A Wide Heaven

                                      Psalm

In 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 absolute poverty
is the pure glory of God within us.

It is like a pure diamond blazing with the invisible light of heaven.
It is in everybody, if we could see it
we would see the billions of points of light
coming together in the face and blaze of a sun
that would make all 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.

                                                       Thomas Merton   from  The Book of Hours

How wide is the embrace of our Hearts? What or whom will we embrace in its fold? Will I see and hear the voices of who becomes my neighbor and serve them well? We will not rest easy when others are separated from us; from this widening heaven whose gates are everywhere for our seeing and shifting perspective; for our gathering neighbors and walking through. How I will be in the moment determines my life.  Whether I choose to be grateful in all things or turn away from the billions of points of light into the darkness of my own making. Heaven impinges on us at any moment. The divine life overlapping our world, linking, entwining our hearts if we let go of our pitiful strongholds of self.  I can only pray for help. I turn from this radiance in a thousand different ways.  Love does not walk easily within me when I become a fist.