Richard Rohr reflects on our responsibility to awaken and live from our True Self:
I believe God gives us our soul, our deepest identity, our True Self, our unique blueprint, at our own conception. Our unique little bit of heaven is installed within the product by the Manufacturer at the beginning! We are given a span of years to discover it, choose it, and live our destiny to the full. If we do not, our True Self will never be offered again in our own unique form.
Our soul’s discovery is utterly crucial, momentous, and of pressing importance for each of us and for the world. We do not “make” or “create” our souls; we just “grow” them up. We are the clumsy stewards of our own souls. We are charged to awaken; much of the work of spirituality is learning how to stay out of the way of this natural growing and awakening. We need to unlearn a lot, it seems, to get back to that foundational life which is “hidden in God” (Colossians 3:3). Yes, transformation is often more about unlearning than learning, which is why religious traditions call it “conversion” or “repentance.”
For me, no poet says this quite so perfectly as the inimitable Gerard Manley Hopkins in his Duns Scotus-inspired poem “As Kingfishers Catch Fire.”
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves—goes its self; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came. [1]
All we can give back and all God wants from any of us is to humbly and proudly return the product that we have been given—which is ourselves! If I am to believe the saints and mystics, this finished product is more valuable to God than it seemingly is to us. Whatever this Mystery is, we are definitely in on the deal. True religion always has a deep intuition that we are already participating in something very good, in spite of our best efforts to deny it or avoid it.
In fact, the best of modern theology reveals a strong turn toward participation, “an enactive understanding of the sacred,” [2] as opposed to religion as mere observation, affirmation, moralism, or group belonging. There’s nothing to join, only something to recognize, suffer, and enjoy as a participant. We are already in the eternal flow that Christians would call the divine life of the Trinity. Whether we find our True Self depends in large part on the moments of time we are each allotted, and the moments of freedom that we each receive and choose during that time. Life is indeed “momentous,” created by accumulated moments in which the deeper “I” is slowly revealed if we are ready to see it. Holding our inner blueprint, which is a good description of our soul, and returning it humbly to the world and to God by love and service is indeed of ultimate concern.
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Sarah Young Jesus Listens
Cherished Jesus, This world abounds with negative things for me to think about. Sometimes problems—mine and others’—seem to shout for my attention. The difficulties can occupy more and more of my thinking, causing me to grow weary and lose heart. When this happens, please remind me that I can choose the subject of my thoughts. Instead of wallowing in the darkness of discouragement, I can turn toward You and let Your Light shine upon me. Help me not to be defeated by wrong choices I have made in the past. And don’t let me define who I am now on the basis of past decisions that were hurtful. Each moment provides a fresh opportunity to draw near You and enjoy Your Presence. Even when I’m struggling, I can choose to seek You in the midst of my problems instead of just focusing on the difficulties. I love hearing Your words of encouragement: “In Me you may have Peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” In Your triumphant Name, Amen
HEBREWS 12:3 NASB; For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary [ a]and lose heart.
PSALM 34:6–7 NKJV; This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.
JOHN 16:33; I have overcome the world. In this world his disciples would be persecuted and have sorrow, but he bids them Be of good cheer. The world can only afflict for a season; it is a conquered world; Christ has overcome it.
Young, Sarah. Jesus Listens (p. 233). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
