All Things Live In God

All things that exist were made by God the Word; … and the Word is life.  John 1: 3, 4

As we approach the close of the three months’ harvest period which the Celts felt it important to mark, it is customary to dwell on the theme of creation once again. Let us meditate on these reflections by the Celts’ great mystical theologian, John Scotus Eriugena:

All things, even what seems to us to be without vital movement, live in the Word. If you want to know how all things subsist in God-the-Word, choose some examples from created nature and think about them… Consider the infinite, multiple power of the seed – how many grasses, fruits, and animals are contained in each kind of seed; and how there surges forth from each a beautiful, innumerable multiplicity of forms. Contemplate with your inner eye how in a master the many laws of an art or science are one; how they live in the spirit that disposes them. Contemplate how an infinite number of lines may subsist in a single point, and other similar examples drawn from nature. ‘For in Him’, as the Scripture says, ‘we live and move and have our being’.

But… human nature, even if it had not sinned, would not have been able to shine by its own strength. Although human nature is capable of wisdom, it is not itself wisdom. Just as the air does not shine by itself, yet is able to receive the light of the sun, so the Word wishes to teach us: ‘It is not you who shine; but the Spirit of your Father shines in you’. You are not a light in yourselves, you are only able to participate in the divine light.
John Scotus Eriugena, Homily on the Prologue to the Gospel of St. John (abridged)

Creator, we are contained in you,
and we are connected to all else that is contained in you.
Help us not to rebel against our connectedness.
Light-giver, we are reflectors for you,
and, as we connect with others, we become rays of light.
Help us not to shut out your light.
Shine, Jesus, shine in us today.