What is Emerging?

A continuation of the discussion inspired by Ilia Delio taken from LCWR’s “Occasional Papers,” Summer 2012.

Last month we were reminded by Ilia that we are living in an expanding universe and our thinking about everything needs to be done within this wider context. Let’s explore this with Ilia a bit further. She talks about “two ways of looking at things — as closed systems or as open systems. A closed system puts all one’s energy in a box and nothing new can happen. An open system responds to changes by reorganizing itself and has the capacity for newness. It is important to attend to what is happening in our midst, what are the new patterns of relationship that are drawing us to something new and deeper, more love, more relatedness.”

Ilia’s challenge to us is to be “whole-makers in this globalized world.” And her question to us is this: “What does this mean in terms of where we are going”? The key, she believes, “is a spirituality of interior freedom which enables us to let go of the past and engage the future. Together we are discerning new attractions, the Spirit of God is seeking to create anew in our lives, calling us to new relatedness and new wholeness — and these new movements will require letting go of what we have known and creating the future.” Ilia assures us this does not mean forgetting the past. It means we cannot live in the past! It is a calling to live a new future in God — to put new wine in new wineskins. She reminds us that, “in an evolutionary universe, nothing is complete which means God is still creating anew and we are part of this new creation.”

Have we developed that “spirituality of interior freedom that enables us to let go of the past and engage the future?” What might we be holding onto of the past that we need to let go of? How can we support one another in developing this spirituality so that God can create anew within us? We invite you to join us in pondering these ideas/questions. We welcome your reflections if you wish to share them with us.