For CAC teacher James Finley, mystical nonviolence reminds us of our deepest identity in God.
God created you as God’s beloved, as someone to whom God could completely give the infinity of Godself away as the mystery of who you are in your nothingness without God. All that is true for stones, trees, and stars too. You’ve been endowed by God with the gift to realize it, the gift to taste that oneness.…
Here, then, is the first taste of what I would call mystical nonviolence: that we will not do violence to the infinity of ourselves, that we will not do violence to the God-given, Godly nature of life itself, that I will not go around acting as if I’m nothing but the self to which things happen in the idolatry of conditioned states, the closed horizon of what my eyes can see, my hands can touch, and my mind can grasp. If I act out of that idolatry, I commit violence against the infinity and divinity of every breath and heartbeat—unexplainably so.
In the Gospels, they asked Jesus, “What is the greatest commandment?” (Mark 12:28). That is to say, “Of all these beautiful things you say about God, about life, what is it that, if we would ground ourselves in that, everything that you say would fall into place?” Jesus didn’t respond with a doctrine…. Jesus said, “The greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. That’s the greatest commandment” (see Mark 12:30).…
But there’s a catch to this: our wayward ways. We’re exiled from the generosity of God pouring God’s self out as life itself. We know it’s true, but we’re estranged from it. This is the meaning of “original sin,” but not as a blight against the soul. Rather, it means we’re exiled from the divinity of every breath and heartbeat, because to taste the divinity of every breath and heartbeat means fear has no foundations.…
So, we ask: “How can I learn, Lord? How can I learn to be free from the tyranny of fear in the midst of my fears? How can I learn to be free from the tyranny of my brokenness in the midst of my brokenness?”…
God is the presence that spares us from nothing, even as God unexplainably sustains us in all things. God depends on us to protect ourselves and each other, to be nurturing, loving, protective people. When suffering is there, God depends on us to reach out and touch the suffering with love that it might dissolve in love.
But here’s the thing: To be present to suffering and to touch the suffering with love, that it might dissolve in love, means to be grounded in the peace that is not dependent on the outcome of the effort because, regardless of how it turns out, God is unexplainably taking us to God, breath by breath, moment by moment. That’s mystical nonviolence.
_______________________________________
Sarah Young; Jesus Listens.
Jesus, my good Shepherd, I want You to be my primary Focus. You are all around me—constantly aware of me—taking note of every thought and prayer. Many, many things vie for my attention, but I must not let them crowd You out. Directing my mind toward You requires very little energy, yet it blesses me immensely. The more I focus on You, the more fully You live in me and work through me. Help me remember that You are with me each moment of my life, watching over me with perfect Love. Your Word teaches that Your unfailing Love surrounds the one who trusts in You. You’ve been training me to be increasingly aware of Your loving Presence, even when other things demand my attention. Lord, You are the constant in my life that provides stability and direction in an unpredictable environment. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. So You’re the perfect fixed point for me to focus on while making my way through this ever-changing world. As I keep redirecting my thoughts to You, please show me the way forward—and give me Your Peace. In Your steadfast Name, Amen
JOHN 10:11; “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
PSALM 32:10; Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love. surrounds the one who trusts in him.
HEBREWS 13:8 NKJV; Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
JOHN 14:27 NKJV; Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Young, Sarah. Jesus Listens (p. 227). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
