“True sanctity is not the work of man purifying himself; it is God Himself present in His own transcendent light, which to us is emptiness.” (p. 59)
Merton, Thomas. “The Recovery of Paradise.” (1959) in Selected Essays. Edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013.
“Richard Rohr reminds us that ‘we cannot attain the presence of God. We’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness.’ This is the core of the spiritual journey–knowing to discern the presence of God, to see what really is. But nothing is more dangerous than presuming that we already see when we do not.”
(Benner, David G. The Gift of Being Yourself. Expanded ed. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Books, 2015, p. 41)
“It is relatively easy to meet God in moments of joy or bliss. In these situations we correctly count ourselves blessed by God. The challenge is to believe that this is also true–and to know God’s presence–in the midst of doubt, depression, anxiety, conflict or failure. But the God who is Immanuel is equally in those moments we would never choose as in those we would always gladly choose.”
(Benner, David G. The Gift of Being Yourself. Expanded ed. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Books, 2015, p. 41)
The sacrament of the present moment, as spun out by Benner, is the recurring and deepening awareness that we are in the presence of God at every moment and location of our existence. God is omnipresent. God is eternal. There is no place or time that God is not. And therefore He is always with us; we are always with Him. The good times, the bad times, times of worship, at work, in school, at play, in the city, on the mountain, in church, on retreat, in traffic, at hospital or hospice, in prison or parkland, bedroom, barn, at sea, in the air … everywhere and everywhen. God is with us; we are with God.
Pathology: the Study of a Path 