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Prayer For Today
The more you close my eyes to you, My Lord,
The more do I see you with my eyes;
The thicker becomes your veil over my heart,
The more is my heart lit with your Light.
I am blinded and veiled, my Love,
Not by mere ignorance but by the sweetest knowledge
A man could ever hope to endure in this life;
And the loss of what I knew to know what I know
Cannot be denied, for it flows from the fount that is you.
But, my eyes do not see as I did, though they see,
And, my heart is not lit as it was, thought it is lit,
Nor am I still guided by what others have seen,
Neither anymore the light that guided them guides me.
And, therefore, do I know you welcome me, even me,
And sitting with you at table I behold your face, anew,
And both mind and heart find rest, at last.
For, now, I know you as you have shown yourself to me,
Not as another has told me of you.
I no longer believe you exist,
I believe in you who exist.
And, knowing you as you have shown yourself to me,
I have passed beyond reliance on all others for this faith in you.
I have passed through every creed, as though through an icon,
Or as the sunshine streaming through a stained glass window;
And every rite has served its purpose
To lead me through the shadows
To Light.
I have become only a man, a servant of yours,
Pouring out the Ocean water,
Through this vessel of body, thought, and word,
Hoping a few will seek the Sea
And find there the yearning they long sought
Beyond the forms of the world.
—Brian K. Wilcox
There are pointers to God, reflections available to every sincere seeker of Truth. God, being Love, will not withhold from anyone the Truth of His Presence, as long as the seeker truly seeks, for to do so would contradict the Nature of God as Love. God will reveal Himself to all seekers, regardless of creed, religion, race, nationality, and other distinctions, through the means available to the seeker and to the extent the seeker is prepared and ready to receive the sense of the Presence of God as present in this world and beyond.
These pointers of God do not prove God is, rather, they witness to God. The pointers are the world around us, the world within us, and the world in our reciprocal relationships with other persons. Fortunate are we to sense a Mystery permeating Nature, the manifestation of Mystery within our own depths, including conscience that gives direction morally, and the moments when we sense Spirit shining in the presence of another person.
Spirit is witnessing to Its Presence in and through Nature? A devotee approached the Master, saying, “Master, why do you say Creation evidences the Presence of our Lord of Love?” Spoke the Master, “Does not the mirror you gaze in faithfully reflect your image?” “But, Master,” asked the devotee, “what am I to say regarding those who do not see our Lord’s reflection in Nature?” The Master spoke, “Don’t blame the mirror and don’t blame the Lord.”
In holding a view of Christocentric Evolution, can I not see the imprint of the Creating One in Creation? Can I not see the manifestation of the Word, the very principle underlying Creation? Can I not see the glory of Spirit in the majesty of matter? Can I not see the dignity of Glory in the grandeur of Flesh? I see Nature testifying to the Wisdom of the One in the movement of the natural order into more complex systems of matter and more intricate, amazing structures of order. The processes of Nature do not annul the Divine operations, rather, the processes of Nature, as peered into by science, demonstrate the Wisdom and Artistry of God at work among and within His Creation.
A second pointer of the Divine is the unfathomable Within-ness of each person. Writes Bishop Kallistos Ware, in The Orthodox Way, “… each of us knows very little about his true and deep self.” And, “Within myself there is something which constantly makes me look beyond myself. Within myself I bear a source of wonder, a source of constant self-transcendence.” Not only is God as God in His fullness hidden from us, our own depths of mystery are largely hidden to us, as well. The mystery within us is a reflection of the Mystery beyond us, is a spatial way of saying that I mean.
Within the heart are unfathomable depths. It is but a small vessel: and yet dragons and lions are there, and there poisonous creatures and all the treasures of wickedness; rough, uneven paths are there, and gaping chasms. There likewise is God, there are the angels, there life and the Kingdom, there light and the Apostles, the heavenly cities and the treasures of grace: all things are there. (The Homilies of St. Macarius)
Just imagine! Every person you meet is a living icon of the Word. Just imagine! You are a living icon of the Christ. Therefore, God calls you and me not to believe we are much less than we thought; rather, our Creator summons us to return to our Source and be astonished that we are much more than we dreamed possible and allowable. We are each windows onto Infinity, glimmers of the Truth. If we saw this, truly, about ourselves, it would not lead us to pride, rather, it would lead us to the humble and awe-inspired recognition of the value of every person, including ourselves, in the eyes and design of the Creator.
The Teacher was approached by a woman complaining that she felt cut off from God. She expected the Teacher to give her some esoteric practice or insight. She left much disappointed when he said, “Go shopping not to shop but just to look around at everyone else shopping.”
A third pointer to the Presence of God is our relationship with other persons. How can you be cut off from God if you are not cut off from even one other person? If you have truly looked at one person today, how can you say, “I have not seen God today”? Have you not, at least once or twice, looked into the eyes of another person and see shining outward an essence that could only be described as Divine? Have you not seen beyond her or his personality into the Inner Essence that is your own Inner Essence? Then, where does this Essence come from except what we can call God?
Bishop Ware writes, “It is fundamental to my character as a human being that I search everywhere for meaningful explanations. I do this with the smaller things in my life; shall I not do this also with the greater?” What is the importance of this? Again, writes Bishop Ware:
Belief in [not about] God helps me understand why the world should be as it is, with its beauty as well as its ugliness; why I should be as I am, with my nobility as well as my meanness; and why I should love others, affirming their eternal value. Apart from belief in God I can see no other explanation for all this.
A disciple asked the Master, “Master, I have a friend who does not believe in God. What am I to do, keep trying to convince him?” “No,” spoke the Master, “if a man refuses to believe an elephant is coming at him, it being so obvious, he simply does not want to believe and all your efforts to convince will neither help you or him.” “Then, Master,” asked the disciple, “when is anyone ready to see the reality of God?” “Only when he has eyes to see, my son,” said the Teacher, “and you cannot give anyone those eyes.”
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