Product Description
On this day we will view God from the three perspectives we learned in grade school as third person, second person, and first person. Paul R Smit in his book: Is Your God Big Enough, Close Enough and You Enough? tells us Jesus talked (1)about God, (2)to God, and(3) as God and encourages us to do the same using Jesus and Teilhard as a model.
- We can talk about someone or something using third person forms such as “he/she/it.” — GOD BEYOND US: the COSMIC FACE OF GOD that Teilhard brings to the fore or the “I AM” face of infinite being that God revealed to Moses or the Apostle Paul’s “God in whom we live, and move, and have our being”.
- We can talk to someone or something using second person pronouns such as “you”. – GOD BESIDE US: This is the Immanent Presence of God as a “Someone,” to use Teilhard’s word. the personal and theistic face of God that that we may talk God loves to be everywhere at the same time (a WE space)! Teilhard personally models relating to God in the sacred WE Space of awakened consciousness.
- We can talk as someone or something using first person pronouns such as “I.” –GOD BEING US: This is the subjective, mystical, inner face of God which we may call our True Self or Christ Consciousness as we little by little let go of our ego-self. It is resting as God in our deepest divine identity. It is living LOVE.
The most complete picture of any situation includes a balanced version of all three perspectives. Applied to God, this reveals the three faces of God we know as Trinity. These three Faces of God also give us three spiritual practice spaces – spaces in which we reflect, we relate and we rest. Teilhard lived in all three of these spaces. It transformed him and it can transform us. Come to meet a God who is big enough for our minds, close enough for our hearts, and us enough for, and as, our deepest identity.
Date: September 24, 2024 Time 10 AM to 3 PM (Includes Lunch)
Julia Keegan, OSF, a Sister of St. Francis of Philadelphia, is an associate staff member at the Franciscan Spiritual Center. Her ministry includes authoring the Center’s Blog, overseeing the website and other electronic social networks, giving retreats, doing spiritual direction and offering workshops on gratitude, Franciscan theology, and evolutionary spirituality. She has extensive professional experience in health care, nursing education, ethics, development, and has been involved in offering programs at parishes and health care institutions
