Father I love you. Test

Seeing God.

A sharing from Saint Theophilus.[1]

Brother Theophilus can my spirit see God? Now? Here on earth?

-Brother Raymond, our dear Lord says, ‘Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God.’-

“But what does ‘pure of heart’ mean?”

-Brother Raymond,-

“If you say, "Show me your God, I will say to you, ‘Show me what kind of person you are, and I will show you my God.’ Show me then whether the eyes of your mind  can see, and the ears of your heart hear. (Italics are the author’s.)

“Brother Theophilus, what are, ‘eyes of your mind  and the ears of your heart?”

-Brother Raymond, it is like this,- “Those who can see with the eyes of their bodies are aware of what is happening in this life on earth. They get to know things that are different from each other. They distinguish light and darkness, black and white, ugliness and beauty, elegance and inelegance, proportion and lack of proportion, excess and defect. The same is true of the sounds we hear: high or low or pleasant. So it is with the ears of our heart and the eyes of our mind in their capacity to hear or see God.

God is seen by those who have the capacity to see him, provided that they keep the eyes of their mind open. All have eyes, but some have eyes that are shrouded in darkness, unable to see the light of the sun. Because the blind cannot see it, it does not follow that the sun does not shine. The blind must trace the cause back to themselves and their eyes. In the same way, you have eyes in your mind that are shrouded in darkness because of your sins and evil deeds. A person's soul should be clean, like a mirror reflecting light. If there is rust on the mirror his face cannot be seen in it. In the same way, no one who has sin within him can see God.

But if you will you can be healed. Hand yourself over to the doctor, and he will open the eyes of your mind and heart. Who is to be the doctor? It is God, who heals and gives life through his word and wisdom. Through his word and wisdom he created the universe, for by his word the heavens were established, and by his Spirit all their array. His wisdom is supreme. God by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding he arranged the heavens, by his knowledge the depths broke forth and the clouds poured out the dew.

If you understand this, and live in purity and holiness and justice, you may see God. But, before all, faith and the fear of God must take the first place in your heart, and then you will understand all this. When you have laid aside mortality and been clothed in immortality, then you will see God according to your merits. God raises up your flesh to immortality along with your soul, and then, once made immortal, you will see the immortal One, if you believe in him now.[2] ”

“Brother Theophilus, I always thought having a pure heart was having a heart that was free from bad thoughts, impure thoughts, a heart that was chaste. I now realize that to have a pure heart, is firstly to love God with all our heart, our soul and our mind. I know that such souls will see God now and forever, and their joy will be complete.” We were not created to desecrate our will by favoring and giving our heart to things of the earth, to the winds of this world, to things made from nothing.

A sharing from Brother Aurelius.

Brother Aurelius tells us, “. . . if we wish to return to our Father's home, this world must be used, not enjoyed, that so the invisible things of God may be clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, that is, that by means of what is material and temporary we may lay hold upon that which is spiritual and eternal.” [3]

“Be therefore like Him in piety and earnest in meditation: for the invisible things of Him are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; look upon the things that are made, admire them, seek their author.”[4]

So, why do many of us not see God? Not hear God? Not meet God? Not talk with God? Not know God? Not love God? Not walk with God? Not minister to God? Because many only see things, the visible and nothing beyond that. Things have as their first revelation, that someone has made them. If our spirit does not see the visible, we do not see the invisible Creator behind the visible created. And if we do not see that, we do not see the power of God. And if we do not see God’s power, we do not hear his word Jesus, nor do we see his Hand, the Holy Spirit.

Will your life be spent seeing and living with things, or seeing and living with God? Every person, every part of creation is a visible sign of God's invisible Presence, a sign of his will, his word and his power. How much closer can God be to you? What else can our loving Father do to be with you, to convince you he loves you?

Without Jesus, seeing, knowing and meeting God would have been impossible.

“Brother Aurelius, without Jesus how would we have ever known and met God?”

-Brother Raymond, we would have been wholly incapable,-“had not Wisdom (Jesus) condescended to adapt Himself to our weakness, and to show us a pattern of holy life in the form of our own humanity. Yet, since we when we come to Him do wisely, he when he came to us was considered by proud men to have done very foolishly. And since we when we come to Him become strong, he when he came to us was looked upon as weak. But "the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." And thus, though Wisdom was Himself our home, he made Himself also the way by which we should reach our home.”[5]

This is in what sense the Wisdom of God came to us.

“And though he is everywhere present to the inner eye[6] when it is sound and clear, he condescended to make Himself manifest to the outward eye of those whose inward sight is weak and dim. "For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

Not then in the sense of traversing space, but because he appeared to mortal men in the form of mortal flesh, he is said to have come to us. For he came to a place where he had always been, seeing that "he was in the world, and the world was made by Him." But, because men, who in their eagerness to enjoy the creature instead of the Creator had grown into the likeness of this world, and are therefore most appropriately named "the world," did not recognize Him, therefore the evangelist says, "and the world knew Him not." Thus, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. Why then did he come, seeing that he was already here, except that it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe?" [7]

Eternal life is in the spirit and is now.

My blessed Brothers and Sisters, reading this book, has hopefully sharpened your awareness that you are a spirit, with a soul that animates your body. Our dear Lord tells us, “It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer.”[8]

You can see the importance of Theophilus and Augustine’s words. The visible (what your eyes see) is only a reflection of the invisible, always the first cause. This must be what you, what your spirit sees, the invisible hand of God, always the first cause.

There are persons whose primary access to the world around them and others, are their eyes. They see more than they hear. And, there are persons who hear more than they can see. Their primary access to the world and others, are their ears. There are persons who can only see one thing at a time, while there are others who can see dozens, hundreds and even thousands of things at a time. Some persons love a tree, others love the forest. I do not think this is a natural phenomenon, I suspect these persons have been molded from their environment and experiences.

Mozart was a genius because he (his spirit) could see all of a symphony, or an opera at one and the same time. In his spirit, he saw and heard every note, every phrase, every instrument, every sound, every rest, every tone etc. completely and together. Afterwards, it was simply a case of writing the music he saw and heard.

The first step in being “who you truly are,” is to know which person you are (from the group above) and to work your way to seeing and meeting the world and others through your spirit. This means you must see the invisible through the visible. You must hear the invisible voices through the visible sounds. You must touch the invisible Artisan through the visible object. You must see the invisible presence of the Creator through the visible presence of things created. You must hear the invisible Author through his visible word, Jesus.

There are wonders and miracles that surround us each day. If we are preoccupied with power, or money, or authority, or security, or knowledge, or strength or sex, or drugs or solitude... we will never see creation and its Author. We will never see God. We will never know God and know Love. Our dear Lord tells us, “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer.”[9]