Wonderfully Made
A work of clay begun blindfolded . . . tears flowing kept the clay wet as I continued working with an image in my mind - broken hearted, being held in God’s loving hands. I later added a few tears. 2013, Retreat at Ignatius House, Atlanta, GA
Monday of the Third Week in Lent – 3/13/23
We are on Day 20 – halfway through the 40 days of Lent that end on the Saturday preceding Palm Sunday, and what is also called Passion Sunday. This starts the week that includes Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, and which concludes when the Easter Vigil takes place.
As an Ignatian Spiritual Director, one of our practices is offering the Spiritual Exercises. This consists of a set series of ‘exercises’ that take one through the development and growth of the spiritual life. One of the first steps is to help our directee (the one seeking direction), understand how precious they are in the sight of God. That they were made with such love and intention, in the image of God – the Trinity.
St. Clare points out in a letter to Agnes of Prague, “Indeed, it is now clear that the soul of a faithful person, the most worthy of all creatures because of the grace of God is greater than heaven itself, since the heavens and the rest of creation cannot contain their Creator; only a faithful soul is his dwelling place and throne, and this only through the charity that the wicked lack. The Truth says: Whoever loves me will be loved by My Father, and I too shall love him, and We shall come to him and make Our dwelling place with him.” John 14:21.23
Psalm 139, when truly examined with Lectio Divina (which was described, in detail, in a previous post) can be one of the most profound scriptures to reflect upon and can take up days of meditation and contemplation, it is so rich.
While the first few verses might seem intimidating, reading how well-known we are by our Creator – “You know when I sit down and when I rise up . . . you discern my thoughts . . . you search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Oh dear! All my thoughts? All my comings and goings? When I go to bed and when I wake up and everything in between? All my ways? WOW!
I don’t think I was able to comprehend this passage as loving and positive until I became a parent and looked down at the new human being I co-created with God. I knew when the baby went to bed, and when she woke up and when she needed to eat or have her diaper changed. In the early days, I had to learn to know all her needs and a Mother’s intuition helped greatly! The love was so overwhelming that I wanted to make sure all of her needs were met!
Of course, as she grew older, and started exploring her independence from me, it was harder to know each and every one of her needs, but I was still trying to pay attention in case I was able to meet them. I still made sure she had adequate clothing and meals and of course, love and attention. But, the difference between me being the parent and God being the Creator, is His love is unconditional and perfect and unfailing and everlasting. My love, even on my best days was not unconditional as much as I would have insisted it was – that is impossible for humans, but not for God. My love was as perfect as I could manage, but I’m sure it fell short or even failed at times when sleep deprivation, poor diet, or other demands of family stretched me too thin. So far, it is everlasting . . . it has lasted as long as we have, but only through the Grace of God!
What I loved about St. Clare’s letter to Agnes what considering that, “only a faithful soul is His (God the Creator’s) dwelling place and throne, and only through the charity (love) that the wicked lack.”
Again, there is so much evil, rampant in this world today! “Wicked” is not just the name of a Broadway Musical . . . it is a pervasive aspect of part of our culture now. Satan is the great deceiver . . . the King of Deception . . . and I’m guessing he’s pretty proud of that title. He puts such glitter and shimmer on things to mask their darkness. If we saw how truly ugly evil is, I seriously doubt we would entertain it at all! But we believe the lies because they are so tempting.
Also, as a Spiritual Director, it is our job to help our directees learn to discern between the True Light of the Holy Spirit and the false light of the evil spirit. That’s why we prescribe the Spiritual Exercises that St. Ignatius left as guidelines for this work.
Once we realize how precious we are to Jesus and His loving Father, our Creator, we usually feel compelled to try to turn our lives around to become willing hosts to them in our hearts. We are called to be Temples of the Holy Spirit, as well.
This, consequently opens up our understanding of what we need to correct in our lives to make a more appropriate space for the Trinity to call “Home”. We become more aware of our sinful nature and our continual tendency to turn away from the promptings of the Holy Spirit, or the voice of God, and do our will rather than God’s will.
When we sense the gap we are creating, we then learn that we need to do the work of reconciling ourselves back to God’s good graces. They are always there, we have just been rejecting them, even if unintentionally.
Perhaps we will reach the time when we try to understand at a deeper and more personal level, the Passion of Christ. We have that opportunity coming up in 20 days! How much he truly suffered for us because of His love for us and for His Father. How perfectly He understood the will of His Heavenly Father, and focused on that, rather than His own will. And, perhaps we will try to live trusting God’s will more than our own.
I don’t know if, on this side of the veil, this side of heaven, that we can truly comprehend such a love, nor such a sacrifice. Nor can we understand why any part of the Trinity would want to make themselves at home in our hearts? But, the teachings of Jesus tell us this is so.
Prayer, reading the Bible, studying with friends and wise elders, retreats, spiritual direction, and of course, taking any advantage of receiving the sacraments of the church – considering Baptism, (if not already baptized), Confirmation (a personal acceptance of an earlier Baptism), reconciliation (reconciling ourselves to Christ, confessing our sins), and Eucharist (Holy Communion at Mass).
Maybe just start with one line of Psalm 139, Verse 14 “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
May you continue to be blessed on your Lenten journey.