Our friend and Elisha’s Riddle contributor Mo Thomas recently shared this excerpt from one of author Richard Rohr’s meditations. It is really a quote from Thomas Merton, a brilliant writer and mystic who brings out the mystery of “Christ in us” in a beautiful way. 

Today we begin with Thomas Merton’s classic description of the True Self as written following his “conversion” at Fourth and Walnut in Louisville. It is so inspired; I want to quote it at length:

“At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will.

This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It is so to speak [God’s] name written in us, as our poverty, as our indigence, as our dependence, as our [birthright]. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven.

It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely. . . . I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere.”

. . . Rohr goes on from here to expound on his thoughts about this mystery of the True Self. I wanted to just leave us in a selah moment to reflect on this diamond within. This is what we are trying to awaken people to in the world of addiction and recovery. This is the goal of missions as well. There is a diamond within us and within the people around us. We are truly surrounded by living miracles carrying this brilliant light. Father, open our eyes to this! Amen.