For this month, we are borrowing one of Fr. Richard Rohr’s daily meditations (from Friday, September 30, 2016) which have a large following among deep thinkers. We have very slightly abbreviated it. Richard Rohr. OFM is a globally recognized ecumenical thinker, teacher and author and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Love is just like prayer; it is not so much an action that we do, but a dialogue that already flows through us. We don’t decide to “be loving”; rather, to love is to allow our deepest and truest nature to show itself. (….)
The love in you—which is the Spirit in you—always somehow says yes (see 2 Corinthians 1:19-20). Love is not something you do; love is Someone you are. It is your True Self. [1] Love is where you came from and love is where you’re going. It’s not something you can attain. It’s not something you can work up to, as much as something you allow yourself to fall into! It is the living presence of God within you, (…)
You can’t manufacture this by any right conduct. You can’t make God love you one ounce more than God already loves you right now. You can go to church every day for the rest of your life, but God isn’t going to love you any more than God already loves you right now.
You cannot make God love you any less, either—not an ounce less. You could do the most terrible thing and God wouldn’t love you any less. (You would probably love yourself much less, however.)
You cannot change the Divine mind about you! The flow is constant and total toward your life. God is for you!
You can’t diminish God’s love for you. What you can do, however, is learn how to believe it, receive it, trust it, allow it, and celebrate it, accepting Trinity’s whirling invitation to join in the cosmic dance.
Catherine LaCugna ends her giant theological tome on Trinity with one simple sentence. It’s taken her two-and-a-half inches of book to get to this one line, and its simplicity might overwhelm you, but I can’t end in any better place than she does:
The very nature of God, therefore, is to seek out the deepest possible communion and friendship with every last creature on this earth.
That’s God’s job description. That’s what it’s all about. The only things that can keep you out of this divine dance are fear, doubt, or self-hatred. What would happen in your life—right now—if you accepted being fully accepted?
It would be a very safe universe.
You would have nothing to be afraid of.
God is for you.
God is leaping toward you!
God is on your side, honestly more than you are on your own.
To read the entire text including cited references, please click: https://cac.org/god-is-for-us-2016-09-30/
To subscribe to Richard Rohr’s free daily meditation or his weekly summaries: https://cac.org/sign-up/
