"Catholicostal.............."

My return to school brought to me the loan of a small paperback, a book written by Henri Nouwen, but the contents devoted to enlightening the reader as to the identity of Thomas Merton. Thus far it is quite full of quotes concerning solitude and contemplation, that first element not practiced by this old man to the extent of joining a monastery, and the second not yet achieved through any attempt to duplicate the method he suggests. My days, for the most part, leave little room to escape life as it comes at us, even the prayer closet, when entered, hindered by a mind swimming in random, almost frenetic thoughts and a body fatigued, any more, from the get-go. I came home yesterday afternoon, did a few chores for my wife, fell into the recliner and dozed for a half hour or so, then went to bed bedraggled, lying there in the darkness and speaking to Him in my head. I awoke this morning from a dream wherein His Spirit filled my mouth before others, the Gospel flowing from a well that had seemed dry just a few moments before. Such is my relationship with Him. In the 55th Chapter of Isaiah, the prophet admonishes Israel to seek the Lord “while He may be found”, to call upon Him “while He is near”. For me, then, it is not a matter of trying to reach a throne room located in another dimension, the universe, itself, between us. When the Trappist monk refers to an internal point of connection, it is a place familiar to me, indeed a privilege not taken for granted, entrance through that portal recognized as grace given. If I am reading Hebrews correctly, though, it is the Holy Ghost who escorts us “through the veil”; and, in making Him your life, not just an appointment, encounters do not require specific conditions to be met. He’s willing to meet you where you are, as you are, your thirst to so know Him enough to “seal the deal”. This, in fact, is “the Kingdom of God”, Christ “in” me, the fullness of that which was purchased for me via the Cross of Calvary. It’s been misused, mis-taught, and discarded altogether; but remains, nonetheless, the promise given unto the Church. The name over the door changes nothing……