Wednesday, February 8, 2017

True Sanity

Sister Joan Chittister

"Contemplation keeps the inner eye focused on goodness. Contemplation is as important for what it is not as for what it is. Contemplation is not a spiritual fad or some kind of religious trick. ...Contemplation is the crown of the spirit, the gateway of the heart through which all good comes and in which all things are welcomed as gifts of God. Contemplation exists across time, across traditions, beyond cultures, outside of creeds, despite denominational cautions or priestly prescriptions to the contrary. Awareness of the presence of God in the stuff of the daily, the everywhere, the always, the everyone, under-girds every major spiritual path.

"The faithful only believe in God. Contemplatives see God everywhere. Contemplatives see what others cannot even imagine: the presence of God in the things of the daily. The critical difference between those who are faithful and those who are contemplative is that, having come to see God in the world in which they are immersed, contemplatives never cease to see it again, however unbelievable the circumstances may be. It is not the contemplative who is mad. It is the rest of the world who lack what it takes to be sane in an often insane world."

Illuminated Life, Monastic Wisdom for Seekers of Light

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