“What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. They share it.”
-- C.S. Lewis (The Four Loves)
C.S. Lewis and his wife and friend Joy.
God's Native Language
“Silence is God’s first language.”
-- St. John of the Cross
God enjoys the silence of exploding stars -- and humans who can quiet their minds, hearts and voices. Image courtesy of NASA.
In Every Life
“I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person’s life. God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else—God is in this person’s life. You can, you must try to seek God in every human life.”
-- Pope Francis
Romance
I recently heard a speaker quote Oswald Chambers:
“Get into the habit of saying, ‘Speak, Lord,’ and life will become a romance.”
I was struck by the idea, and I tried to put it into practice. Changing a diaper, sitting in traffic, watching the news, working – I said, “Speak, Lord.” It was a simple thing to do, a simple way to invite God in, to allow him to speak to me when otherwise I would have just been listening to myself. I became more aware of his presence.
But what did Oswald Chambers mean by “romance”?
When we love someone – especially if we are in love with them – we want to be with them. We want to share everything with them. This is a natural and relatable human experience. As it turns out, we are with God all the time, but we rarely call out to him. We rarely seek the God who is hiding in plain sight in our world, in our day, in each moment. We are with the one we love, but we don’t realize it. We aren’t listening for the quiet voice of the beloved.
Jesus described this pervasive divine presence in his own way: “The Kingdom of God is among you” (Lk. 17:21). Indeed, the presence, the reign, the kingdom of God grows, like a mustard seed, from something very small into a wonderful, shady bush where birds can land and rest (Lk. 13:18-19). It grows this way in our lives, too – as we become more aware of how close he is, how much he loves us, how much there is to share. The harsh world outside can feel more like a shady bush if we are living in it with the one we love.
Sounds romantic, doesn’t it? Speak, Lord!
Christian Hope Is Not a Ghost
“See, Christian hope is not a ghost and it does not deceive. It is…a gift from God that cannot be reduced to optimism, which is only human. God does not mislead hope; God cannot deny himself. God is all promise.”
-- Pope Francis, Interview with America Magazine, 2013
Photo by Vatican Pool/Getty Images