Dear Friends,
We hope that you are safe and well.
In today's Meditation, I/Ron have put together some of my reflections on "eternal life." They have been stimulated by our Gospel readings these last few Sundays on the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6 and by this commentary from SALT. We would be interested in your reflections too.
We invite you to join us as we commit ourselves to working tirelessly to end systemic and structural racism in our society, in the church, in healthcare, in the workplace--wherever it shows up so that everyone may come to have more abundant life. May this meditation nourish our contemplative-active hearts and sustain all of us in action.
In the spirit of our philosophy of co-creating community and our awareness that the Spirit speaks through each of us, we invite you to share your meditations with us as well. We truly believe that it is God's economy of abundance: when we share our blessings, our thoughts, our feelings, we are all made richer.
We hope and pray that you find peace, healing, hope and the infusion of joy in your life!
With our love and care,
Ron and Jean
MEDITATION 429: Ron and SALT reflect on "Eternal Life"
I was enthralled with this commentary on Jesus saying, "I am the bread of life...whoever eats this bread will never be hungry again...this bread that I will give you remains into eternal life" and John saying "our joy won't be complete until we can share it with you!"
The SALT commentator writes: "Jesus calls this deep nourishment “the food that endures for eternal life” — literally, “the food that remains (menei) into (eis) eternal life.” Please note, Jesus does not say, “the food that gives you life after death.” Afterlife is not his subject; for him, “eternal life” is a mode of intimate, mutual indwelling with God that can begin here and now, well before death. Precisely as intimacy with God, it cannot be limited by death — but the key point is not that “eternal life” is a longer life, but rather that it's a life with and in God. In other words, as Jesus presents it in John, “eternal life” is a matter of quality of life, not “quantity” of life. After all, “eternal” doesn’t mean “lasting a very, very, very long time” — since even the longest time is still temporal (indeed, it’s all the more temporal the longer it lasts!). “Eternal life” means a life of intimacy with God that transcends time altogether, in that sense a “timeless” life of beauty and grace."
****************
This portrayal of God wanting this deep intimacy with us is the sermon of my (Ron) life. This intimacy is highlighted on the day of our baptism when God says to us as God said to Jesus: "You are My Beloved--In you I take delight." "Make your home in Me as I make My home in you!" "Come to Me, all you who are weary and I will give you rest."
I have been sharing with you that my meditation mantras lately have been: "You are the air we breathe in" and "Rest in My Love." In the last few days, I have been moved to pray, "My God and My All."
This way of thinking that eternal life is not about time nor about after-death, but rather about an ongoing way of being right here and now: an intimacy with God--God standing on tip-toe desiring intimacy with us. If we live in this intimacy, it tends to help us show up in the world with a joyful heart (despite whatever storms we are facing) and a sense of wonder and curiosity and a sense of connection and solidarity to all human beings, all sentient beings--Mother Earth, the Cosmos.
This way of thinking about eternal life reminds me of Catherine of Siena saying "all the way to heaven is heaven"--it's not just for later, it's a way of being in the world all along the way. It reminds me of Teilhard de Chardin saying, "We are not human beings having a spiritual journey; we are are spiritual beings now having a human journey." The implication being that our connection with God and with one another and with the Cosmos isn't limited by birth and death.
And "our joy won't be complete until we can share it with you."