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All it takes for a room to be filled with daylight is for someone to open the shudders or blinds. One does not try to force light in: simply open the shudders or blinds, and the light floods the room. It is the nature of light to light up what it joins. Light is independent of knowledge of or theory about it. I could have a PhD. on light or never have heard of the word, still, when I open the shudders or blinds, the light will flood the room.
That is like God, Who is Love. God is Light. Your being is the room. Welcoming this Light to infuse you, through the outflowing of the Light into your being, provides an opening: remember, the nature of Spirit is to flow into any vacuum provided for Spirit: this is why Christian mystics have agreed that surrender, or resignation, is essential to Union-with- Love. There may be enough Light about us to fill the world, yet, we can live in the dark in spiritual ignorance, if we choose.
If each of us longing to be filled with God--or Light--would honestly pray, "Yes, God, in some way, though I may now not know how, fill me with Yourself." ... If we pray that and remain sincerely in expectation, Spirit will orchestrate the world around and within us to flood our inward self with the Light. When flooded with the Light, we are transformed into the Love, by loving, that God is. We discover, and not just by theory or belief, that a Love of all love excelling is the only rational act.
*The Origen quote is found in Origen: An Exhortation to Martyrdom, Prayer and Selected Works," Trans. Rowan A. Greer, in "The Classics of Western Spirituality."
*OneLife writings are offered by Brian K. Wilcox, a United Methodist pastor serving in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. He writes in the spirit of John Wesley's focus on the priority of inner experience of the Triune God; scriptural holiness; ongoing sanctification; the goal of Christian perfection (or, wholeness). Brian seeks to integrate the best of the contemplative teachings of Christianity East and West, from the patristic Church to the present. Brian lives a vowed contemplative life with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis, in North Florida. OneLife writings are for anyone seeking to live and share love, joy, and peace in the world and in devotion to God as she or he best understands God.
*Brian's book An Ache for Union, a book of poems on mystical union with God through love, can be ordered through major on-line booksellers.
The Grace of Christ be with All!
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