A Seed in the Darkness

The Prodigal Son “Everything I have is yours.”  Luke 15:31

The Christian hymn, Be Not Afraid, reminds us that wherever our life takes us, God is with us.  If we climb the highest mountain, He is there.  If we swim to the farthest depths of the ocean, He is there.  If we travel beyond the lush rain forest, He is there.  In the crashing of the waves.  In the searing of the sun.  He is there.  In the shadows, He is there.  Never can we hide or wander so far, that He cannot reach us.  He is there.  In all the darkness and joy, he continues to love more.  Thomas Keating beautifully says, “The chief thing that separates us from God is the thought that we are separated from God”.  

I recently watched a documentary, In the Heart of a Man, based on the Prodigal Son.  That my husband felt compelled to choose this documentary, gave me pause.  The Prodigal Son passage in scripture has be reoccurring in my mind, over and over these past few weeks.  Then a week ago, the pastor gave a homily on The Prodigal Son.  In the past, it was the son that stayed with the father, that I could relate the most.  However, I was also able to see myself in the prodigal son.  The one that wandered away.  This documentary takes us into the heart of the son that went away from the father.  As the speakers in the movie, share the trials in their life, the picture steps away and shows the life of struggle of the prodigal son that wandered from the father.  It begins with the father making his son a beautiful violin.  As they play the violin together in harmony, the son begins to look away to a distant island.  The father continues to play and love the son but the son is lured away.  Eventually, he falls from the cliff and plunges, freely, into the ocean.  He is washed up ashore to the island where sin and darkness await him.  Our stories may differ but a heart of sin, aches.  The graphic scenes and meaning, began to flow through crevices in my heart.  Places that had been barren.  As the son is consumed in the darkness, his struggle leaves him to the point of lifelessness.  God was there.  When sin, little or great, takes hold in a life, God is in each moment.  When you grieve, suffer or leap for joy, He is right there calling you back.  It is only through his love that hope is possible.

Moments of grace come in all forms.  Yesterday, I randomly opened my contemplation read, I usually read before my Contemplative Prayer, and it opened to the passage, The Prodigal Son.  There it was, again.  I began to realize that the thoughts I had of both sons in the past, now I saw both sons much differently.  I saw my life in both of the sons, in a new way.  Through the eyes of God.  Not as a punishment or trial, but as a redemption.  In the son that remained with the father, he was righteous in believing that all should be his.  He felt he was a slave for the father.  In the son that strayed we see the son turned away from his father’s love and into the lures of the world and its attraction.  In one son we can reflect on pride and righteousness and the other we can see when we have acted in ways that have steered us away from love.  I prayed for God to uproot the pride in me, He set me on a path to humility.  The more we pray for virtues, the more our soul lightens.  Our heart becomes open.  Our mind is free to create and focus on His will.

The heart of man can change, when love is allowed in.  A heart and mind can become more open.  Life can hold more clarity. Peace and calm can dwell in the spirit.  The soul is nourished. The journey of love and hope takes on new meaning. We see companions, through the eyes of God. In God’s love a seed is in us. From that seed new life can emerge. God wants to grow His garden in us. In ways no gardener could ever fathom to create, on his own.  Like a garden, its precious flowers may bloom in us.  It changes us. Wherever you may be on your journey, God is there. Always with open arms.  Reach for His light.  God’s Grace.  He waits.  He always forgives.  He loves unconditionally.

Let us pray.  Lord, giver of life.  Mary, our Mother.  Guide us through the darkness.   Let the seed of your love take root in us.  Forgive us for our sins.  Give us hope.  Let us see ourselves and those around us, through your eyes.  Amen.

Peace,

Claudia

Our Nourished Soul

We rarely think of the air we breathe, yet it is in us and around us all the time.  In similar fashion the presence of God penetrates us, is always around us, is always embracing us.  by Thomas Keating