and sustaining presence in our lives and communities.
The fourteenth-century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart sees God not as some remote and static being, but as close and dynamic. He writes: “God in things is activity, reality, and power, but in the soul he is procreative.”42
God’s Spirit—personal, creative, life-giving, healing, forward moving—is no lover of dull conformity and repetitive ceremony. Instead, the Spirit is ever animating and revitalizing. Through the Spirit the tired places are renewed, the broken places are healed, and the places of despair are filled with hope. The work of the Spirit is ever to renew.
Through inspiration and illumination, the Spirit brings not only new insight and wisdom, but also new energy and vitality. Thus, we do not only see more clearly, but we are carried forward by the breath of the Spirit. The Spirit blows us to new places. This is important. It is never simply a matter of new ideas. It is much more a matter of a new inspiration and motivation, and the will to do and the passion to move forward.
Thus the work of God in us is life-giving and generative. And this generativity is one that blesses others and seeks to cooperate with God’s renewing work in our world.
Thought
Like a mother, God brings the new into being. And in being and doing the new we are nourished.
Ephesians 1:7–10
February 12
Union with God
The great longing of Christians throughout the ages has not so much been a longing for heaven, but to be more fully united to God. The great love of the Christian is to be lost in the love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
In our world of pragmatism and activism driven by the economic dream of much-having—a dream that has also impacted the vision of the church—we need to be careful that we do not lose the central thrust of the biblical story.
That central thrust, while it includes the call to serve God in our world in the ministry of evangelization and the work for justice, is the invitation to know God and to enjoy him forever. The first call is always to spiritual intimacy before we hear the call to loving service. Homecoming to the embrace of God is always the first move before being scattered to be salt, light, and leaven in our world.
While we need to be immersed in the world, we first need to be
enamored with God. While there is the call to serve, there is also the call to love and friendship.
The medieval mystic Jan van Ruysbroeck reminds us how important it is to become friends with God and to enter into a fuller communion with God. He writes, “All our powers then fail us and we fall down in open contemplation. All become one and one becomes all in the loving embrace of the threefold Unity. When we experience this Unity, we become one being, one life, and one blessedness with God.”43
Reflection
To enter more deeply into the love of God in Christ through the Spirit is to find our true home and our true purpose.
Acts 1:4–5
February 13
The Life-giving Spirit
It is not so difficult to keep Jesus in view, but the Holy Spirit can so easily fall out of sight. The Spirit, the most mysterious member of the Trinity, the go-between God, the Silent One, is the One who most deeply and profoundly emanates our lives.
St. Bernard has captured well something of the Spirit’s gracious work. He writes, “The revelation which is made by the Holy Spirit gives light so that we may understand and fire so that we might love.”44 This highlights the way our minds are opened and our passions are enlivened by the Spirit. The Spirit thus gives insight and empowerment.
This is one part of the story of the Spirit. There is more. The Spirit renews the face of the earth and revitalizes the people of God. Thus both the created order and the body of Christ are under the energizing work of the Spirit. This says a lot about the amazing diversity of the Spirit’s
interests and concerns.
The Spirit is at work in the church. The Spirit accompanies the
proclamation of the gospel and the reading of Scripture. The Spirit is
present in the sacraments. The Spirit is with us in fellowship, prayer, and service. The Spirit thus energizes the gathered and scattered people of God. The Spirit is in the midst of the community of faith. But the Spirit is also at work in the world. The Spirit prepares hearts for openness to the gospel. The Spirit generates movements of goodness and liberation. The Spirit inspires creativity and beauty. Where there is hope, creativity, and goodness the Spirit is at work.
Reflection
Hidden yet ever present, the Spirit is the source of all wisdom, renewal, and beauty.
Hebrews 12:1
February 14
Hold Fast
The greater the revelation of Christ in our hearts and minds, the greater is the desire to cling to Christ. The more our
response to Christ has been one of social convention or
psychological need, the easier we may let Christ slip out of our lives because our circumstances may have changed.
Becoming a Christian is premised on a revelatory event. Christ reveals himself to us by Word and Spirit and we are captivated by his love and grace. And thus we respond in faith and surrender. In Christ we have come home to the heart of God in the power of the Spirit.
St. Ambrose understands this. He writes, “you received Him into the dwelling of your mind; you saw Him in spirit; you saw with inner eyes. Hold fast your new Guest, long awaited, but lately received.”45
Becoming a Christian is not primarily a social activity, but a spiritual one. It is Christ through the Spirit meeting the seeking and longing heart. It is, therefore, an encounter that is profoundly mystical, even though it may be a response to the gospel or the witness of another person. This is no simple rational experience. It is profoundly spiritual and life changing.
The more profound this experience the more joyfully we will cling to Christ in the long, and at times torturous, journey of faith. And because Christ is deeply embedded within us and is the faithful guest, he will hold us fast. And in both light and darkness we will cling to him. Having been captivated by Christ’s love, we will not let him go.
Reflection
Holding on to Christ, while being held, is the journey of faith.
Jeremiah 23:3–4
February 15
Making Others Whole
The journey towards wholeness is one of grace and one of
often painful transitions. But wholeness cannot only be the fruit of a personal focus, wholeness is communal. It’s the fruit of open receiving and gracious giving.
Anthony,
