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Richard's Daily Meditations

Night Sky (detail) by kahanaboy. Courtesy Morguefile.com 

COME EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US!

One of the major problems in the spiritual life is our attachment to our own self-image—either positively or negatively created. We confuse this idea of ourselves with who we actually are in God. Our ideas about things are not the things in themselves. Concepts of themselves are not immediate contact with reality.

Who we are, and forever will be, in God, is a much more enduring and solid foundation. As Paul says, in my paraphrase, I no longer live as a mere “I,” but Christ lives in me and I live in Christ (Galatians 2:20). God always sees his son, Jesus, in me, and cannot not love him (see John 17:22-23). What the Gospel promises us is that we are objectively and inherently children of God (see 1 John 3:2).

This is not a moral worthiness that we attain; it is ontological, metaphysical, and substantial worthiness, and cannot be gained or lost. When this given God-image becomes our self-image, we are home free, and the Gospel is just about the best good news that we can hope for! What a good word with which to face this dark time of winter; and a happy word for our friends in Australia and South Africa who are beginning their summer.

Adapted from Preparing for Christmas with Richard Rohr, pp. 43-44

Prayer:
Come Emmanuel, God with us!