10/9/14

During yesterday's inquiry class, I was reminded of the way my friend sees God in his interactions with people via Barbara's comment that God tends to constantly throw us together so that we have to interact and share with one another. Then today, I read something in Thomas Merton's The Sign of Jonas that brought that to mind and for me really highlighted the deeply social nature of Christian spirituality:

Christ recognizes Himself when the souls that possess His likeness in them by charity, recognize one another by some actual expression of His love in one another, and begin to praise Him and thank Him and move one another to greater love, in His joy. (150)

I found it a wonderful expression of this same idea, i.e., of seeing God in our interactions with other people. I think this is important, maybe even the most important aspect of Christianity. I've been trying to see God throughout the day in my interactions with others. Unfortunately, I think my interactions with people have been so negative from my side that any potential sign of God is being buried in darkness.

I wish I knew how to be more patient and loving. I seem to get so easily irritated and caught up in my own negative moods that it overwhelms all the goodness in my heart and makes it hard for me to be receptive to all the goodness that's around me. I want so much to be a better person and to be a source of joy to those around me rather than a thorn in their side—to be able to truly love others as much as I love myself.