Saying Yes to Love
Friday, December 5, 2025
Father Richard describes intimacy with God as a loving yes to Divine Presence:
For Christians who have gone to their own depths, there is the uncovering of an indwelling Presence—a deep, loving “yes” inherent within us. In Christian theology, this inner Presence is described as the Holy Spirit, which is precisely God as immanent, within, and even our deepest, truest self. God is the very ground of our Being.
Some mystics have described this Presence as “closer to me than I am to myself” or “more me than I am myself.” Many of us would also describe this as the True Self, as Thomas Merton did. Yet it still must be awakened and chosen. The Holy Spirit is totally given and given equally to all, but must be consciously received, too. The Presence needs to be recognized, honored, and drawn upon to become a living Presence within us.
From this more spacious and grounded place, one naturally connects, empathizes, forgives, and loves just about everything. We were made in love, for love, and unto love, and it is out of this love that we act. This deep inner “yes” that is God in me, is already loving God through me. [1]
Seeking to experience God’s love more fully, spiritual director Colette Lafia asks a monk with whom she is friends, “How do I let God love me more?”:
Without missing a beat, Brother Paul answered in his joyful tone, “God cannot love you more. God already loves you infinitely. You just need to become more aware of [God’s] love … by becoming more present to it. It’s like hearing birdcalls. By paying attention and delighting in it.”
With Brother Paul’s wisdom etched in my mind, I prayed to be more receptive to the landscape of love within my heart and all around me, recognizing that I was already in a love relationship with the Divine, as are you….
In our journey towards a deeper and more abiding love relationship with the Divine, we grow by encountering and understanding our barriers. At the same time, stay open to the glimmerings of God’s grace that you can feel, see, or intuit. As you surrender all aspects of your inner knowing, grace, and resistance, you’ll enter into a fuller relationship with God’s boundless love.
How do we make receptivity a foundation of our relationship with the Divine and of our life of prayer? To give love, we also need to be able to receive it. This invitation to receptivity encourages us to listen to the stirrings of love, release into communion with God, and become more present to Divine love. “God cannot love you more. God already loves you infinitely.” Embracing this love, we can respond to God, others, and all of life from our heart, which is the source of compassion toward all. [2]
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John Chaffee 5 On Friday
1.
“We are creatures of sense and of spirit, and we must live an amphibious life.”
– Evelyn Underhill, British Poet and Mystic
The Christian mystics and theologians have always maintained that we are a mixture, synthesis, or hybrid of matter and spirit.
In some sense, the Chalcedonian Creed of 451 resolved this issue for us. In that creed, the idea is that the two natures of Jesus (human and divine) exist “without confusion, division, separation, or change.” Meaning, matter and spirit are not antagonistic or in enmity with one another.
We, though, who are with both a material and spiritual nature in our own way, must learn to navigate both worlds. Some of us fail to live life well because we neglect the spiritual, and some of us fail to live the spiritual life well because we neglect the physical…
Which is why this insight from Evelyn Underhill intrigues me: we must learn to be “amphibious.”
2.
“I believe God is too delighted in you to have a plan for you.”
– Father Greg Boyle, Founder of Homeboy Industries
This past week, I have had two or three conversations about “God’s will.”
It can be discussed in a manner that is quite oppressive.
You and I must carefully navigate figuring out God’s will for our lives, and if we do not find it or follow it, we can somehow thwart God Almighty’s plan for our lives, as well as negatively impact the lives of those around us in concentric circles.
At one point, I even said to someone, “You know, none of us would force our agenda for our kids’ lives on them in such a way that would produce their suffering, and yet, we think that God would do that… But God doesn’t. That kind of god, who imposes a foreign will on us, would be abusive.”
If anything, God is so enamored with us that God plans that we learn to follow our own desires and to discover who we are, our whole lives long, constantly, and to invite God along in that journey… simply because we know it would be a joyous adventure for God to join us in us following our healthiest and holiest of desires.
You know, I may write more on this topic in a blog or a book. That sounds like a good idea.
3.
“Fanaticism is always a function of repressed doubt.”
In my current context of North America, I am acutely aware of the fanaticism that I see in our religious and political spheres.
What worries me is how little we can admit and announce our doubts about anything. Admitting or announcing doubts is seen as a weakness rather than a humble pursuit of firmer ground.
If we do not learn to appreciate and carry our doubts in a healthy and holy way, I unfortunately believe fanaticism will only continue to rise.
4.
“True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.”
– William Penn, Quaker Founder of the State of Pennsylvania
Either I did not know, or I forgot, that William Penn was a Quaker.
Regardless, I agree with his sentiment here.
Healthy religion leads us to be better in the world and to look for ways to improve it. The problem is that for those who have succumbed to unhealthy religion, they may THINK they are better in the world and looking for ways to better the world, but…
The proof is in the pudding.
Or, as Jesus would say it,
“You will know a tree by its fruit.” (Matthew 7:15-20, Paraphrased.)
Suppose an interpretation of a faith system produces the “fruit” of angry, resentful individuals who are violent, scapegoating, and constantly threatening to the world around them. In that case, that is a tree with “bad fruit,” and it absolutely deserves to be cut down and thrown into the fire.
5.
“Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return.”
Wow.
This is poetic.
It is VERY Quaker.
And yet, it also resonates with my understanding of the wisdom of Theresa of Avila’s Interior Castle. That same insight also sounds similar to Thomas Merton’s insight about the Pointe Vierge in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander.
May it be a part of a universal and perennial wisdom?
Every generation must come to its own formulation or description of the mystery that God is deeply within each of us. Every generation likely doubts this reality, but that is why every generation needs its prophet or mystic who can reach them and tell them that the Spirit of God is already present within and speaking from within.
