Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Today’s text

John 3:3-10

Jesus answered: In all truth I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above. Nicodemus said, 'How can anyone who is already old be born? Is it possible to go back into the womb again and be born?' Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born through water and the Spirit; what is born of human nature is human; what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above. The wind blows where it pleases; you can hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. 'How is that possible?' asked Nicodemus. Jesus replied, 'You are the Teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things!'

Reflection

Morning comes, and you awaken in me desire for the life that I want, Loving Mystery. You show it to me here. But I struggle to describe it, quickly dismissing words that come to mind. all inadequate and inaccurate.

Still, I see what it is to be born from above.

There are souls I have encountered whose eyes seemed fixed on a far point, a horizon lost to the rest of us. Their minds awakened, they take in a world most can not imagine. And their gaze rests there, drinking in a distant beauty whose light reaches into here and now, calming their heart and illumining their face with a quiet joy.

Centered on this vision, their days are less distressed by the winds of anxiety that scatters normal consciousness. They seem certain that what they know is the real and the true, even if no one else confirms it. They are born from above.

This is my prayer, to be as they, to be held in rapt attention by the uncreated beauty that shines from that far point through what is created, in blessed moments appearing also to … and in … me.

Awaken me by your elusive Spirit, Loving Mystery, to a world beyond the noise of clamoring egos and the din of the latest thing.

Fix my eyes on that far point that I, too, may see the present beauty awaiting to born in all that lives.

Pr. David L. Miller