Real knowledge comes from the unitive experience of God; the world's great saints and mystics have been given the key to that knowledge, and it is in turn their burden as well as their privilege to impart it to others. Once we 'set our minds on God's realm and God's justice before everything else, all the rest will come to us as well.' (Matthew 6:33) We begin to grasp the truth, that contemplative prayer -- that deep, inner loving look at God in silence -- is the way of the path, not acquisitive knowledge. And as we proceed, such amazing understanding of the fabric of the universe will be declared to us that we will scarcely be able to contain ourselves for joy that the creation is as it is. Once we are ready, God does not withhold anything from our grasp. And the measure of our readiness to receive real knowledge is our capacity to flow out in love to our neighbor.
More and more people are discovering that one of Jesus' greatest gifts is the sharing of his life with us through the bread and wine of each day ... and, one of the greatest gifts that we can give to each other is the sharing of our selves. Alice Howell, through her book THE DOVE IN THE STONE: FINDING THE SACRED IN THE COMMONPLACE, gifted me recently with a remembrance of my own Dove story, which I offer to you:
Alone at home one winter's evening, while sitting on the couch barely aware of the snowstorm beating at the window, I wept into the Silence. After a long time, the sobs abated and an anger welled up within from the depths of despair. For the second time in my life, I cried out loud to God, "You promised You would not give us more than we can bear -- this is my limit, so please do something!" Then I covered my face with my hands and the tears continued to flow -- yet, with no accompanying sobs. In less than two minutes, I heard a soft noise at the window and turned to look. There on the outside sill sat a most beautiful white dove. Even though I thought this "couldn't be", there she was just BE-ing for me. We meditated on one another for maybe three minutes. I closed my eyes in a prayer of gratitude for the peace and love which now enveloped me. When I opened them, though the visitation had ended, the dove's imprint continued to live in my heart!
And sometimes now, as I sit in the Silence, I smile in wonder at the infinite variety of ways God creates to knock at the door of our soul, to love and to comfort us in our sorrows, to surprise us with new Life.