THE DIVINE EQUATION: Mapping the parameters of sacred space.

You will never guess where I received my last Lectio Divina inspiration. I was sitting in my bathtub with a towel over my head, just concentrating on The Christ Principle. (Philippians 2:5) The thought came to mind that when Christ emptied himself of divine nature to take on human nature, from what and into what was He emptied?

I have always been intrigued by the concept of space. In this particular Lectio Divina (don’t ask me why), my mind paired The Divine Equation with my understanding of “space.” I know these thoughts are not the nice biblical scenes I usually read in books, but I must write what I am told with the sum total of my experiences, both the good and the not-so-good ones.

WHAT IS SACRED SPACE?

This is a word infused with the assumptions of the one who utters it. If I say, “What is physical space?” I might be thinking of looking up at the heavens and seeing all those points of light looking back at me. I might even know that these points of light are stars that give off light. In my particular case, which is all I can speak for anyway, I use the tool that divides one reality into three separate components or universes, each existing simultaneously with each other yet are separate with different yardsticks to measure what is real within it. These three universes are the physical, the mental, and the spiritual. Just as the James Web telescope is getting set to open new vistas and knowledge to us about space, my tool to look at “space” in my mind, using the three universes hypothesis (along with the assumptions of what that tool means). In the physical and mental universes (the one I live in), space is defined with physical or mental limits. In the spiritual universe, space is not a place but a condition of pure energy. We access that space upon Baptism because Christ first loved us and created a condition (I don’t know what else to call it) of love where we who are marked with the sign of the cross exist after our time in the mental universe has expired.

SACRED SPACE IN REAL-TIME

In the Spiritual Universe, space is sacred because of whom it encompasses. I say “whom” instead of “what” because of the dynamic condition of pure energy that pervades its parameters.

Sacred space has no boundaries that humans are accustomed to seeing, knowing, tasting, hearing, and feeling. Sacred space is what God has deemed so, not what humans create. Humans build a church to house a God that has no boundaries. This mystery is a paradigm for sacred space. Here are some of the ideas I wrote down from one of my Lectio Divina encounters with sacred space, in sacred space, and when sacred space enters into the depths of my being.

Sacred space is heaven.

Sacred space is when I am Baptized with water and the Holy Spirit and made a son or daughter of the Father and heir to sacred space after I die.

My who life is spent seeking sacred space in places, only to realize that it is the sacred within me that allows me to realize the presence of God.

When I realize sacred space within others, believers or non-believers, I link my sacred space to their space. This is called a gathering of those linked with the sign of the cross, the Church. The Church in heaven is those who still live in sacred space (the heart of Christ giving glory and praise to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). The Church militant on earth lives in the physical and mental universes to sustain their ability to move to the next level of sacred space, the spiritual universe. This universe begins with me and has no beginning nor end.

Sacred space is when I sit (I am 81+ years old, so I kneel less these days) before the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration and realize that Jesus sits next to me in love and kindness. There is no condition to Jesus’ love. He just is, and I sit there and just happy to be in His presence with the warm blanket of the Holy Spirit overshadowing me, despite my faults and failings.

Sacred space is the altar of sacrifice, the same one as Abraham’s sacrifice, the same one where, through the real presence of Christ under the appearance of wine and bread, I and those linked together in Christ give glory to the Father that only Jesus can do, with the energy of the Holy Spirit.

Sacred space is the first place where God touched me with the sign of the cross, making me his adopted son (daughter) and taking away the sin of Adam and Eve. It is the sacred space where I expressed my love in return for the undeserved love God bestowed on me in Confirmation. It is the sacred space where I kneel in humility and ask Jesus to forgive my sins and promise to change my way of living to have in me the mind of Christ Jesus more each day. It is where I received Holy Orders and Matrimony in front of the Church as I pledged myself to live a life of penance and prayer as a Lay Cistercian. It is the last place I leave the earth as I join Christ to await my judgment and reunite with all those I have linked with the Golden Thread of Christ.

Sacred space is within me as a broken-down, old temple of the Holy Spirit, in need of daily mercy in reparation for all the times I did not recognize sacred space in myself or others.

Sacred space is the time I carve out before and after my actual prayers such as Lectio Divina, Liturgy of the Hours, Eucharist, Eucharistic Adoration, Reading Sacred Scripture, serving others because Christ first served me and gave me the power to love others as He loved us.

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