Richard Rohr offers the words of The Cloud of Unknowing in his meditation today.cac.org/sign-up/
Look. Every rational creature, every person, and every angel has two main strengths: the power to know and the power to love. God made both of these, but [God is] not knowable through the first one. To the power of love, however, [God] is entirely known, because a loving soul is open to receive God’s abundance. . . . [God’s] very nature makes love endless and miraculous. God will never stop loving us. Consider this truth, and, if by grace you can make love your own, do. For the experience is eternal joy; its absence is unending suffering.
I long always to say ‘Yes’ to this message of love but I fail whenever I feel justified in placing restrictions on that love. “I will love everyone except ______, because, after all, I know he/she is really bad.”
And yet I know better. Jesus’ message is to love unconditionally. The Gospels are replete with him telling us to love everyone, even our enemies. Hard to do, and yet the message that God shows no partiality, shows me how radical God is requiring me to be. Jesus definitely turns the world upside down with this one. Unless I return to the love idea I tell myself, I can’t do it. But, wait, I can do it, one moment, one situation,, one person at a time. When I do, I experience the Cloud’s invitation to eternal joy.
Look. Every rational creature, every person, and every angel has two main strengths: the power to know and the power to love. God made both of these, but [God is] not knowable through the first one. To the power of love, however, [God] is entirely known, because a loving soul is open to receive God’s abundance. . . . [God’s] very nature makes love endless and miraculous. God will never stop loving us. Consider this truth, and, if by grace you can make love your own, do. For the experience is eternal joy; its absence is unending suffering.
I long always to say ‘Yes’ to this message of love but I fail whenever I feel justified in placing restrictions on that love. “I will love everyone except ______, because, after all, I know he/she is really bad.”
And yet I know better. Jesus’ message is to love unconditionally. The Gospels are replete with him telling us to love everyone, even our enemies. Hard to do, and yet the message that God shows no partiality, shows me how radical God is requiring me to be. Jesus definitely turns the world upside down with this one. Unless I return to the love idea I tell myself, I can’t do it. But, wait, I can do it, one moment, one situation,, one person at a time. When I do, I experience the Cloud’s invitation to eternal joy.
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