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SCRIPTURE
Mary said, "I am the Lord's servant! Let it happen as you have said." And the angel left her.
*Gospel of Luke 1.38 (CEV)
Jesus called out loud, `Father, I put my spirit into your hands!' When he had said this, he died.
*Gospel of Luke 23.46 (WE)
WISDOM QUOTE
Each Aspect of the Trinity is Lover, Loved, and Bond of Love. The Father is One Loving, is One Loved, and is Bond of Love. The same is true of the Word and Spirit. Each Aspect surrenders, for one cannot Love without surrendering to Love, one cannot be One Loved without surrendering to Love, and one cannot be the Bond of Love without surrendering to Love. Love is, then, the Center, Circumference, and All of the Christian life. Constant surrender is the opening to this Love. Spiritual Love is surrender; surrender is Spiritual Love. And it may be rightly said that True Spiritual Surrender, then, as well as its shared virtue Spiritual Love, is a divine gift that is not acquired by us but given to us through trusting openness to receive.
*Brian K. Wilcox
COMMENTS
Not all that we might call spiritual surrender is healthy and good. Here are qualities of spiritual surrender that mark surrender as loving, mature, and healthy for others and us…
1. It is conscious. There is no robotic mindlessness. One is wide-awake to the act of surrender, given with full awareness.
2. It is intentional. It may be encouraged from outside, but spiritual surrender is never forced or compelled in any way.
3. It is a responsible act. If one surrenders and discovers it was misplaced, he or she is willing to take responsibility for the mistake.
4. It involves responsibility for the consequences as well as for the act itself. There is no blaming of another person, cause, force, or entity.
5. It is not directed toward any fully known “object.” So it cannot be a means of furthering self-definition or self-importance. The surrender is to the true Divine beyond all image and conception. Therefore, it entails the offering of one’s mysterious soul to the Ultimate Mystery, who created it, energizes and sustains it, and calls it forth constantly.
6. It represents a willingness to engage the fullness of life with the fullness of oneself. This surrender is not an escape or avoidance.
*List from Gerald G. May. Will and Spirit. A Contemplative Psychology.
Are you in a relationship or situation of spiritual surrender? Explain what makes it truly spiritual.
Are you in a relationship or situation of surrender that is not spiritual surrender and that you, therefore, need to prayerfully consider removing yourself from? Explain what makes it other than spiritual.
Why must loving and surrendering always be as one act in spiritual self-evolving and service to others? Explain why.
Why do many persons fear spiritual surrender?
Why do many persons fear True, Spiritual Love?
*The writer and founder of OneLife Ministries, Brian K. Wilcox, is an ordained United Methodist pastor in Florida and author of An Ache for Union. He leads spiritual formation workshops and specializes in teaching practices in prayer, meditation, and contemplation. Brian lives a vowed life as a lay oblate, vowed by Greenbough House of Prayer.
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