Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice
and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person,
and they with me.—Rev 3:20
Jesus uses the image of him knocking on the door asking for entry. If we allow him to enter he wills supper with us. Meals between friends are often a joyous affair. If not in a celebratory mood, then it is one of sharing over the events of life that can cause pain and suffering. So then, to dine can be a time of deep sharing and listening. We don’t ask people we don’t trust out to a meal, nor would we spend time and money if we liked to cook, preparing a meal for them. Banquets and diplomatic affairs don’t really count. They are for other reasons other than friendship, and are bound by many rules of etiquette. They are not intimate affairs and are often a chore to go to. When with ones beloved family and with friends we can be ourselves, the only thing that limits us is our ability to trust those who are trustworthy.
What is a relationship with Jesus like? All relationships take time to develop, to deepen. With our friends trust grows over time. We do test one another and if trust is betrayed, even if we understand the reasons behind it, a deep trust may never be reestablished, though some kind of ‘friendship’ may survive.
With Christ, or with God, all is already known, so there are no secrets. In fact when I say ‘all is known’ it pertains to aspects of ourselves that we do not even know that we have, or if we do, just a small portion of it. We are beings filled with light and darkness, a dance of interior struggle; with freedom, compulsion, love and hate. Usually the deeper we go into our inner world we find much that is not peaceful, more like a raging inner storm when things are rough. Our past projected onto the present and future can hound us and make our lives difficult…..that is until we find someone we can trust without fear.
In the light of the Infinite, we are loved in spite of all that is hidden, buried under layers of repression. Repression is not always dire; it can protect us until the time comes when we can handle what needs to be brought before the light that already sees. In our relationship with the eternal, there are no surprises, shock or dismay…there is only the desire to bring us to deeper freedom to love and to become what we are made to be and already are…the children of a loving Father.
When the Eternal Light knocks on the door of our hearts, he calls us by our real name, by our true essence. Our true name, will one day we revealed to us, that deep core that is always before the eyes of our merciful, loving, eternal Father. The dark night of the soul is needed to purge of us of false images of this infinite mystery that we call God. Slowly God dances with us, with our images, and in that we are wounded further, we limp, crawl, yet the process continues until we can run on our path to Infinite Union.
Those who seek will find, those who knock the door will be opened, or perhaps our knocking is in reality our accepting the invitation of the God who is constantly knocking on the door of our hearts. In this year of Mercy we are called to pray for the salvation and healing of all. To see the human being in front of us, instead of labeling and boxing in and in that causing great harm. To enter into their lives, to seek to understand their hearts and in doing that, we find that we grow in understanding of ourselves as well. For we are all healers of one another if we understand our connections, our common experiences and failures….for those we know and react to are often mirroring back to us what we often do not see in ourselves…..that also goes for the light and love we see in those we connect with. Leading us to have compassion for their painful struggles to simply get through the day; we no longer cling to the burden of having to judge, often rashly. One day for all of us our pilgrimage will end and we well discover how deep and wondrous this love of God is…..which is beyond our comprehension and understanding.
To believe in the love and mercy of God is not easy, for we live in a world that is hard and often merciless. It can seem like a fantasy for the weak. Yet Christ Jesus is the face of the Father, a revelation of the love that is simply there, seeking us, for on the cross Jesus forgave all, asking the Father for mercy, for we do not know what we often do. The resurrection is not a development of a pagan myth, but an actual event; love has overcome death…..Infinite Light become flesh. The Word incarnated who dwells among us.
Br. Mark Dohle, OCSO
Holy Spirit Monastery
