John Dunn

Some are elected

Sunday, 3 November 2024 at 22:43

Dante meets with Beatrice, by Henry Holiday

Some are elected

So, to look at this negatively, a life devoid of the experience of Love is devoid of God. But we cannot just choose to love can we? Surely a real experience of Love comes through the chance encounter. As such, some are elected and others are not one might say. Yes, there is Eros certainly,the ground-shaking passion of one for another, always unconditional, often unrequited. Where else might such unconditionality be found, where there are no defining criteria, where love remains with me as an individual and a mystery?

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.

The divine stratum

Saturday, 2 November 2024 at 22:00

Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Beata Beatrix

The divine stratum

And it all seems to turn on the mystery of Love, which is God. This means that unless there is Love in the individual’s own life, he cannot know God. And I do not mean simply a shallow show of lurv for one another, I mean a real crushing, life-changing experience of Love. Dante for one knew that Love belongs to the divine stratum and through one we can experience the other. This was the reason for the divine status of Beatrice in the Divine Comedy.

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.

Given an opportunity

Friday, 1 November 2024 at 22:43

Given an opportunity

God as Love restores to man the freedom which he has lost, the freedom to take possession of his own authenticity.169 We may question the validity of the Word, but in doing so it is we who are questioned. Remember, shunning idolatry means that God, the Word, Logos, Truth are not to be considered as a pre-existent entities. In questioning the validity, we are confronting ourselves, now and at each moment, in a way that is analogous to Jesus’ confrontation with the Jews who chose to reject him.Forget the idolatry of churchy religionism; we are each given an opportunity of understanding ourselves through the analogy which is the death and resurrection of Jesus. Death and resurrection mark the end of ordinary reality and reunion with the Divine.

From Child of Encounter

© John Dunn.