“You’ve got to trust this God who doesn’t tell you in advance what the future’s going to be. He doesn’t tell you. And that’s the contract. Once you say yes, then you begin to find out. It begins to make sense. It begins to reassure you and so on. But here is where Mary stands out magnificently for all of us, and that’s what we mean by saying, ‘Imitate Mary’s fiat,’ which means a lot more than, ‘Okay, I’ll put up with it.’ It means, ‘Here I am. Do with me anything that you want. I’m ready to go anywhere or nowhere. To be something or to be nothing.’ ” Fr Thomas Keating
Dear Friends,
Read that again….
What is Fr Thomas saying to us? What is he saying to you?
This journey of Mary’s, available to a person of any faith tradition for consideration, is our journey. Her assent creates space for surrender.
‘Here I am. Do with me anything that you want. I’m ready to go anywhere or nowhere. To be something or to be nothing.’
This idea stirs up such a range of reactions, thoughts, feelings and responses for me. My own journey has led me to an interesting place these days, and I suspect that’s the case for you too? These complicated times and the constant demand to “adjust” to changing information and points of view is so challenging. Sometimes it’s even hard to just relax on the couch, let alone move into a “Letting go, Letting God” mindset.
But the fundamental movement of surrendering to God’s invitations still calls out to the wayfinder within each of us. And we ask ourselves…What would it be like to “let go” that deeply? To trust that deeply? Who would I be on the other side of such a transformation?
This call to Surrender, found in many spiritual paths, sometimes feels like a standing-on-a-cliff-kinda-trust. Fr Thomas explains:
…it’s by means of these apparently impossible situations that bear no solution that one is pushed to a new level of consciousness in which one perceives the whole of reality from a new perspective,
Surrender is, indeed, a call to trust, ever more deeply. And that is my prayer today, to move into new understandings of what trust means in my life….in relationships, family connections, ministry, as a citizen…all the way down to the molecules and microbes of my life. I wonder what a deepening trust means in yours?
With hope and encouragement in my heart, for each of you dear friends….
and with tender love, Lisa
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