stroke

 May 18

Day before yesterday, my mother had a stroke. 

She’s doing well; but for the first day, she was in a coma and completely unresponsive. There was no way of knowing whether she would emerge from it, or whether she would be mentally competent once she did.

The evening of the stroke, as the family gathered around the dinner table, our prayers were brief but intense. I said to the gathering, “Lord, may thy will be done swiftly.”

Now, those who wish to understand a bit about God’s will would do well to read Meister Eckhart’s sermon number 10. It is all about that subject. What he says, in essence, is that I must surrender my own will wholly.  At that moment only God’s will can exist within me.  This, of course, is a very high thing and I’m quite fortunate if I taste even the least molecule of its substance. Yet it’s possible for me to understand how important it is to rush towards God’s will with all of my Being, whatever it may be. It doesn’t matter what it is; the more fully and swiftly I embrace it, the better off I am, no matter what the consequence is.  

One might think of it as being atop a burning building with no escape. One is going to die. One has to escape the fire no matter what. One sees one has no choice but to completely fulfill God’s will in that moment, which is that one dies — and so one rushes straights towards God's will and jumps off the building, fully embracing it. 

This may seem an extreme and perhaps even cruel example; yet how else can we understand how thoroughly and absolutely we ought to race towards God’s will and embrace it, no matter what it is? 

 In my own case, I knew that it was most important that God’s will be done. 

In such a case, no matter what it cost me or my family, it's best it be done swiftly, because the sooner we get to where God is taking this, the better off we are. God’s will for our life is unerring and always points towards the salvation of our souls. It’s best we embrace it instead of having arguments with ourselves and with God about what is coming or what has to happen. Again, this is the point of Eckhart’s sermon number 10. Do not deny yourself the insights he brings us by failing to read it.

Thus is my counsel to myself for this day.

Wishing the best for you on this day,

Lee

Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.