Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
"Trinity: Week 2"Summary: Sunday, September 18-Friday, September 23, 2016
Divine knowing—some would call it spiritual intuition—is actually an allowing of Someone Else to know in us, through us, for us, and even as us. (Sunday)
The divine flow either flows both in and out, or it is not flowing at all. (Monday)
The Trinity reveals a pattern of perfect freedom whereby each of the Three Persons allows the other Two to be fully themselves, and remains in full given-ness toward each of them, while still allowing, protecting, and honoring itselfas itself, and forever emptying itself of itself to make room for the other Two. (Tuesday)
Trinitarian revelation begins with the loving—and this is the new definition of being! There is now a hidden communion, an Absolute Friendship at the heart of everything. (Wednesday)
A fully Christian theology and philosophy of the human person must say that our personhood originates in the divine Logos, the eternal Christ, as imitations and reflections of God’s relationship to Godself. We are constituted by the same relationship that exists between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! (Thursday)
Insofar as an appropriate degree of self-love is received, held, enjoyed, trusted, and participated in, this is the same degree to which love can be given away to the rest of the world. You can and you must “love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Matthew 19:19)—for your own wholeness and theirs. (Friday)
"Practice: Kenosis"
The Trinity is unhindered kenosis or self-emptying, self-giving, holding nothing back. Jesus modeled such vulnerability and surrender: becoming human, serving the poor and the sick, and giving up his life. As Paul writes:
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross. [1]
Contemplative prayer is a practice of kenosis or self-emptying. At its most basic, contemplation is letting go of our habitual thoughts, preferences, judgments, and feelings. Although life itself—love, awe, or suffering—is often the catalyst for our transformation, contemplation is a daily, small death to false self and ego. It prepares a spacious place in which resurrection of True Self can occur.Imagine you are part of a water wheel. Water flows into one bucket and pours out and into a lower bucket. In the act of lowering and emptying yourself, you make room for more water to fill you. This self-giving flow creates energy and power; it can literally change our relationships, our politics, and our world.
As you practice, I hope this way of being will become part of your actions and interactions with others, beyond your meditation cushion. People filled with the flow will always move away from any need to protect their own power and will be drawn to the powerless, the edge, the bottom, the plain, and the simple. They have all the power they need—and it always overflows, like water, seeking the lowest crevices to fill.
Gateway to Silence: Love flows in and out, in and out.
References:
[1] Philippians 2:6-8, New Revised Standard Version.
Adapted from Richard Rohr with Mike Morrell, The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation (Whitaker House: 2016), 91. This book is available for pre-order at thedivinedance.org.
For Further Study:
Richard Rohr, The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation
Richard Rohr and Cynthia Bourgeault, The Shape of God: Deepening the Mystery of Trinity (CD, DVD, and MP3 download)
Richard Rohr, What Difference Does Trinity Make? (MP3 download)
Join Richard Rohr and Wm Paul Young in conversation:
Webcast: The Divine Dance
The live webcast has passed; however, you may
watch the replay, available through November 7, 2016!
When you pre-order Father Richard’s book, The Divine Dance, you will also receive access to the webcast. Visit thedivinedance.org to learn more.There is no cost to participate in the webcast. If you prefer to watch the webcast without pre-ordering the book, click here to RSVP.
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Richard Rohr's "Let the Flow Happen" Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States for Friday, 23 September 2016 Love can flow toward you in every moment: through a flower, in a grain of sand, in a wisp of cloud….
Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
"Trinity: Week 2""Let the Flow Happen"
Friday, September 23, 2016
Think of your own experience: how many people do you know, including yourself, who are really in this divine dance with an appropriate and balanced degree of self-love and self-giving? It is the very definition of psychological maturity. Even so, we all make a lot of missteps as we learn the dance.
Insofar as an appropriate degree of self-love is received, held, enjoyed, trusted, and participated in, this is the same degree to which love can be given away to the rest of the world. You can and you must “love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Matthew 19:19)—for your own wholeness and for theirs. Without this full flow in and out, we frankly have many “constipated” believers.
This “Golden Rule” is also the gold standard for all growth and development. We learned it from the Trinity. This is the never-ending dance: the movement in and out, of receiving and handing on.
If it’s not flowing out of you, it’s probably because you’re not allowing it to flow toward you. Love can flow toward you in every moment: through a flower, in a grain of sand, in a wisp of cloud, in any one person whom you allow to delight you. You might be experiencing this flow of love when you find yourself smiling at things for no apparent reason.
Spiritual joy has nothing to do with anything “going right.” It has everything to do with things going, and going on within you. It’s an inherent, inner aliveness. Joy is almost entirely an inside job. Joy is not first determined by the object enjoyed as much as by the prepared eye of the enjoyer.
When the flow is flowing, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing. You don’t have to be a priest on the altar or a preacher in a pulpit, that’s for sure. You can be a homemaker in a grocery store or a construction worker at a work site; it doesn’t matter. It’s all inherently sacred and deeply satisfying. As the nineteenth-century poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning put it, “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God.” [1]
All is whole and holy in the very seeing, because you are standing inside the One Flow of Love without the negative pushback of doubting. This is all that there really is. Call it Consciousness, call it God, call it Love; this is the Ground of all Being out of which all things—and especially all good things—come (see James 1:17).
The river is already flowing, and you are in it whether you are enjoying it or not.
The Spirit is your implanted placeholder who teaches you how to pray, how to believe, how to hope, and how to love. As Paul so honestly says, “We do not know how to pray” (Romans 8:26).
You just have to let go of whatever it is within you that is saying no to the flow, judging it as impossible. Let go of any shame that is keeping the Indwelling Spirit from guiding you. Even your sins will become good teachers. The Great Flow makes use of everything, absolutely everything. “Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more” (Romans 5:20). Even your mistakes will be used in your favor, if you allow them to be. That’s how good God is.
Gateway to Silence: Love flows in and out, in and out.
References:
[1] Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Aurora Leigh,” The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse (1917), http://www.bartleby.com/236/86.html.
Adapted from Richard Rohr with Mike Morrell, The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation (Whitaker House: 2016), 85-87. This book is available for pre-order at thedivinedance.org.
Join Richard Rohr and Wm Paul Young in conversation:
Webcast: The Divine Dance
The live webcast has passed; however, you may
watch the replay, available through November 7, 2016!
When you pre-order Father Richard’s book, The Divine Dance, you will also receive access to the webcast. Visit thedivinedance.org to learn more.There is no cost to participate in the webcast. If you prefer to watch the webcast without pre-ordering the book, click here to RSVP.
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Center for Action and Contemplation
Center for Action and Contemplation
1823 Five Points Road South West (physical)
PO Box 12464 (mailing)
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87195, United States
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