NSoC 31: The Gift of Understanding

See Notes on this series...

God created us, says Merton, for contemplation, that is, knowing and loving him through supernatural means. There ought to be a familiarity to it, since we were designed for it.

Merton says that the clearest experience of natural awareness is like being asleep compared to the supernatural awareness as we see God in his reality and we begin to live in the reality of who we are.

God has a gift for us: himself. We can't do anything to conjure up this gift, speed it along, deserve it, or procure it. We must wait until he reveals himself to us, and Merton advises that we must take that as it comes, freely, with thankfulness and gratitude, not interrupting God or compelling him further, but in silent acceptance rather than hollow words. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." When we enter that "joy of emptiness," Merton declares, where there is only God's limitless truth and the light of Christ, there true understanding is found.

Quaff:
Long chapter, a little beyond me, I think. I like his opening definition of contemplation: knowing God as he is, and as only he can reveal himself. That has been my understanding of revelation. I never thought of it as contemplation, though.