DIVINE LAUGHTER

Fr Jim Cogley

Let me share this week with you some insights from the Franciscan priest Fr Richard Rohr that offer a flavour of the mystic tradition from the wonderful fourteenth-century German Dominican mystic Meister Echart: This is from an astounding piece of poetry by him: Do you want to know what goes on in the core of the Trinity? I will tell you. In the core of the Trinity the Father laughs and gives birth to the Son. The Son laughs back at the Father and gives birth to the Spirit. The whole Trinity laughs and gives birth to us. Laughter has been part of our tradition but sadly lacking in our practice!

God has done only one constant thing since the beginning of time: God has always, forever, and without hesitation loved “the Son”—and yes, you can equally and fittingly use “the Daughter”—understood in this sense as creation, the material universe, you, and me. The quality of the relationship toward the other is the point, not gender or even species. This is the eternal river of life that is always in motion and real prayer is not so much about words or saying set formulas but is essentially the experience of stepping into that river of love that has always been flowing. From this a useful definition of prayer is ‘to relax into the reality of being loved.’

God cannot not love God’s self in you (see 2 Timothy 2:13)! The “you” that holds the indwelling Spirit, which many of us call the soul, is always considered eternal and intrinsically good because of its inherent connection to God. This flow of love goes full circle. The “Son” also creates the “Father” precisely as Father—as any parent can attest. A parent is not truly a parent until the child returns the flow. Watch the joy and tears on a mother or father’s face when their little one first says “Mama!” or “Dada!” The parent comes to know who they truly are at that moment.

Anything less than such divine laughter, liking, delighting, and loving we do not have time for anymore! Fear will never build a “new creation” (Galatians 6:15); threat is an entirely worn out and false story line. The lowest level of motivation is guilt, shame, reward, and punishment; and it has not moved us anywhere close to a civilization of love. The Trinity beautifully undoes all negativity by a totally positive movement that never reverses its direction. God is always giving, even in those moments when we experience the inaccessibility of love as if it were divine anger.

When you find yourself drawing these conclusions, look deeply inside yourself and you will probably find that you are angry and projecting your anger onto God. This very human pattern is illustrated throughout the Bible, as the text mirrors both the growth and resistance of the human soul. I call it three steps forward and two steps back. References to the “wrath” of God are an example of the two steps back. But the whole text moves slowly and inexorably toward inclusivity, mercy, unconditional love, and forgiveness.