The Gift of Contemplation

“Strictly speaking, contemplation is an immediate and in some sense passive intuition of the inmost reality, of our spiritual self and of God present within us.”     Thomas Merton

Contemplation is the deep spiritual awareness of the eternal dimension of life. It is a walk both in the world and out of the world. It takes us beyond the intellectual truth we know about God to an inner experience of His presence living in us. Our hearts comprehend we are the sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father. The words of John and Paul become a reality in our spirit, “to as many as received him he gave the power to become the sons of God” and, “those who are led by the Spirit he gave the power to become the sons of God. We are the sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father.

Contemplation is a gift from the Heavenly Father revealing His desire before the Creation to love us and have fellowship with us. It is the confounding and unchanging recognition God loves us. It is not special knowledge or revelation given to an exclusive few but is poured out for all humanity to enjoy. It is a conscious state of being where the fallen nature of man is no longer in control. Freed from our rebellion toward God, the mind is set free to live as sons and daughters and joint heirs of God’s kingdom. (Rom.8:17)

The eyes of Christ are now our eyes, and God is living in us and through us. We are no longer strangers or outcasts but sons and daughters of the living God!