For further reflection:

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Below are some of the readings from the talk and some additional readings for you to reflect on further:

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Genesis 28:16-17

“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. …How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

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John 1:4-5 "In him was life, and that life was the light of all humanity. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it."

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John 3:1-10

"Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

"Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

[The term “born again” can also be translated as born anew, from above or beyond or from the Source or Origin] 

“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 

 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit  gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You  must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” 

“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked." 

“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 

 

1 Corinthians 1:25 – 29

"For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. ... God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast..."

 

Vince Gowmon:

“It’s in the space between the fracturing pieces of what we thought was our life that we finally feel and allow light to find us.”

 

St John of the Cross:

“Live in faith and hope, though it be in darkness, for in this darkness God protects the soul. Cast your care upon God, for you are God’s, and God will not forget you. Do not think that God is leaving you alone, for that would be to wrong God.”

 

Matt Licata:

“Somehow, we are asked to marinate in the womb of now, tend to the chaos and uncertainty, and find refuge in the unknown: to be midwife to the darkened illumination. There are signs and symbols and guidance all around and inside us, but that revelation is governed by a timeline orchestrated in the Mystery.”

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Gerald May:

“The darkness of the night implies nothing sinister, only that the liberation takes place in hidden ways, beneath our knowledge and understanding. It happens mysteriously, in secret, and beyond our conscious control.”

 

Psalm 139:7,12

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”... “even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”

 

Br David Standl Rast:

"Once you have experienced simultaneous awareness of light and its arising out of darkness, you have caught a glimpse of The Mystery of Origination. You will be able to find that mystery again and again, ... to let yourself down so deeply into what you see that you become aware of the womb of darkness from which it is being born. ... Yes, once you have been simultaneously aware of light and darkness and know from experience that you can entrust yourself to what Dylan Thomas calls “the close and holy darkness,” the dark womb of light, you will look with new eyes also at all that is dark around you. With a new courage and with new creativity, you will ... light up the world, but you will not fear the darkness, because you will recognize it as the not yet light."

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