Awakening 1, John Main, Meditatio Series 2014 C
The great thing about our meditation is that we are learning to be still, to be silent, to be aware, so that the Lord Jesus may manifest himself to us, within us; so that his love may become real in us, become realised in us. What we discover in deep prayer is that we ourselves are caught up in this movement that goes on within us, of the love of the Lord Jesus returning to his Father. And that is how we achieve our own self-transcendence: We are quite literally taken out of ourselves in a movement of ecstasy, rapture. Another name for the movement is love.
Something I have tried to stress to you is that we must understand our own loveableness. That is the great importance of community, that everyone who comes into your community understands fully, explicitly, clearly, their own lovableness. And the first step to full personhood and to full maturity is that we allow ourselves to be loved. So often, we are keeping others at a distance. And this is precisely why the Lord Jesus has sent us his Holy Spirit, sent his Spirit into our hearts – to touch us, to awaken us, and to draw us into the redemptive light of that love of Jesus. Remember the words of Richard of St Victor that as we meditate we become aware of the love of the Lord Jesus. We feel the love of the Lord Jesus. And then we see a great light enlightening the whole of our being and we apprehend it as the divine light.
Rumi, Masnavi, translated in the Internet Medieval Sourcebook
“The truth is, the sun’s beams strike the wall, and the wall only reflects that borrowed light. Why give your heart to mere stones? Go! Seek the Source of Light which shineth alway!”
