God Already Has Us whether We Like It or Not
“In Centering Prayer, by participating intentionally in the Paschal mystery,
our prayer periods become a liturgy without words,
a celebration of one’s own union with Christ,
and of participation in the inner life of the Trinity.
Every little drop of experience is of almost inconceivable value
and vastly transcends ourselves.
In other words, the Divine energy that is accessed by each one’s participation
in Christ’s passion, death and resurrection
becomes a kind of universal prayer for the needs of the whole human family.
It has a radiation that is truly apostolic,
apostolic in the sense of transmitting the grace of Christ into this world.”
–Fr. Thomas Keating OCSO, Intimacy with God
I would like to reflect on parts and pieces of this excerpt.
What does it mean to “participate intentionally?”
An intention is an interior choice to cultivate a certain posture. It is a desire or a choice to be present, open and surrender or offer ourselves with Jesus. We set aside our preoccupations for a moment. In this case, we are “participating intentionally
In the Paschal Mystery.
The Paschal Mystery is the death and resurrection of Jesus. How do we “intentionally participate” in Jesus’s death and resurrection? The process is similar to what we do when we celebrate the Eucharistic. We join Jesus on the cross as we die to ourselves. We die to our personal agenda and projects. We die to having the last word about anything. We die to having power and control over every or any situation. We become one with Jesus on the Cross in the gift of his life to the Daddy and to us. “Not my will but Your Will be done.” We join Jesus in our offering ourselves and our lives to God to dispose of as God wishes.
We all think that we have more control over life than we actually have. For example, in the end or as we age, we will have to say “Yes!” to the process of aging, diminishment and death. But whatever our age, we need to align our spirits with the Holy Spirit and find the path of Life as opposed to expecting God to bless our agendas and projects that may provide us our sense of self-worth and inflate our egos. We lose our life to gain Life.
After dying to ourselves, there may be a liminal period of darkness. We may have to wait for the new life in the Spirit to express itself. It may be so subtle that we miss it initially. We will learn through patient prayer and the action of the Holy Spirit upon us how to calibrate our hearts to the sensitivity of the Spirit and the realization of new life in God. If we patiently wait, listen, hope, we will find and
Celebrate one’s own union with Christ and of participation in the inner life of the Trinity.
We discover what we have. We discover who we already are. We live and move and have our being in God. This experience is tasting or glimpsing the Life of the Resurrection that God is ready and willing to share with us as we die to ourselves having the last word. We are not God, but we do participate in God and God can express God’s self through us. We can be God for others. They (especially our spouses) will be God for us. We become divine instruments of transformation for one another as we show grace and compassion to one another.
Our participation in God is the Ground of our Being or the source of our Life and Being. It is our breath. It is our heart beating. It is our consciousness. Rather than having a relationship with God we are already in relationship to God. We are already one with God and in union with God or we would be nothing. We are nothing apart from God who sustains our life. Thomas Keating says elsewhere (Open Mind, Open Heart (2005), p.33) that “The chief thing that separates us from God is the thought that we are separated from Him. If we get rid of that thought, our troubles will be greatly reduced…The present moment, every object we see, our inmost nature are all rooted in God.”
Our participation in the “Divine energy” becomes a “universal prayer for the needs of the whole human family.”
We start by saying “Yes!” and participate in the Paschal Mystery as we consent to our death to ourselves and begin to experience the Life of the Resurrection. We begin to let go of our self-made worlds, having to have the last word or power or control over every situation that arises. As we sit in this posture of Centering Prayer only present to God as God is, we are present to the needs of the whole human family since that is where God already is present. We bring all our needs, our whole life experience and history, all our loved ones to God. First, our world is present and held before God. At the same time, we then are present to God. In Whom, the world or cosmos is held in being and which apart from God would be nothingness. Our loved ones are loved by us as we carry them within us to God. Our loved ones are loved by God as God sustains them and treats them as God’s beloved. As Fr. Vinny like to say, “they are twice loved.”
