Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, July 5, 2012





The quest of the human heart for meaning
is the heartbeat of every religion.

Brother David Steindl-Rast
Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer


This is a wonderful thing to think about today. I hope you have time to .. or make time, to do so. Of course, I speak from the luxury of being “retired” … though my days are full and I too have to make time for the things that are important. “Making Time” is a given of Life, I think; “having time” is a fantasy.

For me, through my experience and study, the “human heart” … which includes all the human faculties … is the instrument by which the Mystery we call “God” is revealed. Maybe even created. I like to think, theologically, that “God” is “created” through every moment in which the human heart reaches out for Meaning. In one sense, one of God’s “titles” could be “Meaning” … and I think we come close to that when God says to Moses, “I AM”.

Does it disturb you to think that we create God? I don’t think it should. I think that there is no God without the maturing of each human person in the understanding that, as the early Church Fathers/Mothers … and indeed the Wise of every wise religious/philosophical path say … we come to understand that we are an Incarnation of God … just as Jesus and Zeus and Apollo and the Buddha and Shiva and all the gods/goddesses humankind have ever conceived are. Theologically, however, humans can’t be Gods/Goddesses. We are mortal … they are Divine Myths. But there is a magic moment in which the two become One in some essential way.

Every single God/Goddess we humans have ever created is a manifestation of Ourself … or, of who we think or hope or want our Self to Be.

Jesus says to His disciples: “You did not choose Me; I chose You!” How do I interpret that? In this way:  that this is a description of that superb moment when, in our search for meaning, we know in the heart that we are an Incarnation of our search for Meaning.

Brian+

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