The Center for contemplative practice
A Lay Cistercian Looks at Spiritual Reality
GOD’S TATTOO.
I’ll bet you would never guess that doing Lectio Divina (Phil 2:5) would lead to thinking about tattoos. God did it again. I find myself deep in the depths of my heart waiting for Jesus to pass by my park bench on a snowy day, when I think about Danielle Cushman, the brains behind the television show, Antique Archeology. She has some georgeous tattoos. I was thinking of the stereotype of someone with full-body tattoos or even just a limb or two. Personally, I don’t have a tattoo on my body. Then, out of the blue, I was struck by the thought that I actually do have a tattoo, one that people can not see, one that is etched on my spirit (soul) at Baptism, an indelible mark that even death cannot erase. If I did have a tattoo, I could not keep it after I die. The body corrupts, and so do tattoos.
The tattoo of which I meditated is God’s own tattoo, one that he gave us each at Baptism, one that made you and I adopted sons or daughters, one that cannot be erased by anyone except God Himself. Other indelible marks are marriage, holy orders, confirmation. As a Lay Cistercian, I don’t have an indelible mark on my soul for making Final Promises (that may be the subject for a great discussion) but I do have sign of the cross. Tattoos can be multi-layered in their complexity, depending on how fierce your love of Christ is.
Think about your tattoo next time you have the urge to go off the deep end and make yourself god (sin). Remember, God does good work, including your indelible tattoo.
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