Quote from The Soul of a Pilgrim

The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within

by Christine Valters Paintner

Sorin Books, Notre Dame, Indiana, 2015. 144 pp.

"Hearing the call and saying yes, this is the beauty of the pilgrim journey. All of us are called. When you read the description of this book you felt it: a sense of calling that stirred a longing in you and compelled you to make a commitment.

We are brought into the world with what many indigenous cultures call 'original medicine'. This means that we are unique creations. We've never been in the past and won't be in the future. No one carries the same combination of gifts, talents, resources, opportunities, and challenges. This unique alchemy is our original medicine. St Ignatius of Loyola, a sixteenth-century mystic, said that the deepest desires of our heart are planted by God.

'Medicine' is not just referring to a healing balm or potion. Our unique abilities contain our power to act in the world. They enable us to explore, discover, express, and heal. Our original medicine emerges from our 'true self'. Thomas Merton, in New Seeds of Contemplation, describes this concept as our deepest selves when we have stripped away self-deception, self-criticism, self-inflation, masks, expectations, and judgments.

For me to be a saint means to be myself. Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and of discovering my true self. . . . God leaves us free to be whatever we like. We can be ourselves or not, as we please. We are at liberty to be real or to be unreal. We may be true or false, the choice is ours. We may wear now one mask and now another, and never, if we so desire, appear with our own true face.' [fromSeeds of New Contemplation, New Directions, NY, 2007, pp. 31-32]

There is a mystery here because you can't arrive at this discovery overnight. We must journey for a lifetime to discover our deepest and most mysterious talents. However, there is a paradox that comes with these realizations. While we must venture far to find our 'true self,' it is also always with us. We must continue to learn to let go of what is false in our lives. We must throw out what keeps us from offering our own healing balm to the world. The more we live from this awareness, the more our gifts can bring peace and joy to others." (p. ix)

-- submitted by Jennifer Knight

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