SAMARITANO
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’ (Luke 10.27)
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” (Twitter feed, Friday after Dallas shootings)
Christ the Spiritual Master
TEACHER…what must I do to inherit eternal life?
Child, there is no being or non-being. There is only transformation. That is all. Look at nature. Everything that fades changes and becomes again, sometimes similar, sometimes different. But nothing that is becomes not is. The kingdom of heaven is closer to you than your own breath. Stop calculating for the safety or the comfort or the security or the worthfulness of this “I” you keep thinking about. Love is All. Let love consume you. Don’t be afraid. You don’t need to define yourself to know that you are alive. Breathe and know that you are breathing. God is Love. Love is All. Trust God. Love God as God loves you. Give over control. You don’t need it anyway. Truly, I tell you, it gets in your way. Don’t be afraid of the other, the one you call different. She is you and you are she. Love her, just as much as you love yourself. And she will love you too. She is you neighbour.
TEACHER…what does my neighbour look like, so I can know when she comes her and love her?
There you go again with this “I” you hold so close! Ha ha. I can see your knuckles, burning white. The kingdom of heaven is upon you yet you put up your walls to defend your “I”. Why are you so afraid? Your neighbour is the one closest to you, the one furthest away and everyone else in between. Most of them can’t see you, just as you can’t see them. But love God, I mean really let go of “I”, and LOVE GOD. And you will see.
And
when you see,
you will let down the walls between your neighbour and you
and God’s love will flow,
and you will know eternal life.
Tonnau Duw ('God's waves') Fr Tim Ardouin 