Our prayer becomes apostolic as it “transmits the grace of Christ into this world.” Our time of prayer is of “inconceivable value and vastly transcends ourselves.”
our prayer periods become a liturgy without words,
a celebration of one’s own union with Christ,
and of participation in the inner life of the Trinity.
Every little drop of experience is of almost inconceivable value
and vastly transcends ourselves.
In other words, the Divine energy that is accessed by each one’s participation
in Christ’s passion, death and resurrection
becomes a kind of universal prayer for the needs of the whole human family.
It has a radiation that is truly apostolic,
apostolic in the sense of transmitting the grace of Christ into this world.”
–Fr. Thomas Keating OCSO, Intimacy with God
I would like to reflect on parts and pieces of this excerpt.
What does it mean to “participate intentionally?”
An intention is an interior choice to cultivate a certain posture. It is a desire or a choice to be present, open and surrender or offer ourselves with Jesus. We set aside our preoccupations for a moment. In this case, we are “participating intentionally
In the Paschal Mystery.
The Paschal Mystery is the death and resurrection of Jesus. How do we “intentionally participate” in Jesus’s death and resurrection? The process is similar to what we do when we celebrate the Eucharistic. We join Jesus on the cross as we die to ourselves. We die to our personal agenda and projects. We die to having the last word about anything. We die to having power and control over every or any situation. We become one with Jesus on the Cross in the gift of his life to the Daddy and to us. “Not my will but Your Will be done.” We join Jesus in our offering ourselves and our lives to God to dispose of as God wishes.
We all think that we have more control over life than we actually have. For example, in the end or as we age, we will have to say “Yes!” to the process of aging, diminishment and death. But whatever our age, we need to align our spirits with the Holy Spirit and find the path of Life as opposed to expecting God to bless our agendas and projects that may provide us our sense of self-worth and inflate our egos. We lose our life to gain Life.
After dying to ourselves, there may be a liminal period of darkness. We may have to wait for the new life in the Spirit to express itself. It may be so subtle that we miss it initially. We will learn through patient prayer and the action of the Holy Spirit upon us how to calibrate our hearts to the sensitivity of the Spirit and the realization of new life in God. If we patiently wait, listen, hope, we will find and
Celebrate one’s own union with Christ and of participation in the inner life of the Trinity.
We discover what we have. We discover who we already are. We live and move and have our being in God. This experience is tasting or glimpsing the Life of the Resurrection that God is ready and willing to share with us as we die to ourselves having the last word. We are not God, but we do participate in God and God can express God’s self through us. We can be God for others. They (especially our spouses) will be God for us. We become divine instruments of transformation for one another as we show grace and compassion to one another.
Our participation in God is the Ground of our Being or the source of our Life and Being. It is our breath. It is our heart beating. It is our consciousness. Rather than having a relationship with God we are already in relationship to God. We are already one with God and in union with God or we would be nothing. We are nothing apart from God who sustains our life. Thomas Keating says elsewhere (Open Mind, Open Heart (2005), p.33) that “The chief thing that separates us from God is the thought that we are separated from Him. If we get rid of that thought, our troubles will be greatly reduced…The present moment, every object we see, our inmost nature are all rooted in God.”
Our participation in the “Divine energy” becomes a “universal prayer for the needs of the whole human family.”
We start by saying “Yes!” and participate in the Paschal Mystery as we consent to our death to ourselves and begin to experience the Life of the Resurrection. We begin to let go of our self-made worlds, having to have the last word or power or control over every situation that arises. As we sit in this posture of Centering Prayer only present to God as God is, we are present to the needs of the whole human family since that is where God already is present. We bring all our needs, our whole life experience and history, all our loved ones to God. First, our world is present and held before God. At the same time, we then are present to God. In Whom, the world or cosmos is held in being and which apart from God would be nothingness. Our loved ones are loved by us as we carry them within us to God. Our loved ones are loved by God as God sustains them and treats them as God’s beloved. As Fr. Vinny like to say, “they are twice loved.”
Our prayer becomes apostolic as it “transmits the grace of Christ into this world.” Our time of prayer is of “inconceivable value and vastly transcends ourselves.”