Expanding our image of God invites us to embrace a God of radically amazing Mystery, One who continuously gives expression from within creation, One who emerges as new life in every nook and cranny of creation. (Radical Amazement by Judy Cannato)
I recently finished a 4 week course using Judy Cannoto’s book and was taken by her last chapter That All May be One: Living in Radical Amazement where I read the above quote. The reading from Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11 prompted me to go back and read this chapter. Hear his prophetic voice: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; God has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God.” Isaiah invites us into a radical seeing of God/Mystery in a world that would look so different if we allowed the Spirit to “hover over us/the Earth”. Listen with the ear of your heart! Pray with your mind and heart these words of Isaiah.
Advent invites us into Mystery – the Mystery of a God who comes to us as a child/a baby, who grows to “proclaim the Good News” through his life of compassion, mercy, healing, freeing, etc. John the Baptist in John’s Gospel sees himself as one who is called to reflect that light, to “testify to the light”. He knows he is not the Christ but one sent who points the way to the Light/the Christ. John knows himself as “the voice of one crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord”. His vision is so clear, his sense of self so humble, his passion to proclaim the Christ to everyone lights a path for his followers and those who will follow them to know this Jesus who was sent by God out of deep love for the world.
The God we know through Isaiah and John is one of great Mystery, who invites us, nudges us to proclaim through our own lives the Light. Our call is to BE the Good News and to proclaim the Good News through our lives of service, of healing, of friendship, of non violence, of universal love for creation and all its creatures, plants, rivers, etc. After all, we are Guests of God on this earth, just passing through. What kind of footprint do I/we want to leave? What kind of legacy might we want to pass on to our children and their children? How am I Light in the world?
I recently finished a 4 week course using Judy Cannoto’s book and was taken by her last chapter That All May be One: Living in Radical Amazement where I read the above quote. The reading from Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11 prompted me to go back and read this chapter. Hear his prophetic voice: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; God has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God.” Isaiah invites us into a radical seeing of God/Mystery in a world that would look so different if we allowed the Spirit to “hover over us/the Earth”. Listen with the ear of your heart! Pray with your mind and heart these words of Isaiah.
Advent invites us into Mystery – the Mystery of a God who comes to us as a child/a baby, who grows to “proclaim the Good News” through his life of compassion, mercy, healing, freeing, etc. John the Baptist in John’s Gospel sees himself as one who is called to reflect that light, to “testify to the light”. He knows he is not the Christ but one sent who points the way to the Light/the Christ. John knows himself as “the voice of one crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord”. His vision is so clear, his sense of self so humble, his passion to proclaim the Christ to everyone lights a path for his followers and those who will follow them to know this Jesus who was sent by God out of deep love for the world.
The God we know through Isaiah and John is one of great Mystery, who invites us, nudges us to proclaim through our own lives the Light. Our call is to BE the Good News and to proclaim the Good News through our lives of service, of healing, of friendship, of non violence, of universal love for creation and all its creatures, plants, rivers, etc. After all, we are Guests of God on this earth, just passing through. What kind of footprint do I/we want to leave? What kind of legacy might we want to pass on to our children and their children? How am I Light in the world?
S. Patricia (Tricia) Kirk, OSB
Emmanuel Monastery
Lutherville, MD
Emmanuel Monastery
Lutherville, MD
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