Wilfrid Stinissen (1927–2013)
The surest sign of spiritual growth is growing reconciliation. A maturing person lives in ever-deeper reconciliation. This concerns, on one hand, the relationship with others—beginners often judge harshly and enforce strict rules. They often forget to fulfill them themselves, yet they zealously compel others to uphold them. On the other hand, there is reconciliation with oneself—a harmony between holiness and sin within one’s own being. We learn to live with our sinfulness not as something definitive but as a provisional state that must be accepted.
A mature personality also lives in reconciliation of various perspectives of reality, among other things, for example, prayer and work. The closer we approach God, the more we come closer to the unity of opposites—just as He does. With God, there is no distinction between work and rest. The more we live in the present, the more we perceive something of God's unity and harmony clearly. Thus, we continually move forward modestly, not straightforwardly, but in stages, sometimes ascending and at other times descending, being at the peak or at the bottom of a wavering curve.
Work gradually stops being merely an addition to being; rather, it itself transforms into being and flows from it. “Holiness cannot be built on possession, but on being,” Master Eckhart claims. God is being itself, and cannot be spoken of in connection with the verb to have. And if it does occur, it is more accurate to say of Him that He has nothing than that He has everything. The Father gives everything He has in His Son and the Son gives Himself to the Father. Both are driven by the Holy Spirit. Where there is love, there is giving. Where there is perfect love, everything is given. God gives everything even outwardly: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son” (John 3:16).
The more perfectly we live in the present moment, the better we work according to God's image—simply by being. In such work, we do not seek merits and do not strive to fill our barns. We simply are, or in other words, we love, give, and serve.
Taken from the book: Christian Deep Meditation
Author: Wilfrid Stinissen OCD
Published by: KNA
