28th June 2019, Cor Vitae
Ezekiel 34:11-16
As a shepherd keeps all his flock in view when he stands up in the middle of his scattered sheep, so shall I keep my sheep in view. I shall be a true shepherd to them.
With one look God sees all his people. One eye – Vesica Piscis – sees all things in unity. God stands in the middle of us – incarnate God with us – the glue that binds us together – re ligio. He collects what is scattered – integrity
Shepherd Leadership is true – authentic, integrity – sees in a non-dualistic, unitive way, sees the whole of us not just, the parts like we do. We tend to focus on the negative ansd what’s missing – Genesis 1:31 “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
Charles Péguy (1873–1914), French poet and essayist, wrote with great insight that “everything begins in mysticism and ends in politics.” Everything new and creative in this world puts together things that don’t look like they go together at all but always have been connected at a deeper level. Spirituality’s goal is to get people to that deeper level, to the unified field or nondual thinking, where God alone can hold contradictions and paradox.
Psalm 22(23) The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.
All my needs are met. My hunger my thirsts are answered from this unitive place of non-fragmented – in this place desires come to rest.
Romans 5:5-11
The love of God has been poured into our hearts while we were still helpless.
What proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, we were still enemies; now that we have been reconciled, surely we may count on being saved by the life of his Son? we are filled with joyful trust in God, through Jesus, through whom we gained reconciliation.
Luke 15:3-7
With a hundred sheep, losing one, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the missing one till he found it? And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbours? “Rejoice with me,”
God – the whole – is not fractured – undivided.
Who is happy with only part payment for work or an incomplete gift at Christmas time, or a beautiful dress but with buttons missing? The whole creation groans with longing for wholeness.
Mystics like John Main and Thomas Merton overcame the seeming tension and found underneath it a unified field. Merton called this the “hidden wholeness” and it is what Lady Julian of Norwich saw when she looked at a single hazelnut and understood, “It is all that is made.” She is either delusional or seeing what most of us do not see. Mystics always see in wholes.
Of course God rejoices when what has become separated is once again returned to the whole. We rejoice with God for the unifying heart of Jesus draws us into communion.