“You are what you love” ¹
You are always becoming what you love. What you desire, what you seek, what you pursue becomes you.
When we love something we grant it access to our inner parts where it gradually becomes one with us. Think of food. What we eat is largely determined by what we desire. We eat what we love and once we’ve eaten a thing it gets access to our most intimate, and hidden parts. Once inside the food undergoes a process of unification with our bodies. Everything we eat becomes the building blocks of our very cells.
When we love something we grant it access to our inner-parts
But its not just food to which we grant this access to our inner parts. We also consent to aspirations, attitudes, perspectives, and information that gradually becomes one with us as and shapes who we are. For example, we also consent to different relationships on deep and formative levels. Anything we love has varying levels of access to our inner selves.
There are also those things which have desired us. There are things we haven’t consented to but which shape who we are even against our will. Sometimes our inner parts are impacted by other people and things outside of our control. Sometimes hurts and unwanted experiences dig deep into our souls like a wound. And wounds can cause infections or leave scars even after they’ve healed.
Sometimes our inner parts are impacted by other people and things outside of our control
The mediation today is a contemplative prayer to explore those things which have access to our inner selves. Going there may bring you joy or it may bring you pain. What ever you see in your self today I pray that you will have the courage to do what love requires and the mercy to receive that which your human frailty demands.
I pray with and for my body
To what have I granted access my inner parts? (pause)
I pray with and for my mind
To what have I granted access my inner thoughts? (pause)
I pray with and for my heart
To what have I granted access my inner desires? (pause)
I pray with and for my wounds
What hurts have taken hold within me? (pause)
*Pause for a moment of silence and contemplation
Breath of life fill my body
Mind of Christ fill my thoughts
Spirit of God fulfill my desires
Comfort, comfort me
Healer, heal me
God of Love, give me you
Amen.
¹ I owe much of the shape and tone of this mediation to the work of James K.A. Smith and his book You are What you Love.
Josh Love 