JOURNEY WITH MARY [Episode 6] - 6. NECESSITY TO BE SILENT AND IN SOLITUDE LIKE MARY

 JOURNEY WITH MARY 

Episode 6. NECESSITY TO BE SILENT AND IN SOLITUDE LIKE MARY: To be Attuned to the Promptings of the Spirit

To listen to the episode, in the company of Fr. C. George Mary Claret, follow the link given below:

https://anchor.fm/greatergloryofgod/episodes/JOURNEY-WITH-MARY-Episode-6---6--NECESSITY-TO-BE-SILENT-AND-IN-SOLITUDE-LIKE-MARY-em2rr6

In the JOURNEY WITH MARY we reflected on “Dedicated and Consecrated to God ” – choosing God above everyone and everything else.

Have you finished the reflection and reading?

How do you feel?

This is the 6th Episode titled “NECESSITY TO BE SILENT AND IN SOLITUDE LIKE MARY: to be attuned to the promptings of the Spirit.

God made us in His image and after our birth, the world changed our image and made us in its own image.

Silence and solitude is the factory where we can get back to the original identity – humans as God’s companions and friends and not enemies!

Revelation 3:20

“Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into you and eat with you, and you with me.”

- Different levels of beings – God & Man

Like the ecological pyramid

- Need to raise awareness

- mindset

- thinking has to be changed

- the thinker has to separate himself from his thoughts / thinking

- identification with one’s own thoughts creates problems

A teacher thinks like a teacher

In other words, to be a teacher is to think like a teacher!

A police like a police

A doctor like a doctor

Therefore, we need to put on the hat of the divine to think like God

Philippians 2:5

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus”

Elijah Meets God at Horeb

Ahab - Jezebel all that Elijah

1 Kings 19:11-13

11 He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

- There’s a need to be attuned to God

- Being in the present moment

- Being in the HERE AND THE NOW

Psalm 46:10

“Be still, and know that I am God!

- Silence and solitude – depth, darkness, and silence

- Silent of the body and mind

- Solitude of the body and mind

Solitude: Vs Loneliness

Today more than ever human beings are lonely, though busy with people virtually through social media, but in reality, we are going away from oneself and others.

- The more we are with people and less with oneself

- will become one of them

- will lose the individuality

James 4: 

“Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” 

-    “You become who you hang with”

-       “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who are.”

-       Tuning to TV, connecting to WIFI, etc.

Communion of Saints – Mary as our Mother

Communion of the Holy Spirit

2 Corinthians 13:13 

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”

-       Not dead and gone

-      Involved with us

Mary was habituated to keep everything in her heart and contemplate. Not forcing her views on to whatever was happening, but LETTING GOD REVEAL everything.

Luke 2:19 

“But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” 

Luke 2:49 -51

“49 He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.”

As Karl Rahner said that the Christians of the 21^st century have to be mystic else he cannot be a Christian.

“The devout Christian of the future will either be a ‘mystic,’ one who has experienced ‘something,’ or he will cease to be anything at all.” This is an often-cited Rahner quote, but what exactly does it mean? Rahner sees the human person as being consciously or subconsciously aware of God, not necessarily in an obvious way but rather as the horizon of that makes relation to God a defining principle. It is not surprising that the consciousness. This means that he begins with a definition of the human person Ultimate Mystery is the foundational characteristic of being human. Starting experience of God then becomes an important part of his theology. In doing this, he opens the realm of the sacred to include every aspect of human life. approach to the experience of God, it is important to begin with a closer look Since Rahner’s theological anthropology is foundational for understanding his at this facet of his theology. For Rahner, the human person is understood as from this perspective, the experience of God is not something unusual; rather, one who is created for the self-communication of God. This orientation toward to be human is to be open to the possibility of God’s self-communication. This radical orientation to mystery at the root of humanity is what is meant by potential to respond to God’s offer of Godself, or obediential potential (or Rahner’s phrase “supernatural existential.” This openness to Mystery as the horizon that is always ever greater is the possibility for the receipt of grace, which is defined as the communication of God’s own self. Thus, the potency), is a result of what the human being is created to be. “To Rahner, human identity. To be human in its most radical sense means to be the addressee of God’s offer of God’s self-offer as holy mystery, revelation, and love actually constitutes self.”

Click the link to get the full-text:

file:///C:/Users/hp/Downloads/1900-Article%20Text-3186-1-10-20120724.pdf

To be human is to be the recipient of God’s offer of Self.

God created humans to share His Divine Self for which we need to be silent and in solitude like Mary and most of the Saints.

For Rahner, the human person is understood as one who is created for the self-communication of God. This orientation toward Ultimate Mystery is the foundational characteristic of being human. Starting from this perspective, the experience of God is not something unusual; rather, to be human is to be open to the possibility of God’s self-communication.

Seeds die and sprout in the deep silence and solitude within the mud!

The real language of communication with God is silence in solitude – alone with the Alone!

Questions for Reflection:

• Whose company would I prefer - God's & Saints Vs people
• What are the challenges you face to get attuned to the level of God - His Mind and thinking?
• Do you have a patron Saint? How do you give him/her company?
• God wants to give himself totally to you. Do you want to receive Him?
• Are you ready to be a mystic as defined by Karl Rahner?
• What have you learned from this episode?

Bible Verses for Reflection:

• Revelation 3:20

• Philippians 2:5 

• 1 Kings 19:11-13

• Psalm 46:10

• James 4:4 

• 2 Corinthians 13:13 

• Luke 2:19 

• Luke 2:49 -51

Link for Karl Rahner's views:

https://frcgeorgemclaret.blogspot.com/2020/11/journey-with-mary-episode-6-6-necessity.html