August 14, 2025

On Aridity

Today I hear that when a practitioner of prayer feels that they are in a period of aridity, they are still within the Mind of God.  We are all within the Mind of God, whether we feel that we are tuned in and receiving blessings, or we are feeling that something is off and prayer is dry and arid.  Either way, we are enveloped in God’s Being. 

From the point of view of the Holy Spirit, it is irrelevant whether the practitioner thinks that things are going well or not well.  These are human constructs or concepts. In a way, the Holy Spirit finds it cute that people try to judge how their connection to God is going, like a toddler trying to make sense of the world and coming up with their own funny explanations. People can get boxed in by aridity, setting up artificial barriers and ideas of how things should be, somewhat like getting trapped in scrupulosity (the overly scrupulous attention to small transgressions). But our ideas about our practice often have nothing to do with it. Simply be and persevere, and all is well.

On Being in Nature

It is important for modern people to spend time in nature, even if that is just looking at a tree in your neighborhood, sitting on a park bench, or having a flower on the windowsill.  Nature is wholesome and grounding for people, good for physical and mental health. Nature is also a way of connecting the soul with God. People sometimes think that the earth below is very physical and substantial, while the spiritual realm is above and is more rarified. Yet in many ways this is not so. Paradoxically, connecting with the earth connects us to God. 

On Forgiveness, Matthew 18:21-19:1

In today’s reading, the disciple Peter, reflecting on Jesus’ teaching about forgiveness, asks how many times he must forgive a repeat offender, someone who “sins against him.”  Is seven times enough? he asks. Jesus replies, “Not seven times but seventy-seven times.” In other words, as often as it takes.

Jesus explains that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who forgives a servant of a great, unpayable debt when the servant begs him to, but then that same servant turns around and refuses to forgive his own debtor who only owes a little. When the king hears about this, he gets angry, saying, “You wicked servant!  I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?” He then revokes the first servant’s forgiveness and in fact hands him over to torturers until he can pay the debt. Jesus concludes: “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.” 

Forgiveness can be challenging for us. We feel justified in our grievances, and it’s hard to let go. Here Jesus is teaching that God is inherently disposed to forgive us for everything we’ve ever done that was unethical, selfish, or wrong, if we ask for forgiveness. God is merciful; like a loving parent, God’s nature is forgiving. But if we can’t in turn be generous with others and forgive them as God has forgiven us, then we forfeit that forgiveness, and the karmic consequences of our misdeeds can come boomeranging back on us. This is how important forgiveness is in our spiritual path and our relationship with God. It does not mean we forget what the person did to us or that we condone their behavior. We may still feel anger and resentment. But it means we can recognize that they are also a human being and child of God – even if a very mixed up, confused, misled child of God in that moment when they did wrong to us. It will benefit us to let go and let it rest. Indeed, we can meditate on forgiveness and see what teachings on non-self are contained therein.