Humans generally understand the different contexts in which we come to truly know a person each add texture and different levels of intimacy to a relationship: dinner with parents reveals something different from caring for someone while sick, which is different than holding hands. Nearly everyone will accept that the most intimate level of encounter is one-one-one encounter, not filtered through the experience or insights of another, a fully present giving of self and receiving the other in complete trust.
These same things can all be said of our relationship with God. Yet, it seems that the typical religious experience leaves too many knowing God almost solely through degrees of separation. Knowing God by way of catechism class or carefully constructed prayers and meditations or testimonials of others are all good and holy ways of knowing the Beloved more fully, yet they all fall short of pure, intimate, presence. Even the Scriptures are considered sacred precisely because they are recognized as someone else’s rendering of a God encounter. The Church has elevated the Eucharist above these other spiritual goods because it is the “True” presence of God, beyond filter or context. The beauty of contemplative practice is that it offers opportunity this kind of “True” encounter everywhere and always, beyond even the veiling appearances of bread and wine!
Contact us at 314-578-0062 or [email protected]!