Preemptive strikes upon the Divine
This year I have started out trying to live all my waking moments in conscious listening to the inner voice, asking without ceasing, “What, Father, do you desire said? What, Father, do you desire done this minute?” It is clear that this is what Jesus was doing all day every day. But it is not … Continue reading What shall we do?
[See Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, inter-mission, & 5] Spiritual direction relocates authority from out there to in here. It’s about an authority that emerges from yielding not to an alien will but an affirming source … [We] are empowered, emancipated, to use the transforming energy we can exercise by acknowledging our dependence upon an unconditional source of affirmation.Rowan Williams: … Continue reading An affirming source (6): Empowered
[See Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, & inter-mission] Our human identity therefore becomes one in which we both acknowledge in prayer this dependence [upon God] and respond to the gift that sets up not only our being but our renewed being in Christ; and in acknowledging that dependence we are empowered to ‘do the work … Continue reading An affirming source (5): Relationship
[See Parts 1, 2, 3, & 4] If people destroy something irreplaceable made by mankind, they are called vandals;if they destroy something irreplaceable make by God they are called developers.Joseph Wood Krutch (quoted in David R Loy, Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis, p. 16) You may be wondering why I am banging on … Continue reading An affirming source: Inter-mission
[See Parts 1, 2, & 3] When God is “an alien will” I may feel the pressure to make amends for the mistakes of the past and to work towards an improved self in the future. When God is an alien will there is a to-do list. I do not advocate that we abrogate responsibility … Continue reading An affirming source (4): Presence
[See Part 1 & Part 2] … yielding … When we are freed from the idea of God as “an alien will” we can fall back into an utterly relaxing Presence that is our “affirming source”. The alien will is jealous and requires attention and conformity to an arbitrary set of standards. The affirming source … Continue reading An affirming source (3): Yielding
[See Part 1] … yielding not to an alien will but an affirming source … The trouble with an alien will is that it is … alien, other. How can I know, respond to, and, in time, love something that is so far from and other than me? I will look outside myself, beyond this … Continue reading An affirming source (2): Emancipation
Christians are adopted into a dependent relationship to that which Jesus called ‘Abba, Father’. Our human identity therefore becomes one in which we both acknowledge in prayer this dependence and respond to the gift that sets up not only our being but our renewed being in Christ; and in acknowledging that dependence we are empowered … Continue reading An affirming source (1): an alien will