“At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It is so to speak His name written in us, as our poverty, as our indigence, as our dependence, as our sonship. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely ... I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is every- where.”
As many of you know, I care deeply about advocacy. In fact, I founded a site called the Heart of Advocacy because I believe that advocacy contains the potential for deep healing for each of us as individuals, and for society as a whole. When we learn to connect core to core, from that place that Thomas Merton calls the “the point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion…” we spark the deepest point of potential hidden within.
Please listen in to Erica Heilman’s podcast, Rumble Strip, about Victim Advocates. You will be awakened and inspired by the women she interviews, and the valuable and too often invisible work they do.