Jumping In

“But since God in his goodness stirs and touches different people in different ways (some through secondary causes and others directly), who dares to say that he may not be touching you and others like you through the instrumentality of this book. I do not deserve to be his servant, yet in his mysterious designs, he may work through me if he so wishes, for he is free to do as he likes. But I suppose after all that you will not really understand all this until your own contemplative experience confirms it.”
—Privy Counsel Ch. 11

Wonderful humility here on the part of the anonymous author, and his humility teaches a great lesson. One of the greatest miracles is how the Divine works through all of us. When we speak to one another, we hear the voice of God. When we look at each other, we see God’s face. When we touch each other, we touch the body of Christ, the body of the Universe.

And it matters not one bit how broken we are individually. I take great hope in the conviction that the saints are not really all that different from me in depths of their hearts (not more morally pure or pious, for example), but rather in their courage to let go and become an instrument of grace and love in whatever humble way they can. Which means all that is necessary for me is to likewise let go.

This letting go is what the author means when he says we don’t understand any of this esoteric language until our own contemplative experience confirms it. Standing on the edge of the pool looking at the water is not swimming. You have to jump in.