Le Point Vierge

~from A Book of Hours by Thomas Merton

During his monastic life, Thomas Merton struggled to name the mysterious center of being which he called "a point of nothingness untouched by sin and illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will."

He called it "le point vierge" - the virgin point of the spirit where one meets God, and which is the glory of God in us. It is like " a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven, seen at once in the landscape of numinous dawn, and the inscape of the heart's secret beauty."

What better day than Christmas Eve to ponder this beautiful truth about God with us, in us and among us...On this holy morning, may we sit with the knowledge that there is in each of us that point of nothingness where God and God's glory reside, which shines with the invisible light of heaven and guides us to the truth.

May we all rest in the understanding that "God come to be one of us" reminds us of (as Blaise Pascal said) that God shaped hole in each of us which can only be filled with God.

Merry Christmas, my friends. May the Light shine on you and your friends and family a little more every day and remind you of your belovedness.