Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent

What we don’t have is the rest of our lives because we do not even have the now of our lives.

Mary’s “yes” was said in the darkness of faith. She was not certain, nor assured by any Scripture quote, doctrine or pope. She just heard what she heard, and did what God asked her to do, accepting the consequences.

Authentic God encounters make us all spiritually fertile and humanly connected.

“the light shines on inside of the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it” (1:5). Such is the Christian form of yin-yang, our own belief in paradox and mystery.

This is not psychological worthiness; it is ontological, metaphysical and substantial, and cannot be gained or lost.

There is probably no other way to understand God’s nature except to daily stand under the waterfall of divine mercy and then become conduits of the same flow.

We can’t manage, maneuver or manipulate spiritual energy. It is a matter of letting go and receiving what is being given freely.

Once we know that God lives inside our contradictions, and God’s love is not dependent on our perfection, then other peoples’ contradictions don’t scandalize us or surprise us anymore.

Transformed people transform people.