{"id":20124,"date":"2021-05-10T10:18:57","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T14:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20124"},"modified":"2021-05-10T10:18:57","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T14:18:57","slug":"we-are-the-beloved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20124","title":{"rendered":"We Are the Beloved"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Tlzm1qYa9TU\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>If we could glimpse the panoramic view of the\nbiblical revelation and the Big Picture of which we are a part, we\u2019d see how\nGod is forever evolving human consciousness, making us ever more ready for God.\nThe Hebrew prophets and many Catholic and Sufi mystics used words like\nespousal, marriage, or bride and groom to describe this phenomenon. That\u2019s what\nthe prophet Isaiah (61:10, 62:5), many of the Psalms, the school of Paul\n(Ephesians 5:25\u201332), and the Book of Revelation (19:7\u20138, 21:2) mean by\n\u201cpreparing a bride to be ready for her husband.\u201d It has nothing to do with\ngender and everything to do with the human soul that is being gradually readied\nso that espousal and full partnership with the Divine are the final result.\nIt\u2019s all moving toward a marriage between God and creation. Note that such\nsalvation is a social and cosmic concept, and not just about isolated\nindividuals \u201cgoing to heaven.\u201d The church was meant to bring this corporate\nsalvation to conscious and visible possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Could divine marriage and intimacy really be\nGod\u2019s plan? Or is this just poetic exaggeration? If this is the divine agenda,\nwhy were most of us presented with an angry deity who needed to be placated and\ncontrolled? And why would such a God even want to \u201cmarry\u201d God\u2019s creation? I don\u2019t\nthink I am stretching the point. Look for all the times Jesus uses a wedding\nbanquet as his image for eternity, and how he loves to call himself \u201cthe\nbridegroom\u201d (Mark 2:19\u201320). Why would Jesus choose such metaphors if they\nweren\u2019t deeply true? The very daring, seemingly impossible idea of union with\nGod is still something we\u2019re so afraid of that most of us won\u2019t allow ourselves\nto even think in that direction. The Eastern Church developed this idea in\ntheir theology of divinization (<em>theosi<\/em>s)\nmuch better than the Western Church, and we are all much poorer for our loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only God <em>in\nyou <\/em>will allow you to imagine such a possibility, which is\nprecisely \u201cthe Holy Spirit planted in your heart\u201d (Romans 8:11 and throughout\nPaul\u2019s letters).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jesus came to give us the courage to trust and allow our inherent union with God<\/em>, and he modeled it for us in this world. <strong>Union is not merely a place we go to later\u2014as long as we are good. Union is the place we come from, the place we\u2019re called to live from now<\/strong>. At the end, the fitting conclusion of the \u201cSecond Coming of Christ\u201d is that humanity becomes \u201ca beautiful bride all dressed for her husband\u201d (Revelation 21:2), with Jesus Christ as the Eternal Divine Bridegroom (Matthew 9:15; John 3:29) waiting for all of us at the altar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The clear goal\nand direction of biblical revelation is toward a full, mutual indwelling. The\neternal mystery of incarnation will have finally met its mark, and \u201cthe\nmarriage feast of the Lamb will begin\u201d (Revelation 19:7\u20139). History is no longer\nmeaningless but has a promised and positive direction. This creates very\nhealthy, happy, hopeful, and generative people, the ones we surely need right\nnow. All I know for certain is that a good God creates and continues to create\nan ever-good world, by enticing it back into the place where it began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Saint Bonaventure taught that we are each \u201cloved by God in a particular and incomparable manner, as in the case of a bride and groom.\u201d [1] Francis and Clare of Assisi knew that the love God has for each soul is unique and made to order, which is why any \u201csaved\u201d person feels beloved, chosen, and even \u201cGod\u2019s favorite.\u201d Many people in the Bible also knew and experienced this specialness. Divine intimacy is always and precisely particular and made to order\u2014and thus \u201cintimate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Christ, Our Beloved Bridegroom<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The inner knowledge of God\u2019s love is described as joy itself (see John 15:11). This inner knowing is the Indwelling Presence. <strong>Which comes first? Does feeling safe and held by God allow us to deal with others in the same way? Or does human tenderness allow us to imagine that God must be the same, but infinitely so?<\/strong> I do not suppose it really matters where we start; the important thing is that we get in on the big secret from one side or the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, \u201csecret,\u201d or even \u201chidden secret,\u201d is\nwhat writers like the Psalmist (25:14), Paul, Rumi, Hafiz, Bonaventure, Dame\nJulian, and many mystics called it. And for some sad reason, it seems to be a\nwell-kept secret. Jesus praises God for \u201chiding these things from the learned\nand the clever and revealing them only to the little ones\u201d (Matthew 11:25).\nWell, what is it that the learned and the clever often cannot see?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The big and hidden secret is this: an infinite God seeks and desires intimacy with the human soul. Once we experience such intimacy, only the intimate language of lovers describes the experience for us:<\/strong> mystery, tenderness, singularity, specialness, changing the rules \u201cfor me,\u201d nakedness, risk, ecstasy, incessant longing, and of course also, necessary suffering. This is the mystical vocabulary of the saints. Saint Teresa of \u00c1vila (1515\u20131582) puts it beautifully:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who could explain the benefit that lies in throwing ourselves into the arms of this Lord of ours and making an agreement with His Majesty that <em>I look at my Beloved and my Beloved at me <\/em>. . . . <em>Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His mouth,<\/em>\u00a0for without You, what am I, Lord? <strong>If I am not close to You, what am I worth? If I stray a little from Your Majesty, where will I end up? Oh, my Lord, my Mercy, and my Good! And what greater good could I want in this life than to be so close to You, that there be no division between You and me? With this companionship, what can be difficult? What can one not undertake for You, being so closely joined? [2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>____________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May 10 <br> MORNING DO NOT RESIST OR RUN from the difficulties in your life. These problems are not random mistakes; they are hand-tailored blessings designed for your benefit and growth. Embrace all the circumstances that I allow in your life, trusting Me to bring good out of them. View problems as opportunities to rely more fully on Me. When you start to feel stressed, let those feelings alert you to your need for Me. Thus, your needs become doorways to deep dependence on Me and increasing intimacy between us. Although self-sufficiency is acclaimed in the world, reliance on Me produces abundant living in My kingdom. Thank Me for the difficulties in your life since they provide protection from the idolatry of self-reliance. JOHN 15:5; 2 <br>I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CORINTHIANS 1:8\u20139; <br>He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our LORD Jesus Christ. <sup>9<\/sup>God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our LORD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> EPHESIANS 5:20 <br><strong>always giving thanks to God the Father<\/strong> for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling Morning and Evening Devotional (Jesus Calling\u00ae) (p. 270). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If we could glimpse the panoramic view of the biblical revelation and the Big Picture of which we are a part, we\u2019d see how God is forever evolving human consciousness, making us ever more ready for God. The Hebrew prophets and many Catholic and Sufi mystics used words like espousal, marriage, or bride and groom [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20124"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20125,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20124\/revisions\/20125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}