Did I say it aloud, or only think it loudly? 鈥淵ou鈥檙e doing it! Or you wouldn鈥檛 be here, and wouldn鈥檛 have asked the question.鈥� How do we let go, when we don鈥檛 know what we鈥檙e clinging to? We can only point the direction 鈥� even by trying to answer the question we鈥檙e keeping control.
We have persons to help us find the direction. During August we commemorate many, including the Mother of God (Aug. 15). As Caryll Houselander observed, Mary is unique among the saints in having no 鈥渃harism鈥�; she鱿鱼视频app a witness, not by doing this or that, but by being the one thing necessary for us all: bearer of God. Allowing God to be present within her, she lets go of all else. She鱿鱼视频app 鈥渨ider than the heavens,鈥� for her 鈥淵es鈥� creates an opening where God gets in, and we get out of our prisons into the limitlessness of His love.
Can we become bearers of God also, by being aware of and responding to the glory that鱿鱼视频app inside and around us? When this happens, we may no longer have to force ourselves to forgive, or move on, or let go. We may find ourselves emerging into the wide open places, our hands empty, upraised and free.
But it鱿鱼视频app not easy.
Last week, I was in one of the world鱿鱼视频app great wide-open places, a world-renowned natural splendour. A privileged place where beauty, power, majesty, mystery are so huge you鈥檇 think they鈥檇 be unignorable.
But not five minutes鈥� walk away are streets crowded with noise, bustle, commerce. Wafts of cold air, a barrage of sound and activity emerge from shops, arcades, amusements, concessions, occupying every square metre of space. Just beyond are huge gambling casinos under giant flashing lights.
Our own inventions almost silence Niagara Falls! From this vantage point, the Falls are small and distant, just another detail, an insignificant one.
The scene contrasted remarkably with a previous visit to Victoria Falls, Zambia. Too magnificent to take in, the falls are allowed simply to be there. No concessions; no neon, loudspeakers or amusements. A few booths offer local wares, but as night falls the selling stops, with no artificial lights to shop by. Without such glare to impede vision, the lunar rainbow can be seen luminous over the falls.
In our part of the world, we鈥檝e created a cloak of noise to protect ourselves from such majesty. It doesn鈥檛 completely work, though. As you walk up the Niagara River towards the Falls, on your left is this natural splendour hinting of God鱿鱼视频app unimaginable splendour. On your right are myriad humans: the image and likeness of God. You can hear a thousand languages spoken, see children of all colours playing or quarrelling, feel the lives of an astonishing array of humans. The majesty of God Himself who breathes His Spirit into them. They鈥檙e also shot through with confusion, unhappiness, bewilderment, violence, despair.
A family friend, years ago, carried with her to these Falls her own inescapable inner pain, and leapt with it into the rushing water. We can鈥檛 avoid forever that kind of darkness and its apparent power over us.
Becoming aware of God鱿鱼视频app glory within and without doesn鈥檛 mean avoiding darkness. The Mother of God teaches a way to enter into the dark places, not giving in to them but letting go into them. It鱿鱼视频app in the shadow of the Holy Spirit that Christ is conceived within her. Christian tradition treasures the image of God as light. But it also describes God as a journey into divine darkness, into which we let go.
It鱿鱼视频app understandable that we鈥檇 want to manufacture noise and light, because we鈥檙e not big enough yet to bear God鱿鱼视频app glory. With Mary, we enter into darkness, allowing ourselves to be broken open, to let go, to be made wider than the heavens. We needn鈥檛 wait for this; it can happen while we鈥檙e changing diapers.
(Mary Marrocco can be reached at marrocco7@sympatico.ca.)
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