Wilfrid Stinissen (1927–2013)
There is not a single moment when God is not communicating. Most things in our lives seem random, occasional. Every now and then God reveals His presence, sometimes we catch a glimpse of the red thread, and then we thank God. However, God is present always, everything speaks of Him.
In God's actions, there is an uninterrupted continuity. "He who keeps you will not slumber. Yes, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (Ps 121:3-4). Humans usually sleep, yes our faith is buried in slumber. We discover nothing remarkable. In reality, everything is remarkable. Perhaps therein lies the secret of why some saints, who died at a young age, covered such an incredibly long journey in a short time. No moment in their lives was wasted; nothing occurred in vain. They knew that God nudged them from behind every event and every circumstance, especially through what seemed to hinder their "spiritual life." And they allowed themselves to be pushed by God.
Our pursuit of a "spiritual life" has much of the effort to escape. We want to flee from the concrete, seemingly trivial reality, full of God's presence, into an artificial existence that fits our notions of piety and holiness, where God is not at all. If we want to decide for ourselves where we want to find God, we can be worry-free: we will not find God there! We will only find ourselves in a retouched version. True spiritual life begins when we are ready to die. Is there a quicker way to die than to let God shape our lives moment by moment and continuously accept His actions?
We have received new eyes with which we can discover this divine reality, namely faith. Our faith sees directly through the superficial shell and penetrates to the essence of things. Many Christians think that faith is something related to the supernatural world, that it is a capacity that allows us to reach another sphere of reality. However, it is true that for the one who believes, reality enlarges and expands. Faith reveals new areas of reality (the Trinity, angels, etc.). However, faith also gives us the ability to see the reality with which we are in daily contact in a completely new way. Faith sees the deep dimension of everyday reality. Therefore, there is nothing trivial, nothing uninteresting or dull for the believer. Everything is exciting and captivating.
Excerpted from the book: Father, I surrender to you
Author: Wilfrid Stinissen OCD
Published by: KNA
