I figured it was time to cut to the chase. I told Father Iakovos why I'd come. After years of saying the prayer [the Jesus Prayer], I still hungered for unceasing prayer; I didn't think I had made much progress - except, perhaps, an increasing hunger to know always that sweet sense of God's presence, which I have tasted only fleetingly, intermittently.My frank admission seemed, initially, to stun Father Iakovos. Then he smiled....He said, "This is very good." His eyes were shining, his face bright with what I took to be joy. "I'll tell you what I can tell you," he said.He placed a hand on his chest, just above his abdomen. "You have to hold on to Him," he said, "With all your strength."He brought his other hand there too and made a tight, cupping gesture with both hands - one above the other - saying, "You have to plead with Him to meet you here," his hands parting now and opening so that he was making an oval with his forearms - the right arm low across his lower abdomen, the left arm reaching across his chest. He leaned forward and held his arms there, indicating effort, and said, "And when He arrives, you must hold on to Him, and not let go.""Like Jacob," he said, "you must hold on to Him."And then he sat up straight, still holding his arms before him as if to indicate a womb. "And like Jacob, you must say, 'I will not let You go unless You bless me', and then the wound, the tender hip thereafter, the blessing."I couldn't talk. I only nodded."He is everything," Father Iakovos continued, "and ever-present. He is never not here," he said, touching his upper abdomen, "but when you plead to know He's here, and when he answers you and helps you to meet Him here, you will be wounded by that meeting. The wound will help you know, and that is the blessing."- Scott Cairns, Short Trip to the Edge: Where Earth Meets Heaven - A Pilgrimage (HarperSanFrancisco, 2007), p. 135-7
Monday, September 27, 2010
"You will be wounded by that meeting"
I read this blog post couple of days ago, and would like to share it with you and record it for myself:
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I can see why you would take note of this. There is a tension between our longing to meet Him and His eagerness to meet us. We need to give our everything for that meeting, and it seems He doesn't want to meet us, but He very much is longing for the meeting. He waits though because easy love is cheap, and He knows we need the struggle. I need to remember this..."He answers you and helps you to meet Him here." Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThe parallel between the Meeting and the story of Jacob is new to me.
ReplyDeleteThis is also a practical advise, and simply an inspiration to keep going and apply force. For "the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force" (Matt. 11:12) and "narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life" (Matt. 7:14).