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Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States - Center for Action and Contemplation's Father Richard Rohr's Meditation "All Shall Be Well" Monday, 27 October 2014 - A God who could take the worst thing in the world (the killing of the God-Man) and turn it into the best thing (the redemption of the world) is surely a God we can trust to "work all things together for good" (Romans 8:28).Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
"Trust"
"All Shall Be Well"
Monday, 27 October 2014
“All shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” It is amazing that Julian of Norwich could say such a thing after her visions of the crucified Christ. A God who could take the worst thing in the world (“the killing of the God-Man”) and turn it into the best thing (the redemption of the world) is surely a God we can trust to “work all things together for good” (Romans 8:28). Only after a person has once seen the worst turn into the best does their understanding of spiritual reality begin.
Paul speaks of “the folly of the cross” in several places. He seems to see that the mystery of the cross allowed people to incorporate the tragic (the irrational, absurd, and sinful) and even use it for very good purposes. In his thinking, only the Christ perspective can absorb and appreciate paradox—which is order within disorder, redemption through tragedy, resurrection through death, divinity through humanity. For Paul, therefore, the cross and its transformative power is his summary symbol for the depths of divine wisdom, which seems like mere “folly” to the “masters of every age” (1 Corinthians 2:6). The compassionate holding of essential meaninglessness or tragedy, as Jesus does in hanging on the cross, is the final and triumphant resolution of all the dualisms and dichotomies that we ourselves must face in our own lives. We are thus “saved by the cross”!
Conversion is not joining a different group, but seeing with the eyes of the crucified. The cross is Paul’s philosopher’s stone or “code breaker” for any lasting spiritual liberation. God can save sincere people of faith inside any system or religion, if only they can be patient, God-trusting, and compassionate in the presence of misery, failure, or imperfection—especially their own. This is life’s essential journey. These trustful ones have surrendered to the Eternal Christ Mystery, very often without needing to use the exact word “Christ” at all (Matthew 7:21). It is the doing not the saying that matters (Matthew 21:28-32).
Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi, pages 75-76
Gateway to Silence: Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
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