FR. RICHARD ROHRS DAILY MEDITATION Luminous Darkness Sabbath Meditation Saturday, October 25, 2014 Remember: The goal of the dark night of the soul is to draw the self beyond ego into full transfiguration and union in God. (Sunday) The gift of darkness draws you to know God’s presence beyond what thought, imagination, or sensory feeling can comprehend. (Monday) “The only action left to the soul, ultimately, is to put down its self-importance and cultivate a simple loving attention toward the Beloved.” –Mirabai Starr (Tuesday) God needs to catch us by surprise because our very limited preexisting notions keep us and our understanding of God small. (Wednesday) Without the inner discipline of faith (“positive holding instead of projecting”) most lives end in negativity, blaming others, or deep cynicism. (Thursday) “You called, you shouted, you broke through my deafness, you flared, blazed, and banished my blindness, you lavished your fragrance, and I gasped.” —St. Augustine (Friday) Rest: Keep Praying I came out of seminary in 1970 thinking that my job was to have an answer for every question. What Ive learned since then is that not-knowing and often not even needing to know is a deeper way of knowing and a deeper form of compassion. Maybe that is why Jesus praised faith even more than love; maybe that is why Saint John of the Cross called faith luminous darkness. Thats why all great traditions teach some form of contemplation, because it is actually a different form of knowledge that emerges inside of the “cloud of unknowing.” It is a refusal to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and finding freedom, grace, and comfort in the not needing to know, which ironically opens us up to a much deeper consciousness that we would call the mind of God. Thats because our small mind and lesser self is finally out of the way. My contemplative sit every morning is an exercise in assured failure. It’s often only in the last 30 seconds that I begin to get a glimpse of freedom, but for the most part, my prayer is a continual practice of surrender, kenosis. I often turn to the words, “Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.” It is simply a confession of my incompetence and inadequacy. This confession leaves inside me an emptiness that becomes readiness. I realize I need help, I need more, I need love. I in my I-ness, my Richard-ness, I don’t know how to do this by myself, and that’s really okay. In fact, it is good because it realigns me with the truth of divine union. The only people who pray well are those who keep praying. In the dark night, when all other practices and beliefs about God lose their meaning, keep returning to silent, contemplative prayer. It will keep you empty and ready for God’s ongoing revelation of an ever deeper love.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 12:52:29 +0000