Many Dwelling Places
/“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In [God’s] house there are many dwelling places. . . . And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.””
I often hear this Gospel at funerals, and it’s easy to assume it’s about Jesus going to Heaven to prepare a place for us. That’s reassuring, I guess, but there’s more to the spiritual life than the afterlife, so what is God saying to us in this present moment?
What caught my eye in this reading was “dwelling places.” As it turns out, there are many dwelling places these days, and we’re dwelling in them apart from each other. Our gathering places have been closed, so instead of coming together in person for worship in church or our small group sharing, or picnics, parades, concerts, or weddings, we are on our own. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of my dwelling place, and I feel a deep yearning to gather with community again in one place.
Things are opening gradually, or as we say in Ohio, we’re moving the dimmer switch but not flipping on the light. For the time being, many of us remain in our separate dwelling places, and community gatherings are a ways off. While I’m still in my own dwelling place, I’m trying to connect with God in the present moment. Walking helps. Yard work helps, as does cooking and listening to music. And prayer helps. I pray with Scripture on my own and in our virtual small groups, and I’ve also been doing centering prayer. This is an ancient prayer practice used by mystics, saints, and regular people since the dawn of Christianity. I’ve been praying this way on and off for years, and I still feel like a beginner. I never really still my mind, but when it wanders, I bring it back. I wonder if I’m even really doing it, but then I know God is with me. In light of this reading, maybe prayer is what enables me to still be in the dwelling place of my house. Maybe it’s what helps me to be still in the dwelling place deep within my heart, too.
Prayer of any kind can be challenging. Cultivating some discipline ensures that we pray regularly, but that’s hard. Making a habit of it helps. Having a community to pray with helps. Having a felt sense of God’s presence definitely helps, but we have no control over that, and so most people just have to persevere whether we feel God or not. So, discipline, habit, community, and a felt response all help, but they’re not enough, at least for me. I actually need God’s help to be able to pray. I need Christ to prepare a place within me to open to God (whom, I believe, is already within me).
When I was a campus minister, students would often ask me about prayer. Why do we have to tell God things when God already knows everything? Why do we pray when it doesn’t necessarily change outcomes? Good questions. One of the readings my community prayed with this week speaks to these questions well. It’s from Janet Ruffing, RSM. She writes,
The journey of prayer makes us conscious of our participation in God’s life. God is already active in our life but our consent and energy is also required. Thus, prayer is about presence and relationship, specifically becoming consciously present to the Mystery we name God, a God whose self is further revealed to us in Jesus.*
Doesn’t that just hit the nail on the head? God is always with me, of course, and God is all-knowing, of course. But still, God wants my consent to enter in. God wants me to be present to God, just as much, or more, as I want God’s presence with me. This is why we pray. It’s about presence and relationship. In healthy relationships, we don’t make assumptions and we don’t stop talking to each other. We keep communication open. We spend time together. We speak from the heart. We express ourselves in actions and gestures, not just words. It’s the same with our relationship with God.
Jesus is preparing a place for each of us so that, “where I am you also may be.” It works the other way around, too. Where we are, Christ is. So, when I’m in my dwelling place trying to pray from the dwelling place of my heart, Christ is there. When the lights come back on and we can come together to pray, celebrate, mourn, and do nothing but simply be, God will be there with us. Maybe one of the great learnings of the pandemic is that God has been within each of us all along. Maybe we’ll be better able to recognize God in our communities because over this time of separation we’ve experienced God present within our own hearts.
What has your prayer been like over this pandemic time?
What do you need from God in to deepen your prayer? Discipline? A felt sense of God’s presence? Community? Trust? Can you ask God to give you want you need?
How is your heart today? Troubled? Peaceful? Mourning? Joyful? Can you share your heart with God and invite God into your dwelling place?
* Ruffing, Janet. “As Refined by Fire.” Peoples Companion to the Breviary Volume II, ed. Carmelites of Indianapolis. (Indianapolis, IN: Psalter Carmelite Monastery, 1997), 258.
By Sister Leslie Keener, CDP
Sister Leslie Keener, CDP is the director of God Space, a community-building spirituality ministry in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. She’s a Sister of Divine Providence with a Masters in Ministry and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction and Retreats from Creighton University. She directs retreats, meets with people for spiritual direction, and serves as the vocation director for her community. She also serves on the Coordinating Council of Spiritual Directors International. She enjoys music, dancing, meaningful conversations, and spiritual gurus like Janet Ruffing, RSM.