Loving God produces in us the desire and longing for the will of God. God wills the care of the poor, the end of oppressors who stand with the heel in the neck of the weak, and the dignity and full development of all human beings.
The contemplative responds to the divine in everyone. As God wills the liberation of all human beings and takes the side of the defenseless; so, therefore, must the true contemplative.
A spiritual path that does not lead to a living commitment to the coming will of God, to the present Reign of God, to the Kingdom of God within and around us everywhere for everyone, is no path at all. Those who have no flame in their hearts for justice, no consciousness of personal responsibility for the Reign of God, and no raging commitment to the human community may, indeed, be seeking God, but God is still not a living reality to them.
Indeed, contemplative spirituality not only brings us face to face with God, but it also brings us, as well, face to face with the world, and with the self. We become connected to everything, to everyone. We carry the whole world in our hearts, the oppression of all peoples, the suffering of our friends, the burdens of our enemies, the raping of the earth, the hunger of the starving, the joyous expectation every laughing child has a right to. Then, the zeal for justice consumes us. Then, action and prayer are one.
John 2:17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
John 4:34 “Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”
