God Speaking through Our Minds and Hearts
How God speaks to us indirectly is through the natural elements of our interior life (thoughts, memories, feelings, emotions): offering us insights for knowledge, stirring up memories for reflection, stimulating us through our feelings to prick our conscious, offering us those physical feelings of peace and contentment; and through our daily encounters.
God Touching Our Soul
God also offers us multiple natural spiritual experiences to catch our awareness, calling us – i.e. gifting us with a physical sense of a presence yet we have a response sense of “I know not what.” As our awareness of our experiences grows we come to know more of Who is calling.
In developing an awareness in our desire and longing for the divine, we are called to reflect upon our previous spiritual experiences which are a natural way of God implanting in us God’s desire drawing us in.
These are examples of some of our natural spiritual experiences:
· An inexpressible longing
· Heartfelt connection
· Yearning for an understanding
· Being at the edge of something beyond us
· Awe and wonder
· Overwhelmed yet at peace experience
· Sense of being overtaken yet a fullness of trust followed by a fear.
· ‘Fear’ is a common natural reaction to the Divine Mysterious Tremendum
o Such an experience fascinates us and leaves us trembling
We are called to savor these experiences to delight in God’s gifts. In receiving these experiences, echoes within our soul moves our heart we are called to respond.
Remember when you have experienced being at the edge of something wonderful.
when was that?
What sparked such an experience?
What was the experience like?
*James Martin, SJ The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life