You may know that I've been reading some Thomas Merton with Charlie, Tyler, and Gerald. It has been a great journey thus far. Last week, my whole life was disrupted by the following:
"God's will is a profound and holy mystery, and the fact that we live our everyday lives engulfed in this mystery should not lead us to underestimate its holiness...His will is the cloud of darkness that surrounds His intimate presence.
"When we speak of God's will, we are usually speaking only of some recognizable sign of His will. The signpost that points to a distant city is not the city itself, and sometimes the signs that point to a great place are themselves insignificant and contemptible. But we must follow the direction of the signpost if we are to get to the end of our journey.
"...if we are too anxious to pry into the mystery that surrounds us we will lose the prophet's reverence and exchange it for the impertinence of soothsayers. We must be silent in the presence of signs whose meaning is closed to us."
Here's what struck me: for most of my life, I have been struggling to understand the reasoning behind patterns of disappointment in my life. We all have this classic problem: things look like they're going well, and then something happens. Maybe for you it's academics, or internships, or summer plans. Maybe, like me, it's relationships (more on that in person). Regardless, this is part of the human condition: bafflement. Why do these things happen to me?
Merton reminded me that God's will is perfect and holy, and rather than trying to figure things out all the time, we should recognize the signs of mystery and appreciate them. It's not hard, either - whatever your problem du jour is, that's your sign of mystery. "Why am I not married yet?", "Why didn't I get that job that I was well-qualified for?", "Why did that person betray me?". Those are mysteries.
Why can we accept mystery? Because God works all things for the good of those who love Him. He is radically beyond us in wisdom and justice, and yet He has become radically intimate with us through Christ.
So yeah. Mystery. Probably a good thing for us Westerners to remember.
As always, (non-anonymous) comments are welcome.
Peace,
Sam
Or: Thoughts of a Neopuritan.
1 comment:
Hey Sam!
Thanks for sharing that about mystery...very encouraging. I also liked your blog from Sunday- You'll have to introduce me to that linguist friend of yours sometime and we can all talk about the sweetness that is language. Oh yeah, and tenemos que ir a La Tienda. Pronto. -Unmerited Favor Marie Brandenburg Concerto (did I get it?)
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