Part 3

Slowly read John's list of "nadas" in the "About John" section of this meditation. As you read this, ponder how each "nada" applies to you.

John warns us that seemingly insignificant attachments that become habitual have the power to enslave the heart. John used the image of a small thread holding a bird captive. Reflect on the following questions:

• Do I find myself regularly wanting to attract attention to myself?
• Do I have favourite possessions that I find difficult to sacrifice, even in the face of someone else's desperate need?
• Are there tasks that I perform that I feel no one else could possibly handle properly?
• Am I quite particular about the way food is prepared or the way it tastes?

Choose an attachment that has begun to take hold of your heart and consider the power it has over you. How do you feel about this attachment? What is God asking from you in this case?

Reread John's talk to the nuns of Beas in the "About John" section and reflect on his suggestion that we can free ourselves from enslavement to our desires by imitating Christ.

Choose a passage from the Gospels that has a special meaning for you.

• Read the passage closely and prayerfully.
• Ask yourself how God may be asking you to change your life, and why you may be avoiding this invitation.
• Set aside time on a regular basis to read the Gospels and to reflect on Christ's life.

Think of people you know or have read about who craved something or someone to fill the emptiness of their life. Think about the suffering they experienced themselves and the suffering they may have caused to the object of their craving. Now reflect on the suffering you may have endured by indiscriminately following one of your own desires. Did you inflict any pain on anyone else because of this desire?

God's Word
In everything we prove ourselves authentic servants of God; by resolute perseverance in times of hardships, difficulties and distress; . . . in patience, in kindness; in the Holy Spirit, in a love free of affectation; . . . taken for impostors and yet we are genuine; unknown and yet we are acknowledged; dying, and yet here we are, alive; . . . in pain yet always full of joy; poor and yet making many people rich; having nothing, and yet owning everything. (2 Corinthians 6:4-10)

Closing prayer: Gracious God, I join with John "and desire to enter for Christ into complete nudity, emptiness, and poverty in everything" (John of the Cross, "The Ascent of Mount Carinel"). Free my heart; liberate my will.