In Ignatian Spirituality, repetition is an intentional returning to a previous experience of prayer for the purpose of allowing the movements of God to deepen within our hearts. It was in this sense, that I went back to Logion 2 this morning.
Yeshua says,
If you are searching
you must not stop
until you find.
When you find, however
you will become troubled.
Your confusion will give way to wonder.
In wonder you will reign over all things.
Your soverignity will be your rest.
(Gospel of Thomas, Translation by Lynn Bauman)
“Your confusion will give way to wonder.”
How can this be?
Time and again, figures in the sacred texts of Christianity ask this question. And it seems altogether fair, for the Divine — then and now seems to break into the world in strange, upsetting, and uncomfortable ways. As I sat with this text this morning, many happenstances, coincidences, synchronicities came to mind with the question lingering how can this be?
Perhaps in your own experience, there have been such occasions. (And not just on the scale of national and international events, though I do seem to be asking how can this be on that level too a lot these days. And, that can be a clever distraction to keep me — to keep us from the transformative work that is our to do right here and right now.)
How can this be?
“Your confusion will give way to wonder.”
Holy One,
faithful and true —
throughout the ages,
throughout the span of life and lifetimes,
your glimmering awe shines forth, breaks open
in every facet of creation.
Bring us to our knees in confusion.
Allow us to come into the depths with our troubles.
May we not run from the depths, numb them, or seek instant relief.
May we not seek scapegoats or turn against ourselves and one another.
Rather, give us the grace of sober wondering —
how can this be?
Hold us — comforting and nourishing us in our troubles and confusion
Care for us
as the soft dawn of wonder breaks through the dark clouds
and your Spirit draws us
with new understanding into new action.
Action rooted in love, in service, and in justice —
new actions of bringing forth your reign
in our lives,
in our bodies,
in the bodies of all our siblings who suffer
danger,
injustice,
fires,
disease.
Help us to be agents of healing in the body of our world
for it is in the name of your dawning day
that I make this prayer. Amen.