Endowed Poverty

Great sorrow comes when you realize that you have attached some small importance to your self. Yet another false mask is identified. Although it might be only as light as a shadow that is cast, it is still an obstacle to a better encounter with God. It is power - your power - exerting itself. Any human desire deceives and turns us away from God and is a source of true grief.

It is at this point that clinging to work and prayer gives rest to your soul, not out of punishment or penance or cleansing, but out of obedience. Knowing that you can no longer find rest in anything contrived by people, including yourself, you are simply surrendering to dependence upon God at the behest of the needs and exigencies that are right in front of you.

A contemplative attitude is fostered by the peace that comes through simplicity. But it is not the simplicity of a child because a child has not had the chance to be engaged by the complexities of life. But in a mature person who has experienced God directly the undue involvements of life have become resolved into unity and emptiness and interior peace through obedience. And it is here, that without any need for complicated reasoning or specialized actions, that you find the great river of grace that draws us back into the universe, and to God.