"The Emergent Christ"

The book that I have been reading for some time now and find to be really transforming is Ilia Delio's The Emergent Christ with the subtitle "Exploring the Meaning of Catholic in an Evolutionary Universe".
She also wrote Christ in Evolution and I have not read that. The Emergent Christ is her latest book (Orbis, 2011) and Ilia Delio, O.S.F. is a senior fellow in science and religion at Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University.

You may remember that I spoke of this book some time ago - months ago- in some blogs and said that the first chapter was quite dense and I was happy to have a Glossary in the back of the book; actually, I have not found this an easy book to read and I am finishing it for the second time and still trying to digest all the new ideas that are presented. Maybe some of the ideas are not that new, but the language is different but worth the struggle to grasp her content as it is causing a transformation in my own way of looking at life and the world and my part in it.

Today I am only going to give a quote from what I read yesterday on prayer. It is in the 8th Chapter, "The Inner Universe" (there are only nine chapters). Delio quotes from Bonaventure's Soul's Journey into God and then has this to say:
"Bonaventure begins with prayer as the key to relationship with God. Prayer is the expression of intimacy with God; it shapes who I am and what I become. Prayer unfolds the inner universe in which I am created and which I create. It is the most direct line of communication to my interior reality in which every denial of that reality is a diminishment of myself. Prayer, therefore, requires an honest encounter with God. When I fail in this honesty, I diminish myself because I fail to allow the fullness of God's Spirit to move within me and thus I fail to come to my authentic self in God."

Now, that says a great deal to me but it is difficult to grasp and so this is one of the quotes I keep praying over and thought I would share with you today. I am also adding the book to my list of spiritual reading. I have more books to add, but the truth is that I have not finished some of them but will begin to talk about them. Spiritual reading nourishes the soul.
I had a directee who always wanted to have a good book for Lent and he would spend Good Friday reading to make sure he finished the book chosen each Lent.