In preparation for Quaresima (Lent) – I’m partial to that term because it lets me think of 40, the forty-day period preceding Easter, which mimics Jesus’ forty days in the desert – I came across a prayer that was offered by Fr. Rohr. The very short prayer, or as he calls mantra, is My image of God creates me.
As I repeated it, (My image of God creates me), over and over again, I started to truly believe it. Since I cannot see God, I rely on the image that I create of him mentally. I also found that the image, even though it should be if I was really fully mature in my faith, is not always the same. I try hard to hold on to the image that is portrayed in the life of Jesus as told in the New Testament – the image so beautifully painted in the story of the prodigal son – an image of a loving and forgiving father always ready and joyful to welcome us back home.
Yet that image at times is somewhat clouded when I encounter trials and tribulations. My image at those times is based on the fire and brimstone of the Old Testament where God’s hand is out not to welcome but to mete some form of punishment. When I form that image of God I find that it creates in me a not so loving and forgiving person.
Fr. Rohr states, “Loving people, forgiving people have always encountered a loving and forgiving God. Cynical people are cynical about the very possibility of a coherent loving center to the universe. So why wouldn’t they become cynical themselves? Of course they do.”
Henri Nouwen reminds us not to confuse unconditional love with unconditional approval. God loves us without conditions but does not approve of every human behavior.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
~Psalm 139:23-24
