FULLNESS OF LIFE
A central focus in life
A group of tourists, after several hours of walking finally admitted that they got lost. One of them eventually pulled out a map from his knapsack and studied it. Then he said, "According to our map we are behind that tall building two blocks away from here."
We can sometimes be so disoriented that there is no longer any coherence between our perception and the reality.
The causes of our disorientation can be varied; lack of sleep; poor health; overwhelming problems; fear, and many other causes. One usual cause which we rarely take into consideration; however, is self-fragmentation, or the lack of unity and integration in our being.
When we lack a central focus in life we tend to pursue too many things and leave many projects unfinished, ending up in many loose ends. This leads to losing a sense of interconnectiveness and a feeling of becoming "scattered" or self-fragmentation.
Prayer and meditation enable us to focus on the most important element of life: God, the Absolute Reality. This central focus, made habitual through regular prayer and meditation, becomes now the point of reference of every activity, mental or physical. And as a point of reference, it integrates our faculties, bringing wholeness and oneness to our scattered self.
With unity and integration restored in us we also begin to have a new way of perceiving reality. Our sense of wholeness and integration enables us to perceive everything in their interconnectiveness, and in the light of this new vision of reality we see the Divine Master at work, exacting both mercy and justice in the unfolding of life's events.
It is for this reason that St. Paul admonished the faithful to "keep your gaze on Jesus." In other words, we must keep our focus on Jesus, the Way, the Thruth and the Life.
St. Francis de Sales, in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life (Part II, Ch.1), repeated what St. Paul said in another way: "I especially counsel you to practice mental prayer, the prayer of the heart, and particularly that which centers on the life and passion of our Lord. By often turning your eyes on him in meditation, your whole soul will be filled with him. You will learn his ways and form your actions after the pattern of his."