MacDonald: the way out of the dungeon

Tuesday, December 29, 2015
    Feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1170
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
    —Mark 12:31 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Love of our neighbour is the only door out of the dungeon of self, where we mope and mow, striking sparks, and rubbing phosphorescences out of the walls, and blowing our own breath in our own nostrils, instead of issuing to the fair sunlight of God, the sweet winds of the universe. The man thinks his consciousness is himself; whereas his life consisteth in the inbreathing of God, and the consciousness of the universe of truth. To have himself, to know himself, to enjoy himself, he calls life; whereas, if he would forget himself, tenfold would be his life in God and his neighbours. The region of man’s life is a spiritual region. God, his friends, his neighbours, his brothers all, is the wide world in which alone his spirit can find room. Himself is his dungeon.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “Love thy neighbour”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 214 (see the book)
    See also Mark 12:31; Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:39; Rom. 13:9-10; Gal. 5:14; Jas. 2:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have shown me the way out of myself. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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