The Dura-Europos Synagogue, Syria, dated to circa 244 A.D.

Richard's Daily Meditations

Seven Underlying Themes of Richard Rohr's Teachings

Second Theme: If God is Trinity and Jesus is the face of God, then it is a benevolent universe. God is not someone to be afraid of, but is the Ground of Being and on our side (Foundation).

God as a Synergy
(“Working Together With”)

Meditation 7 of 52

Contemplation (the prayer beyond words and ideas) is a way to describe what Jesus did in the desert. It is not learning as much as it is unlearning. It is not explaining as much as containing and receiving everything, and holding onto nothing. It is refusing to judge too quickly and refining your own thoughts and feelings by calm observation and awareness over time—in the light of the Big Picture.

You cannot understand anything well once you have approved or disapproved of it. There is too much of you invested there. Contemplation is loosening our attachment to ourselves so that Reality can get at us, especially the Absolute Reality that we call God.

Contemplation is the most radical form of self-abandonment that I can imagine. It is most difficult if there is not a profound trust that there is Someone to whom I can be abandoned! Such self-forgetfulness paradoxically leads one to a firm and somewhat fearless sense of responsibility. Now I can risk responsibility precisely because I know “the buck does not stop here.” There is a co-creation going on, a life-giving synergism that is found somewhere between surrender and personal responsibility—God fully “co-operating with those who love God” (Romans 8:28), and we slowly learning to “second the motion.”

Adapted from Near Occasions of Grace, pp. 18-19

 
Wondrous Encounters: Scripture for Lent (book cover)

Wondrous Encounters:
Scripture for Lent

These daily meditations for Lent
are Fr. Richard’s gift to us for our transformation into our original
“image and likeness,” which is the likeness of God.

Order the book at cac.org/store.

Tambi�n disponible en espa�ol.

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