DQ2.1 - “Did not our hearts burn…”
There is often a moment between when we sense something and when we can describe it with words. We sense we have figured something out, but we cannot describe it exactly. Have you had this experience? What was it like?
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July 20th, 2007 @ 6:55 am
Bruce, as for acting on the Word and letting it penetrate your heart, I have two reactions. One is that sometimes you do feel moved to do something directly in response to prayer with the Word. So you then have a choice to do it or not do it.
But for me, most of the time, it isn’t like that. It’s more like I pray and reflect today and then two days from now and then next week, and often my immediate reaction is, “What’s the use? Nothing is happening.” But somewhere down the road, if I’m faithful to my reflection time, usually brief, I have an Aha! moment at a time I don’t expect it, some kind of insight or feeling or interaction with another person, and at that moment I realize it would not have happened if I had not been doing all that reflecting. For me that’s what it means to have allowed the prayer or the Word to penetrate the heart. “Time” in real spirituality is very mysterious that way.
July 18th, 2007 @ 7:24 am
Hi Bruce - You asked, simply, if your heart is right with the Lord, you don’t have to worry about consciouly applying the Word, you will act unconsciously with the word. Well, because we’re complex, multi-faceted people on a journey, I think going from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence happens continually in different areas of our lives. And it is the Holy Spirit in a gentle act of love that begins to show us areas of our lives (where we are unconsciously incompetent in reflecting the nature of God) and works with us through scripture, people, the church, reading, events, to mature us - as Romans 8:29 says so that Christ might be the 1st among many brethern. It’s a process.
But I will never be a saint? You already are (according to my understanding of the justification, sanctification, glorification process) a saint. Will you ever be Saint Bruce, fully cannonized by an electoral vote? (Don’t worry about it - it only happens after your dead). And remember, faith is a process, it’s not a race. God gave you the chemical engineering orientation and He’s using it in the perfection and development of your faith.
July 17th, 2007 @ 6:04 am
Jack,
Thank you for the thought on letting the Word penetrate the heart (burn the heart). Simply, do you mean that if your heart is right with the Lord, you don’t have to worry about consciously applying the Word, you will act unconsciously with the Word?
We (Christian Book Club) recently finished a book by Jim Martin on My Life with the Saints. I was struck by how these folks were at a far different place than where I am in their walk with the Lord. I find that I apply my Chemical Engineering-trained discernment process to my faith. It takes me longer to move than the Saints.
Any more thoughts - other than I will never be a Saint?
July 15th, 2007 @ 7:04 pm
Good evening all:
My family and I have just returned from our annual camping trip in a beautiful little town near the Delaware Water Gap in western NJ. Just before we left, getting ready to walk out the door, I responded to Ed’s question with a lengthy post….his question really resonated with me and I wrote and wrote while my daughter waited impatiently! Of course, when I pressed the ’submit’ button my entry was denied….not sure what I did wrong but I wouldn’t dare take the time to re-write it!!! So my thoughts and reflections regarding this topic are destined to be between me and God. Maybe that was His plan all along? Ed…your questions always get me thinking and lead to spiritual growth. Thank you so much.
I’m pressing the button now..hope it works!!
Blessings all
Diane C.
July 14th, 2007 @ 4:10 am
Bruce..hello. You and your wife , though shocked, must have felt, sensed, something very special that day, when you had such a narrow escape!
In some ways there is an answer to your question on page 60 where Henri goes on to say ” Without the word that keeps lifting us up as God’s chosen people, we remain, or become, small people….” Without his help we cannot apply it to our lives but with it he causes us to let go of our hardened hearts and become grateful.It’s pretty encouraging to know that our littleness, our humanity in all its weakness , can and will be used by him.
“I am not what I ought to be
I am not what I want to be
I am not what I hope to be
But still, I am not what I used to be
And by the grace of God I am what I am.”
John Newton
1725-1807
July 14th, 2007 @ 12:08 am
Greetings to everyone:
There have been, what I would describe as, movements in my life when I have encountered a sense of direction or journey that I was being pulled towards. Initially, I did not understand this, but over time I have learned to move forward within the mystery and allow God to provide expression on the journey. Often, events or people will present on the journey that make the movement clear. It is usually through contemplation and hindsight that I can find the words to describe this sense of direction on my journey. I have fought the movement in 2004 and it resulting in tremendous internal conflict and physical illness.
