It is the little things that disturb our peace, hold us back, and lead us to undervalue our own presence in the world. It is the distractions and annoyances, rather than our own mistakes, which more readily distance us from a calm and on-going awareness of our spiritual life: an awareness that, once found, we long to be able to maintain, to deepen, and to increasingly inhabit.
The unavoidable; the inconvenient; the unexpected; the obtrusive; the importunate; all interruptions and demands upon our attention and our time have a tendency to dismantle the hard-won peace we have been building within our hearts and minds. And when we have to endure a succession of such things, overlapping, and with some of them seemingly impossible to resolve, the distraction and annoyance are easily transformed into frustration and a disconcerting readiness to conjure and dwell upon a range of un-Christian thoughts and attitudes toward the world around us and the people we meet.
The exchanges between devils in C. S. Lewis’s book, The Screwtape Letters, include the passing on of this truth from the experienced senior devil to his junior: “… you will have noticed that nothing throws him into a passion so easily as to find a tract of time which he reckoned on having at his own disposal unexpectedly taken from him. It is the unexpected visitor (when he looked forward to a quiet evening), or the friend’s talkative wife (turning up when he looked forward to a tête-à-tête with the friend), that throw him out of gear.”
Our mistakes, and even any major falls we have during our journey, may bring our inner life to its knees and may generate turmoil and considerable anguish, but this is precisely because we are maintaining our spiritual awareness. Our fall deepens that awareness, and our feelings and thoughts cannot be separated from it. The anguish itself has the paradoxical capacity to lead us to a further deepening, not only of awareness, but of confidence in our worth in the mind of God.
The minor irritations do not carry that potential, but they have the power to keep us from realizing our own. It is the little things that keep from our consciousness that we each have a part to play in God’s plan, and thus ensure that we do not think to believe and act accordingly.
When our faith begins to take on real meaning for us – however this may come about – our awareness is increasingly filled with some aspect of it, and, no matter how frequently it is pushed aside by interruptions and other distractions, it returns of its own accord. Our hope, and our aim, should be to reach the point where it barely leaves us at all, whatever the demands upon our attention and concentration. It is this undisturbed self-awareness and consciousness of the presence of God: the following of Christ within, and reliance on His Holy Spirit’s guidance in all things, that forms the bedrock of a life lived in peace and truth.
F. F. Bruce, referring to mysticism in relation to St Paul’s life, wrote, ‘... it is probably true that the mystic, as commonly conceived, tends to be self-sufficient in his religious life, or at least can well be self-sufficient when circumstances require. He may be gregarious and friendly; he may attach high importance to life in society, but he does not depend on it for his religious sustenance. Paul insisted on the common life in the body of Christ, in which the members were interrelated and interdependent, each making a personal contribution to the good of the others and of the whole; yet, when necessity so dictated, he could maintain his spiritual existence apart from external aids, human or material. “I have learned the secret of being content (autarkēs)”, he says, “in whatever state of life I am” (Philippians 4:11). Yet this autarkeia is not Stoic self-sufficiency: it is so complete a dependence on the Christ who lives within him that all else is, by comparison, expendable ...’ (Paul: Apostle of the Free Spirit. F. F. Bruce.)
This brings St John of the Cross to mind, with his reference to, “…a commonly quoted spiritual adage which says: ‘Gustato spiritu, desipit omnis caro.’
The unavoidable; the inconvenient; the unexpected; the obtrusive; the importunate; all interruptions and demands upon our attention and our time have a tendency to dismantle the hard-won peace we have been building within our hearts and minds. And when we have to endure a succession of such things, overlapping, and with some of them seemingly impossible to resolve, the distraction and annoyance are easily transformed into frustration and a disconcerting readiness to conjure and dwell upon a range of un-Christian thoughts and attitudes toward the world around us and the people we meet.
The exchanges between devils in C. S. Lewis’s book, The Screwtape Letters, include the passing on of this truth from the experienced senior devil to his junior: “… you will have noticed that nothing throws him into a passion so easily as to find a tract of time which he reckoned on having at his own disposal unexpectedly taken from him. It is the unexpected visitor (when he looked forward to a quiet evening), or the friend’s talkative wife (turning up when he looked forward to a tête-à-tête with the friend), that throw him out of gear.”
Our mistakes, and even any major falls we have during our journey, may bring our inner life to its knees and may generate turmoil and considerable anguish, but this is precisely because we are maintaining our spiritual awareness. Our fall deepens that awareness, and our feelings and thoughts cannot be separated from it. The anguish itself has the paradoxical capacity to lead us to a further deepening, not only of awareness, but of confidence in our worth in the mind of God.
The minor irritations do not carry that potential, but they have the power to keep us from realizing our own. It is the little things that keep from our consciousness that we each have a part to play in God’s plan, and thus ensure that we do not think to believe and act accordingly.
When our faith begins to take on real meaning for us – however this may come about – our awareness is increasingly filled with some aspect of it, and, no matter how frequently it is pushed aside by interruptions and other distractions, it returns of its own accord. Our hope, and our aim, should be to reach the point where it barely leaves us at all, whatever the demands upon our attention and concentration. It is this undisturbed self-awareness and consciousness of the presence of God: the following of Christ within, and reliance on His Holy Spirit’s guidance in all things, that forms the bedrock of a life lived in peace and truth.
F. F. Bruce, referring to mysticism in relation to St Paul’s life, wrote, ‘... it is probably true that the mystic, as commonly conceived, tends to be self-sufficient in his religious life, or at least can well be self-sufficient when circumstances require. He may be gregarious and friendly; he may attach high importance to life in society, but he does not depend on it for his religious sustenance. Paul insisted on the common life in the body of Christ, in which the members were interrelated and interdependent, each making a personal contribution to the good of the others and of the whole; yet, when necessity so dictated, he could maintain his spiritual existence apart from external aids, human or material. “I have learned the secret of being content (autarkēs)”, he says, “in whatever state of life I am” (Philippians 4:11). Yet this autarkeia is not Stoic self-sufficiency: it is so complete a dependence on the Christ who lives within him that all else is, by comparison, expendable ...’ (Paul: Apostle of the Free Spirit. F. F. Bruce.)
This brings St John of the Cross to mind, with his reference to, “…a commonly quoted spiritual adage which says: ‘Gustato spiritu, desipit omnis caro.’
… After the taste and sweetness of the spirit have been experienced, everything carnal is insipid.”
Ascent of Mount Carmel. (II:XVII)
Lord Jesus, we open ourselves to you;
we open ourselves to the undeniable touch of the Holy Spirit in our lives:
the touch by which we learn the tastelessness of all that beckons us into the world.
Live within us this day and every day,
making your presence inseparable from the living of our lives.
While strengthening and teaching us for your service,
enable us to learn the secret of being content in all things.
