Transformation and the True Self: Weekly Summary
Sunday
Searching for and rediscovering the True Self is the essential task that will gradually open us to receiving love from and giving love to God, others, and ourselves. —Richard Rohr
Monday
Your True Self is a tiny flame of this Universal Reality that is Life itself, Consciousness itself, Being itself, Love itself, God’s very self. —Richard Rohr
Tuesday
Something great is alive in you, and something more than this surface reality is intended for your life. Beyond your circumstances lies a different destiny. —Paula D’Arcy
Wednesday
My false and private self is the one who wants to exist outside the reach of God’s will and God’s love—outside of reality and outside of life. And such a self cannot help but be an illusion. —Thomas Merton
Thursday
The full person God created us to be contains more than we can imagine, but most of us dwell within only a small portion of the superb castle of ourselves. Opening the door of our heart allows us entrance to the vast treasure of who we are and to the divine presence within us. —Joyce Rupp
Friday
God yearns for us to live wholeheartedly and truthfully as the unique, beautiful, beloved individuals God created us to be. —Michelle DeRusha
All Life is One
The inner space where God dwells can often be uniquely accessed by the arts. To bring Father Richard’s message of the True Self into a deeper consciousness, we invite you to watch and listen to this music video as a contemplative practice. To practice audio or visio divina (sacred hearing or seeing) is to allow our hearts to be fully receptive to sound and image. The song and video are from Birdtalker, a Nashville-based musical group [1], that was featured at CAC’s CONSPIRE 2017: A Conspiracy for God.
References:
[1] Birdtalker also contributed the theme music for the first two seasons of the CAC podcast Another Name for Every Thing.
Birdtalker, One, official lyric video, June 20, 2017, YouTube video, 3:59.
Explore Further. . .
- Read Barbara Holmes on contemplation in the midst of crisis.
- Take Richard’s Immortal Diamond online course on the True Self.
- Learn more about this year’s theme Nothing Stands Alone.
- Meet the team behind the Daily Meditations.
Image credit: Charlein Garcia, Untitled (detail), 2018, photograph, Philippines, Unsplash, free use. Jenna Keiper, Untitled Leaves (detail), 2020, photograph, New Mexico, used with permission. Charlein Garcia, Untitled (detail), 2018, photograph, Philippines, Unsplash, free use. Jenna Keiper and Leslye Colvin, 2022, triptych art, United States.
This week’s images appear in a form inspired by early Christian/Catholic triptych art: a threefold form that tells a unified story.
Image inspiration: The true self is deeper than our egos and eccentricities. At times mirroring the innocence of a child, it awaits our remembering. May we also open, with childlike curiosity, to our own transformation.
Prayer for our community:
God, Lord of all creation, lover of life and of everything, please help us to love in our very small way what You love infinitely and everywhere. We thank You that we can offer just this one prayer and that will be more than enough, because in reality every thing and every one is connected, and nothing stands alone. To pray for one part is really to pray for the whole, and so we do. Help us each day to stand for love, for healing, for the good, for the diverse unity of the Body of Christ and all creation, because we know this is what You desire: as Jesus prayed, that all may be one. We offer our prayer together with all the holy names of God, we offer our prayer together with Christ, our Lord, Amen.
