Day 47 Continual Converse

“It is Obvious and Natural that the Father of Spirits should keep Open Access to the Spirits of Men––Nothing can be more obvious, real, natural, necessary, than that the Father of spirits should graciously keep open such intimate access to, and converse with, the spirits of men.

     'I would that one would grant me,
          O my Lord,
     To find Thee only.
     That Thou alone wouldst speak to me, and I to Thee,
     As a lover talking to his loved one,
     A friend at table with his friend,'
         ["The Imitation of Christ" (rhythmic translation).]  
 
is ever the aspiration of the devout soul. This continuous aspiration towards closest communion is, spoken or unspoken, the prayer of faith. A vain and fond imagination, says the sceptic, begotten of the heart, as when Narcissus became enamoured of his reflected image! What have we to say in reply? Nothing. He who does not perceive that he loves in his brother, not the material form, but the spiritual being of which this form is one expression, how can he understand that the Spirit of God should draw with irresistible drawings the spirit of man, which is indeed the whole man? For, after all, what is the body but the garment which the spirit shapes to its uses?” 

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“God speaks to children, also, in dreams and by the oracles that lurk in darkness. But in solitude, above all things, when made vocal to the meditative heart by the truths and services of a national church, God holds with children ‘communion undisturbed.’”

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                 “In this is all my joy fulfilled. – I hear.”
 
                                                 *
 
                                             1999 IX
 
                           The Incarnate Word is with us,
                           Is still speaking, is present
                           Always, yet leaves no sign
                           But everything that is. 

                                                 ~ Wendell Berry
 
 
Examen: “Why is it obvious and natural that the Father of spirits should deal with the spirits of men?”

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It is Obvious: Charlotte M. Mason, Parents and Children, 2:132–33“Continual Converse” is Brother Lawrence’s phrase.
God speaks to children:  Charlotte M. Mason, School Education, 3:177.
In this is all:  Charlotte M. Mason, The Saviour of the World - Vol. 1.
The incarnate Word: Wendell Berry, This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2014), 203.
Why is it obvious: Parents, 2:299.

Day 47 Continual Converse meditation/100 Days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025

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