To Know God 

   “If nothing that can be seen can either be God or represent Him to us as He is, then to find God we must pass beyond everything that can be seen and enter into darkness.  Since nothing that can be heard is God, to find Him we must enter into silence.” (Thomas Merton, “New Seeds of Contemplation”) 

   Sometimes I read something that enters my mind and then goes around and around while I try to grasp the meaning.  This statement by Thomas Merton is one of those things.

   St. Thomas Aquinas said that God is not a being, He is being.  He is not a being as we understand the word.  Hence the name He gave Moses on mount Horeb,  “I AM WHO I AM”. (Exodus 3: 14).  All else is because God is I AM.  There is no physical or mental image that can suffice to depict our God.

   Many people talk of having heard God speak to them and I don’t doubt their sincerity, or the blessing associated with that experience.  In my case, I cannot say that I have ever heard the “voice” of God and question if God has a voice.  He speaks to me in many ways, through scripture, the sacraments, and in the homilies when the He is speaking through the priest.  He speaks to me in the silence of my heart not with sound, but with understanding.

   To “see” and “hear” God I must leave the visible and audible world and enter into the darkness and silence of contemplation.  And yet, of my own accord, I can’t know contemplation; it too is a gift from God.  Only by His will can I experience the depth of His presence that it brings.

   If I sound confused I am.  But my confusion encourages me to continue reaching out to Him, striving to know Him better.  He is within me in a way that I can’t explain but one that is incredibly real and beautiful; and we are one.

 

You are within me Father.  Your presence is the greatest joy possible.  I long to know You completely when this life is done, and I can come to be with You eternally.  Amen