What's In It For God?

In a touching and informative explanation of lectio divina in this issue of Communio, Simeon Leiva-Merikakis (a Cistercian monk of St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Mass.), discusses Mark 3:13-15, which describes Jesus' call of the apostles: "And he went up the mountain and he called to himself those whom he wanted and they came over to him. And he made twelve in order that they might be with him and in order that he might send them forth to proclaim the Kingdom and to have power to drive out demons."

Br. Simeon asks, "But let us make bold for a moment . . . and ask what God's own interest might be in pursuing our creaturely love as relentlessly as we claim He does. To put it almost impertinently: What does God expect to 'get' by sharing his being with me?"

And the answer is . . .

"To delight in us, to find joy in us, to see his dream fulfilled in us: this is what was 'in it' for God, this is what God so ardently pursues! In the Incarnation and the Cross, the Word sought us out so that he could delight in us. How many of us have ever considered that giving joy to God is an essential aspect of the human and Christian vocation? And yet, without that, what would it mean to say that God loves us and that we love him in return? For, what is love without mutual joy and enjoyment between persons, at both the human and the divine levels?

"We should never lose sight of the fact that this mutual delight between human beings and God in the person of the Word Incarnate is the goal of all divine and human efforts: delight is the deepest secret inscribed in the very heart of Being itself. And it is through the doors and windows of the Gospel's words that we will find our way into the interior abode where we can be with Jesus in God."

Listen to "Gabriel's Oboe" from the movie "The Mission."

Listen to Pavarotti sing "You are My Heart's Desire."