I think, to Bruce’s point, God does speak in an intuitive way. I was riding my motorcycle and as I began to enter an intersection, in which I had the green light, I heard or felt this intense intuitive message to stop the motorcycle immediately. I did, then I watched a car blow through the intersection.
Listening saved me from serious injury or death. It is the time when you begin to reflect on the experience that leads uou to a greater appreciation of God’s immense power that can be demonstrated through each person’s life.
Peace, allen
July 13th, 2007 @ 1:00 pm
Hi Bruce -
I appreciated your question because it has been something I’ve struggled with myself. Let me share my understanding of this concept.
Neuwen said “But the full power of the word lies, not in how we apply it to our lives after we have heard it, but in its transforming power that does its divine work as we listen.” What does he mean? I would think you are supposed to apply it to our lives.
For years I wondered what the concept was that differentiated “head” knowledge from “heart knowledge”. I’ve known many pastors who knew a lot about theology but I would hardly described their lives as Christlike. Then I realized it’s not knowing and consciously applying - or trying to apply - scripture to our lives but it’s allowing God to work it in our hearts and lives that changes us. In some ways, it’s what I’ve come to understand as conscious competence (knowing what to do) and unconscious competence (being so in tune with the heart of God that our responses flow from that relationship and aren’t contrived or put-on).
I think I hear this through Nouwen’s writings- it’s not doing, it’s being that’s important. Just my thoughts and understanding. Hope it helps!
July 13th, 2007 @ 7:43 am
Bruce, you are not at all out of order! This is intended to be a conversation, and in conversations, you say what reasonably strikes you as something you want to say. So thanks for your story about the tree limb falling in front of you!
July 13th, 2007 @ 6:21 am
An “Ah, ha” moment!
The other day I was given some negative information about a project. In the past, I would have ruminated on it for a couple of days (weeks even) with negative thoughts and attitude. But I found myself saying, within a few minutes (Not instantly) “Hmmm, well that’s not new news to God and after all, this is HIS project so He’ll have to “open another Red Sea”.
It was an opportunity to call to mind - again - my favorite Nouwen quote. “What happened invites you to conversion”. This is the deepest meaning of history: a constant invitation calling us to turn our hearts to God and so discover the full meaning of our lives.
The full meaning of life? I remember my Westminister catechism - man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him - forever.
It’s an “Ah-ha” moment when theory becomes reality.
July 12th, 2007 @ 2:29 pm
I am somewhat new to this book study process so please let me know if I am out of order.
I have two comments:
1. My wife and I were driving up a hill in Connecticut, where we live, in an area with many old trees near the road. The weather was very poor with rain and gusty winds. I looked up to see a very large limb falling in front of me. Why would I look up? I sensed something and took action. I stopped the car and the limb landed about six feet in front of us. How did we feel? Grateful for the signal from Him!
2. Regarding the book, on page 55, Henri says: “But the full power of the word lies, not in how we apply it to our lives after we have heard it, but in its transforming power that does its divine work as we listen.” What does he mean? I would think you are supposed to apply it to our lives.
July 11th, 2007 @ 2:32 am
I would liken it to the chapter called “The Piper At The Gates of Dawn” from Kenneth Grahame’s “The Wind In The Willows”`…”Possessed in all his senses by this new divine thing that caught up his helpless soul….” This is very beautiful fiction but closely akin to Henri’s question ” How does God come to me as I listen to His Word? Where do I discern the healing hand of God touching me through the Word?These questions lead me to the sacrament of the Word the sacred place of God’s real presence .” The deep need for me when I ’sense something’ as Ed descibes it, is for a listening silence filled with worship , faith and hope.
July 9th, 2007 @ 9:47 am
Good morning Ed and company!
Yes, all the time - and considering I host a live radio show on Holy Mother World Networks, Radio Maria, Toronto (In English, not Italian) this is a real problem for me! It’s quite hilarious actually.
I really am quite mute when I’m not on air. Henri’s
mentoring has been valuable in my case. Solitude is my friend. Within solitude my heart burns, as it is
supposed to, then in time, after much meditational reading my programs are composed - the words flow
after prayerful contemplation and begging!
As for a direct answer to your direct question of “What was it like?” - I experience “timelessness,
a sense of being exactly where I should be, inner connectedness with the Mystery of the Trinity”.
–Great questions Ed! - Thank you so much.
Peace and blessings be with you,
Sharon DiCecco