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Gary G. Hoag
“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.”— Psalm 13:1–6
“But in between the temperate use of created things, the virtuous life of reasonable moderation, and the totally spiritualized purity of the saint, which is like a recovery of Adam's innocence in Paradise, in the world's childhood, there lies an abyss which can only be crossed by a blind leap of detachment…
We must face with great resoluteness the task of going beyond ordinary temperance and strive for complete emptiness if we seek to pass beyond the limitations of human virtuousness and enter into the perfect freedom of the sons of God for whom all things are light and joy because all are seen and tasted in and for God.
The mystic lives in emptiness, in freedom, as if he had no longer a limited and exclusive "self" that distinguished him from God and other men. He has, therefore, died with Christ and entered into the "risen life" promised to the true sons of God. Even the joys of the lower levels of contemplation must themselves be renounced by anyone who seeks to pass over into the Promised Land.”
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in New Seeds of Contemplation (New York: New Directions, 1979) 209-210.
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This marks the second to last post from this amazing book. I hope it has blessed you. And today’s Scripture and post are both admittedly long and deep.
But humor me to make two needful points clear for all who want to live generously.
First, entrust your life to God’s unfailing love. That’s why we can make blind leap to detach from His gifts and resolve to attach to Him as our good Giver. David understood this. God’s love is unfailing.
You can trust Him. Though He may be silent. Though your situation may be dark and difficult, though your enemies may seem to triumph over you. Don’t be discouraged or dismayed.
Second, do not just “face with great resoluteness the task of going beyond ordinary temperance and strive for complete emptiness.” Aim to live in the emptiness and enter into the “risen life.”
We were crucified with Christ, as Paul writes, and we no longer live but Christ lives in us. And the life we now live in the flesh we live by faith in the son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.
This propels us to generous living, giving, serving, and loving because we remember in the dark times that God has been good to us, so we can give ourselves to doing good to others.
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