Today’s morning meditation is available below in audio and script formats. The audio version is also available for free download on the player.

Reading

“How do we find out what special kind of mystic we are called to be? Certainly the ultimate guide to union with God can only be God. But God is assisted in this task by the wisdom and writings of the great mystics throughout history.”

—Carl McColman

Stillness

As your day begins, spend a few moments in silence and stillness, meditating on the words that you just read.

Commentary

By the fourth and fifth centuries, when Christianity became socially acceptable in the cities of the Roman Empire, remote wilderness locations like the deserts of Egypt and Palestine or the forests of Ireland became home to many saints and mystics.

Out of the deserts came the first monasteries, intentional communities of Christians who sought to give their entire lives to God. But with the dawn of the modern era—and the social changes such as the Renaissance and the Reformation in particular—monasteries became less central to Catholic Christianity and were largely rejected by the Protestant churches, so in recent centuries more mystics have emerged who did not live in a cloister. (CAC)

Affirmation

Our goal, therefore, is to learn the curriculum of a truly spiritual life, grounded in love, mercy, tenderness, compassion, forgiveness, hope, trust, simplicity, silence, peace, and joy. To embody union with God is to discover these beautiful characteristics emerging from within and slowly transfiguring us. (CAC)

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Abbreviations

BC The Belgic Confession

CAC The Center For Action & Contemplation

CD The Canons of Dort

CIB Church In Bethesda Prayers

DZ - Donna Z.

HC The Heidelberg Catechism

MAO - Michael A. O’Sullivan

NT The New Testament

OT The Old Testament

RP - Ryan Phipps

WC The Westminster Confession

WLB Words To Live By

WLC The Westminster Larger Catechism

WSC The Westminster Shorter Catechism

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