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Breath Prayer
Breathing in: God, all to You
Breathing out: I give
Breathing in: God, all for You
Breathing out: I am
Breathing in: God, you are to me
Breathing out: Everything
Breathing in: Thank You (smile)
Breathing out: Thank You (keep smiling)
Wisdom Quotes
Every good person shapes the infinite life and compassion of God in a unique way. ... Spirituality ... is not a law to be obeyed, but a presence to be seized, undergone, and given flesh to."
*Ronald Rolheiser. The Holy Longing.
Today's Scripture
31 God looked over everything he had made;
it was so good, so very good!
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Six.
*Genesis 1.31, The Message
Comments
God, being infinite, has limitless potential to manifest Life and limitless possibilities for particularities in such Life. You are a particularity within God, an expression of the Life that is infinite potential.
Your sole vocation is fulfillment of your unique hue in God. You are not to understand God, or fathom all the Divine Will. Rather, you, yes you, are the ongoing, unfolding Christ within the symphony of the mystical Body of God.
31 God looked over everything he had made;
it was so good, so very good!
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Six.
*Genesis 1.31, The Message
Here, the Ever-Creating One is expressing eros, or the life-force. The biblical God is erotic. The consequent diversity is called "very good" in the Hebrew. Diversity of expression, particularities in formation, is divine.
Being godly, or godlike, we, too, create through the eros that flows from Eros ~ or, God. In myth, the Romans borrowed Eros and called him Cupid: from Latin cupido, desire.
Desire is the inborn-fire within us, the divine fire, that is entrusted to us to shape action, to shape life. No wonder that fire is often associated with the Divine Presence. We ~ as well as the Divine within us ~ continue creating by our passions and consequently inspired efforts.
Spiritual gifts are additionally particularized expressions of eros beyond natural talents and natural human abilities. The gifts are sacramental means to express eros in edifying others in a spiritual manner ~ again, beyond the more mundane, though important, ways of edification we engage in daily.
God, as Eros, expresses Godself in the world in two main ways, then: natural, spiritual. The spiritual person is responsible to be true to both ways; he or she cannot simply abdicate the common duties of natural endowment in favor of a more so-called enlightened or spiritual work.
I knew a priest who spoke to me of need of erotic integration. He commented, "We priests need to do some things now and then beyond our priestly work, like cleaning the restrooms at the church." He spoke wisdom, for true humility does not disdain the natural work, while clamoring for space and time for the spiritual work. Natural duties and spiritual gifts complement each other and complete each other. Even the monastic path knows this in its integration of common labor in the life of prayer and devotion.
When you look at your life, do not belittle the natural duties and work you are called upon to fulfill, as is the vocation of all human persons. When you devote all to God, all can become sacramental, a faithful godliness, in that you are expressing the erotic potential within the Life of Christ.
Why erotic? For, truly, the erotic is the outflow of the life of Desire, godly passion. Jesus modeled this in pouring life out for those around him, and for us. Christ does this for us each time, indeed, that we celebrate the Eucharist.
We follow the Word, the living Word, by infusing our life with desire flowing from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Our common and spiritual work becomes an oblation for all Nature, expressing the full, mystical Body of Christ. Through such eroticism, God is reconciling the world to Himself.
Imagine, for example, the blessing of having each and every act you do serving as a means of God infusing Divine Life, eros-passion, into the world, reuniting all life with the One Life.
Reflection
1. What are spiritual gifts entrusted to you?
2. What are natural talents entrusted to you?
3. What are ways you can more consciously integrate all your life into an over-all spiritual vision?
*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his wife, Rocio, their two dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, and their fish, Hope, in Southwest Florida. Brian is vowed at Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in Georgia. His passion is living a contemplative life and inspiring others to experience a deeper, increasingly-fulfilling relationship with the mystical Christ. He advocates for a spiritually-focused Christianity as part of the transformation of the Church in seeking to meet the spiritual needs and longings of persons and empathic relating with persons of diverse spiritual traditions.
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