This Much Is Certain

This much is certain, that once we have made up our minds to seek God,

 [He] is already seeking us much more eagerly, And [He] is not going to let anything

 happen to prevent [His} purpose.

Fr. Thomas Keating                                                                                                                    Cited in Mystical Hours

Br. Wayne Teasdale expands on this theme and highlights the spiritual idea of reciprocity in these words:

“Understanding true reciprocity of the mystical life lends to us a considerable strength. Thomas Keating, speaking from long experience, emphasizes the fact that God wills us to seek him, and that is actually our purpose for being; to search for a relationship with him and to find him in the intimacy of union and a communion of love. Abbot Thomas points out that when we commit ourselves to God, [His] commitment to us is far greater than ours to him. Long before we made the decision to seek the divine, the Divine was wholeheartedly seeking us, like the Hound of heaven in Francis Thompson’s poem of the same name. [His] purpose is relentless. This mystical relationship is why we are here, why we were born. Our existence is a summons to this eternal gift we could never merit. The spiritual life is a creative balance between effort and grace: our effort and God’s grace. It is the treasury of God’s generosity.”

This quote and its explanation by Wayne is among the most compelling ones in the entire book for me… It has grabbed my attention every time I have read it, and that has been many times… 

I feel its importance for me can be centered in or grounded on my commitment to a relational theology-that the relationship between God and humankind is the most essential and foundational concern any of us could have. Without any attempt to sound self-important or self-centered, it is a vital concern that God is looking for me even more diligently and more constantly and consistently than I have looked for God, The Divine, The Source.

That divine relentlessness gives me my measure of perseverance, and my desire to hold on, hang in, and move beyond any of life’s obstacles that tries to break that covenant of mutual seeking and finding…

There is a line in the Koran that has always inspired me: “If I walk towards God, God will run towards me”… My efforts and God’s grace…