Knowing God...?

This Sunday morning, while waiting in the silence of my room... I am pick up Merton and touched by the passage in his 'Thoughts in Solitude;;;

Knowing God…?

People have many and differing perception of God… Even in my own life, I can discern traces of these many and differing gods.. the god in my youth; the god as a young man; the god of my adult life… and now in my senior years… I am finding Merton’s Prayer: ‘Thou Art Not as Have Conceived Thee… revealing a new understanding of God that is not like all the previous ones…

“Lord, it is nearly midnight and I am waiting for You in the darkness and the great silence.

I am sorry for all my sins.

Do not let me ask any more than to sit in the darkness and light no lights of my own, and be crowded with no crowds of my own thoughts to fill the emptiness of the night in which I await You.

In order to remain in the sweet darkness of pure faith, let me become nothing to the pale, weak light of sense.

As to the world, let me become totally obscure from it forever.

Thus through the darkness, may I come to your brightness at last.

Having become insignificant to the world, may I reach out towards the infite meanings contained in your peace and your glory.

Your brightness is my darkness.

I know nothing of you and, by myself, I cannot even imagine how to go about knowing you.

If I imagine you, I am mistaken.

If I understand you, I am deluded.

If I am conscious and certain I know you, I am crazy.

Darkness is enough.”

(Thomas Merton, OCSC)

Thomas Merton on Contemplation

Thomas Merton on Contemplation…

In his book, ‘The Climate of Monastic Prayer’. Merton defined contemplation as ‘essentially a listening in silence’ and an ‘expectancy’.

‘The true contemplate is not one who prepares his mind for a particular message that he wants or expects to hear, but is one who remains empty because he knows that he can never expect to anticipate the words that will transform his darkness into light. He does not even anticipate a special kind of transformation. He does not demand light instead of darkness. He waits on the Word of God in silence, and, when he is ‘answered’, it is not so much by a word that bursts into his silence.  It is by his silence itself, suddenly, inexplicably revealing itself to him as a word of great power, full of the voice of God.”  (pp.122-123)

Merton had learned early to keep vigil in silence with his heart’s eye on the horizon of the next moment.  The next moment could reveal in light or in shadow the presence of the Beloved he awaited.  He kept his mind’s eye open for the unexpected epiphany.  Waiting without projecting his own needs into the next moment became a dark form of hope.  Merton’s gift to his readers was his honesty in communicating the darkness that was  his ‘rite of passage’ into God’s presence.

(Note: I have been assigned since a year ago as Spiritual Director of the OMI Postulants.  I simply listen and journey with our postulants and also college seminarians as their SD… Part of the self-imposed regimen is to read and read spiritual authors like Thomas Merton and combined them with my own experiences of struggle, darkness,  and even the absence of God yet believing and hoping that God reveals himself even in his absence…)

Letting God be GOD..!

Badaliyya Lesson 1: Let God be God…

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… “Let there be… and there was…” He is the beginning… to him belongs the initiative … and the “wantedness” begins in him.

Experience the Divine Hospitality...  

1. God is a constant RSVP…  
2. He is the Host … 
3. The Rahman and the Rahim … Mercy and Compassion.

 The hospitality of Abraham is the sign among the nations – the gathering of all peoples … announcing in the end that God is constant and insistent RSVP.

God is an invitation to mastery of oneself, discipline, delight, celebration and entrustment.

“Wa ma qadaru-l-llahi hatta drihi” (They did not have the true estimation of God) S6:91.

Who God is to me…?

·      Joy:  God is a King and Miracle worker with all his splendor and majesty.

·      Sad:  God is a friend and consoler.

·      Confused:  God is a Guide and the Truth.

·      Tempted:  God is a hound.  I cannot hide from him.

·      Wronged:  God is a judge – just and forgiving.

·      Usual:  God is the creator and Father.

·      Poor:  God is a Provider and Generous Giver.

·      Reader:  God is the Lord of the universe.

To me… Who God is…?

