‘Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ (Romans 8:39).
You hold the entire universe in Your hand as though a small hazelnut. You exist outside of time and space. You exist in the Father who is the source of all life and being. Outside of the Father is nonexistence. But You brought this universe into existence out of nonbeing, nonentity. The world and all its problems seem so huge to us. The process of the salvation of the world and the coming of the new Age seem so long. But You exist outside of everything. Nothing is difficult for You. You are not overwhelmed by anything. You are supremely patient as You repair Your creation which incessantly destroys itself. You do not lose heart when mankind falls into sin again and again and again and again. You are the divine Carpenter. You patiently repair Your creation. You are all-knowing. Nothing is a surprise to You. How wonderful You are, Lord.
We have our being from You only. There is absolutely no life outside of You. You are the fountain of life. Existence that is far from You is counterfeit. The enemy has artificed a great parade of pleasures to distract from the inner emptiness that aches when the person is not drinking from the fountain of life. And as the normal worldly pursuits and sins have been tried and found wanting, the enemy is devising an entire alternative reality to distract this generation from realizing that existence has no meaning or attraction without You.
The world keeps on spinning into self-destruction, but You ever-patiently watch over it, correcting it, shaking it, repairing it, loving it.
How are You so kind, Lord? How could You have desired to give absolutely everything You have for the sake of mankind? We are wretched creatures, but You not only give us everything, but even suffered every single thing we could suffer. You underwent such abject torture that You even became sin—the very thing that is totally foreign to You, and the very thing that caused the disarray of Your creation. And because You became sin, You even suffered that the Father would turn His face from You. How can any sinner possibly despair, when even You Who are one with the Father and exist in His bosom have already experienced and redeemed this estrangement from the Father and isolation from the fountain of life?
How are You so kind, Lord? You suffered everything to ensure that there is not one experience, not one sin, not one corner of the time-space continuum in which a human being cannot be redeemed by You, surrounded by You, and united with You. ‘If I ascend to the heavens, You are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there!’ (Psalm 139:8) ‘Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ (Romans 8:39).
Why are we so easily afraid? You literally sustain every atom of the universe. How could we wonder if You are distant or absent? You are intensely present. Always present. Always watching over Your world like a mother hen over her chicks.
You are so kind, Lord. We don’t deserve You!
Thank You for everything You have done, are doing, and will do. You never rest from Your labor. You and the Father have been working and will continue to work until the day when You can drink the new wine in the new creation when all things have been reconciled to You.
Glory to You, O Lover of mankind!
Source: Notes From a Nun: Mother Cassiana
Mother Cassiana is an Orthodox Nun under the obedience at the Monastery of St. Macarius the Great of Egypt in Arizona
