The God of the Bible is a liberating God. The One who pulls us out from our insecurities, ignorance and injustices, not by avoiding them, but confronting them and overcoming them.
God is not a “maternal womb” who liberates us from the risks and difficulties of life; rather, once God created us in Paradise, He very quickly cuts the umbilical cord, leaving us alone in an open struggle for liberation and independence. He comes to us saying, now act like adults, move the universe forward and be masters of the earth (Gen1:26). The true God, then, does not alienate, but is a Liberator, who liberates us and creates great, mature and free individuals and nations.
The secular process that we are living today is truly a dark night of the senses. From now on, faith and life with God will be an adventure that is full of risks. This adventure of faith will consist of burning our bridges, setting aside all rules of common sense and all calculation of probabilities, like Abraham did. The contemplative must disregard arguments, explanations and demonstrations, letting go of all rational positions, and bound hand and foot, takes the great leap into the abyss of the dark night, surrendering to the totally Other. Only God is in pure and dark faith.
The contemplative of the future will have to enter into the unfathomable regions of the mystery of God without guides, without support, without light. Measuring the distance and proximity simultaneously, God will be experienced as the Other Shore. As a result, a sense of God’s giddiness will be experienced, which is a mixture of fascination, awe, annihilation and surprise.
He must run the risk of submerging himself in that bottomless ocean where dangerous challenges are hidden from him. He cannot avoid them, but must face those challenges head on and accept their burning demands.
The people of prayer that return from this adventure will be figures sculpted by purity, strength and fire. They will be purified by the ecstatic closeness of God, and above them will appear the living and dazzling image of his Son. They will become transparent witnesses of God.
Based on the book SENSING YOUR HIDDEN PRESENCE from Fr. Ignacio Larrañaga
