Page 5, 23rd December 1983

23rd December 1983

Page 5

Page 5, 23rd December 1983 — GOD'S BLINDING LIGHT
Close

Report an error

Noticed an error on this page?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it.

Tags


Share


Related articles

Let There Be Light

Page 4 from 29th August 1969

Sheila Cassidy Concludes Her Lenten Reflection At Calvary

Page 8 from 29th March 1991

The Word This Week

Page 16 from 1st April 2011

Father David Mcgough

Page 12 from 5th September 2003

Darkness Even Over The Deep

Page 10 from 23rd March 1990

Arrival Of Visible God

Page 10 from 25th December 1992

GOD'S BLINDING LIGHT

Piercing the dark cloud of unknowing
IN SEARCHING for meaning and purpose in life, we are trying to catch glimpses of the glory of God.
We cannot look directly at the sun with a naked eye. The eye is too weak, the sun too strong. Our natural limitations are further hampered by weaknesses which stem from our human and inherited sinfulness.
It is as if a cloud hovered between us and God. From time to time that cloud of unknowing is pierced by a shaft of light which shows us something about God, though we do not see or touch Him directly.
It may be a moment of total happiness, an experience of true love, a discovery of another of the secrets locked away in the created universe. Conversely, it may be in sorrow and sadness that we experience His presence.
In ecstasies and agonies, His voice is unmistakable to those who are prepared to listen and to look. Such shafts of light give warmth to the heart,
The author of the Cloud of Unknowing wrote: "The higher part of contemplation — at least as we know it in this life — is wholly caught up in darkness, and in this cloud of unknowing, with an outreaching love and a blind groping for the naked being of God, Himself and Film only". And yet we have to "strike that thick cloud of unknowing with the sharp dart of longing love...".
In love, the lover perceives in the beloved depths hitherto unknown. Often we see because we love. We understand and marvel, and love then grows. That human experience of love can help us to fashion that "sharp dart of longing love" which will pierce the cloud and allow the warmth of God's love to come through to us. We have to discover the deeper meaning of all our human experience, for our experience can lead us to God and to catching a glimpse of His glory.
"Still, Lord, you hide from my soul in your light and beauty, and therefore it still lives in darkness and in misery", wrote St Anselm. "I look all round, but I do not see your beauty. I listen, but I do not gather your fragrance. I taste, but do not know your savour. I touch, but not feel your yielding.
"For, Lord God, it is in yout own unutterable manner that you have these things; you have given them to what you have created in a manner which can be felt, but the senses of my soul have been hardened, dulled, and blocked by the ancient sickness of sin".
Our senses receive shafts of His glory in accordance with their different capacities: sight, taste, hearing. The eyes, ears and indeed taste and touch as well, are windows through which we receive shafts of the glory of God.
Our minds must go beyond those sense experiences to think about the glory of God. Those experiences are ways of bringing that glory into our lives. It is much more so in the experience of loving; it is so, too, in our appreciation of beauty and our repsonsc to it.
There will be a moment when we shall see beauty in its purest form. It will be a moment of ecstasy. We shall wonder and admire, for its magnificence will delight and please. We shall have entered into the eternal 'now' of total fulfilment.
We shall have seen Him as He is, that glory which at present is hidden from us by the cloud of unknowing.
The eye perceives proportion, shape and colour, all parts of that which we call beauty. The ear too knows sounds that please and delight. But the beauty which the eye beholds, or which pleases the ear, speaks of something other than itself; it speaks of God.
When we for our part strive to acknowledge what we believe Him to be, we use those things which are the most noble and best in God's creation and man's achievement.
A thing of beauty speaks to us of the beauty of God. To praise His goodness and His majesty we communicate with Him in language which has dignity, with music that is noble and in buildings of distinction and merit.
There is a beauty which is the
most pleasing to Him, more pleasing than the greatest music, more important than the finest architecture. We call it beauty of the heart, which is another way of speaking of the first of the eight Beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall sec God-. .
Purity of heart, the sense of dependence, the aching longing for God, the inner wounds that cry out for His healing hand, these cause us to turn to God. If we remain unassuming and little, if we recognise our weakness and need, we are ready for His coming. If we remain open to His life and ready to do His will . we are guaranteed the full and lasting vision of Him.
In a great Cathedral like Westminster, it is right that we should use all that is fine and magnificent to give honour and glory to God. But as I write I remember a prison chaplain celebrating Mass in a shapeless room made clean and tidy for the occasion.
It is no place of beauty and the congregation is composed of the wounded ones of our society; their musical talents minimal, their clothing drab and dull. But God is smiling on them as He does on the congregation of the Cathedral. They too are doing their best, and like the rest of us, are pleasing to God.
Our great Cathedral is home for all. It is here to serve the needs of all men and women, to help them on their journey through life. It is right that we should be a chink in the cloud of unknowing, enabling our parishioners and visitors to glimpse something of the beauty of God.
It is a place too to come for refreshment and to purify the heart. It is a place where men and women meet Christ, and, in and through Him, gain strength and courage to take another step along the road to God.




blog comments powered by Disqus