• The God I address in times of need.  I pray to him.  He is a friend and always present in me…
• He is the God who cares.
• God is everything.
• God is a loving and living one – Father and Friend.
• He I my Guide…
• Without him, I’m nothing…
• He is my protection and comfort.
• The Bounty…
• My sunrise and sunset…

 Our Responses…

1. Obedience to his will…
2. Confession of Sin…
3. Declare that he is the greatest…
4. Sing his praise in thanksgiving…

In Islamic Sufi Tradition…

• God is Supreme and unseen…
• One and only one God…
• No partners…
• All praise due to him…
• Humble myself before him
• Bow to him in adoration…
• Most Merciful and Beneficent…
• We forget him when we have all… and we remember him when we have none.
• Author and Inventor of creation…
• Tolerant God …
• Lord of all…
• Master… I’m his servant.
• Beyond … yet closer to me than the jugular vein…
• My seeing, walking, my everything…
• His absence will reduce me to nothing…
• From him I came to him I shall return…
• One in his essence and attribute…
• He begets not nor begotten…
• None like unto him…

 LET GOD BE GOD!

Challenge at 65....

The Challenge that I face at 65 years old…

The challenge to me today is to learn and to understand the many changes in the universe and with that understanding be able to mentor a new generation, whose attitudes and cultural outlook may be different from mine – so that they understand too. 

I need to show trust, mutual respect, and tolerance, if I am to find the common ground between my generation and the new one and work together to find solutions to the many and varied issues that continue to confront us.  We can no longer afford to stand apart from a common effort to solve our common problems of “unpeace” and lack/little development.

Each of us needs to understand the importance of peace, reconciliation, development, and of reflection.  There is the necessity to open our minds and unlock our hearts to each other.   The Arabic word for this is “TADABBAR”!

Jun Mercado, OMI

May 29, 2013

Trinity Sunday (C)

Dhikr for the Trinity Sunday (C)

Readings: Proverbs 8: 22-31; Romans 5: 1-5; John 16: 12-15

Gospel Passage: “But when he comes, the Spirit of Truth, he will guide you to all truth.

Trinity Sunday reminds us that the ONE God we believe in is a community of persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We are made unto God’s image and likeness, hence our call and our fulfillment as person is to belong to a COMMUNITY of LOVE and UNITY. This is the “seal” of our common FELLOWSHIP and COMMUNION by our baptism – regardless of color, race, belief, language and gender. 

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD...

Dhikr is an Arabic word for remembrance. In the “tariqa” (the way) movement, dhikr developed into a form of prayer… It is a prayer of the heart… following three simple steps:

Ÿ  Write in one’s heart a certain passage of the Holy Writ…

Ÿ  Make the same passage ever present in one’s lips. 

Ÿ  Then wait for God’s disclosure on the meaning of the passage…that interprets one’s life NOW…!

It takes a week of remembering (dhikr)…or even more days to relish the beauty of this method…

The Feast of Pentecost (C)

Dhikr for the Feast of Pentecost

Readings: Acts 2: 1-11; 1 Cor. 12: 3b-7, 12-13; John 20-19-23

Selected Passage: And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." (John 20: 22-23)

Meditation: Jesus gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit… the power to forgive sin and to give NEW life! We are being asked to face this challenge in our world today…

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD...

1st step: Write the text or Dhikr (the Arabic word for REMEMBRANCE) in your heart.

2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...

3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.

6th Sunday of Easter (C)

The Dhikr for the 6^th Easter Sunday (C)

Text:  Peace * I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. (John 14: 27)

  Reflection:  There are many things that bother us and cause us so many anxieties. The Gospel tells us ‘do not let our hearts be troubled or afraid’.  The Risen Christ gives us PEACE!

DHIKR PRAYER SIMPLE METHOD...

Dhikr is an Arabic word for remembrance. In the “tariqa” (the way) movement, Dhikr developed into a form of prayer… It is a prayer of the heart… following three simple steps:

1.Write in one’s heart a certain passage of the Holy Writ…

2.Make the same passage ever present in one’s lips. 

3.Then wait for God’s disclosure on the meaning of the passage…that interprets one’s life NOW…!

It takes a week of remembering (dhikr)…or even more days to relish the beauty of this method…