I want to say as strongly as I can that our morning quiet time is to help us experience this essential and united self. Pure and simple. That’s all. If our spiritual growth doesn’t help us experience this undefended and beloved self, then change it, get rid of it, or do something very different. -- Fr Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," February 16, 2022 (paraphrased)
In that quote, Father Richard was writing about religion and the tools and jewels of religion which translate to me to mean spiritual growth. The word "religion" has become anathema to many. Instead of seeking a personal substitute, too many of us shuck the words and the Source...namely, God...and think ourself agnostic or, dependent on our ire, even atheist.
When first I heard, "I don't do religion, I lean toward spiritual," I knew I'd found a home for my heart and my Soul. My spiritual growth began and continues to this day with all the doubts, the certainties, the snarks and the glories that still more spiritual growth ensures us. Just as religion does, or so I'm told.
About that quote, what captured my attention was the word "undefended" in the sentence, If our spiritual growth doesn’t help us experience this undefended and beloved self....
Undefended. Unconsciously...unknown to me...undefended is the Me I've been searching for. To know, to show, to welcome the feeling of undefended is more even than the pearl beyond price...it is my personal Holy Grail.
To experience this undefended self is trust within me breathing God's air. Trust in God is that which I've ever been seeking but by the seeking held it off...denied by continuing the search, not daring to believe I am the trust I seek.
We don't have trust until we trust the trust we have. That comes when we are undefended, we know it, welcome it, kiss it on the lips, and realize it is being passed on...through me, not by me.
I am not yet wholly there, but I am heading in the right direction. This possibly is as good as I get in this lifetime, and that is close enough to perfect for me right Now...which I trust.
Thank you.
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