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From the abyss of waters
ascended a bloody bough
From that deathliness
a Tree of Life
Tilt the Chalice
drench me in the Wine
No other baptism
will wash clean
My church blew down
with force of Wind
"Why? my Friend"
So you can see Me
*Brian K. Wilcox, O72707
Scripture
22For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Greeks, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks (i.e., everyone), Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
*I Corinthians 1.22-24 (ESV)
Wisdom Words
Clare of Assisi's (b. ca. 1194), Franciscan nun and friend of Francis of Assisi, view of contemplating Christ crucified, given in a letter to Agnes of Assisi (c. 1197), Franciscan abbess and friend of Francis of Assisi and Clare ...
Clare invites Agnes to look at Christ's bruised and violated beauty, to embrace him, touch him, perceive his fragrance, hear his voice, and taste the hidden sweetness which only his friends experience. This gaze is a type of reading insofar as we are confronted by the Word of God in our flesh. We are to study this Word with a penetrating gaze and become inwardly familiar with the image in which we are created.
*Ilia Delio. Clare of Assisi. 33.
Comments
Contemplation is Silent Receptivity. Clare, however, reminds us contemplation includes intentional gazing upon the crucified Christ. Within the Silence, which forms a womb-like space to receive, we lightly engage mind and heart on the Passion of Christ. We lightly do this, for we engage the faculties just enough to point us in the direction of the unfolding Story of the crucifixion. The Spirit does the rest.
For Clare the gazing is like lectio divina. In the original way of Divine Reading, persons absorbed the Scripture in open heart and receptive mind, rather than analyzing it intellectually. We let a word or words from the Bible address us personally and intimately. The written Word penetrates us and shapes our consciousness. Likewise, in gazing on the crucified Christ, we contemplate Christ on the cross.
Clare interprets this gazing as mirror-like. She sees Christ crucified as the image of our human condition; Christ, furthermore, is the mirror to our gazing of the full Image of the Father.
When we gaze upon Christ, we are being transformed into the full Image of God. Christ, for Clare, is the full Image. We are not being transformed as the Image; we are being transformed to the Image, teaches Clare...:
17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord [or, reflecting the glory of the Lord], are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Clare tells us what we focus on shapes our consciousness and, thereby, our attitudes and behaviors. If I desire above all to be being shaped into the image of Christ, to be a mirror to others of Christ, I choose Christ to be the mirror in Whom I see mirrored the fullness of the Image of God. I choose see in the crucified Christ the human condition as broken and as a prelude to the resurrection of spiritual Life in creation.
Suggested Meditation: Gazing on Christ
The following can be adapted in your meditation alone or group meditation:
Choose a Scripture passage about the crucifixion of Christ. Read it slowly through one or more times without pausing. Read it slowly a second time, this time stopping as you feel an urge at any point to contemplate the unfolding scene. Open your heart to feel and discern as you consent to the Spirit within you. Do not try to analyze the Story: simply receive it into yourself. Likewise, you may sense a need to pause in the reading to pray specifically about what the Spirit impresses on you: this could include praise or thanksgiving, petition for yourself or intercession for another or others. Or, you might break forth in song, to return again into the contemplation of the Passion of Christ. What is most important is to be receptive, not pressing this meditation into some idea of how it should be and proceed.
*Brian K. Wilcox lives in Port Charlotte, FL. He is Pastor of Christ Community United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL. He is a vowed member of Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community. His passion is living a contemplative life and inspiring others to enjoy a deeper relationship with Christ through contemplative prayer and living.
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