Meditation: Standing alone

Our destiny is unity;
together in God.
This longing now, a pebble in our shoes,
is a nagging reminder of what we were made to be.

We are born for community,
longing to be together, but inevitably 
we live on our own.
In our heads. 
Busy. 
Doing things.

When we think, we are walled in a prison of cranial bone
and even though we try to share our thoughts, inevitably 
we are misunderstood, misinterpreted through the events of our listener's life.
Thinking is a solitary experience.

We hide our aloneness in lively tea parties, 
enthusiastic social contacts, 
passionate Church liturgies, helping sisters and brothers.
But we trick ourselves, sustained by hints of unity, glimpses of common purpose.

Only in our loves can we have a true taste of unity;
in our thoughts we each live alone.
Our thoughts can be original and are always unique,
seeming to define us, nurturing our perception of individual singularity.

But we long to share our insights, to unite with others.
Some of our best thoughts are so infused with passion
that others do indeed follow, but the tyranny of thought
cannot sustain unity: new thoughts intrude and distract.

Love is the difference.
We mostly live alone with our individual thoughts,
savouring our individual rights and entitlements.
Only in our loves may we truly come together. 

Only that love can satisfy.

Only through love:
love of God, love of others, love of creation, love of ourselves,
can we glimpse the unity of eternity: our destiny 
when the sons and daughters of our Creator will be reunited 
in Love as the single body of Christ.

Our destiny is unity;
together in God.
This longing now, a pebble in our shoes,
is a nagging reminder of what we were made to be.

Suggestions for meditation
Always begin by offering your time to God: something like "My loving God, I love you with my whole heart and above all things. I give you this time when I am reaching out to you" and then a few moments reminding yourself of some of the blessings God has given you - the clear signs of God's love for you.

Read the mediation over slowly a couple of times.

Listen for Jesus' personal message for you.

If you would prefer a Bible reading I suggest 1 John 4:7-8,16-21

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them. Love is made perfect in us in order that we may have courage on the Judgement Day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ's. There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment.

We love because God first loved us. If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others, whom we have seen. The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love others also.

Read this passage or the meditation slowly a couple of times.

What word of phrase jumps out to speak to you?

Why? Try to put yourself into those words. Maybe imagine Jesus speaking, and reply.

Then spend 5, or 10, or 20 minutes with those words, or the word LOVE. You might want to begin the meditation using the breathing exercise I suggest in We have two minds. After a minute or two focused on your breathing, move your focus to the word/s you have chosen. 

Each time your attention moves away from the word/s, push the distraction gently aside and return to the word ("without the intervention of analytical thought" as The Cloud of Unknowing puts it).

You may need a countdown clock.

At the end thank God, and return to your day.