Every Common Bush Afire With God

An Encounters of the Fourth Kind Video

By Fr. Ron Will, CPPS

Welcome to this 12^th episode in a series entitled “Encounters of the Fourth Kind.”

I am Fr. Ron Will, a Missionary of the Precious Blood, serving at Precious Blood Renewal Center in Liberty, Missouri. Just to refresh your memory for the context of this series:

• An encounter of the first kind is a sighting of a disk-like object in the distance.
• An encounter of the second kind is similar but much closer than the first kind.
• An encounter of the third kind is the sighting of non-human beings.
• An encounter of the fourth kind is the actual encounter of human beings and non-human beings up close.
• In today’s episode, we will have an encounter between you — and the divine (the creator of the universe).

This series invites you to go deeper into your relationship with God, to plunge into that deeper relationship. It is an invitation to enter the divine embrace.

First, I invite you to place yourself in a meditative mood. (pause) Close your eyes for a minute and get comfortable. Relax your entire body. Take a deep breath; hold it; then exhale deeply.

Do that a few times and relax. (pause)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote:

“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
and ‘Every common bush is afire with God’.
But only those who see take off their shoes.
The rest sit around and pluck blackberries.”

Open your eyes and look at the pictures on your computer screen. As we live through the season of autumn, we are surrounded by signs of God. Are you noticing them? Or just quickly walking or driving right past them?

Let’s take a few minutes to look at some pictures recently taken on the grounds of Precious Blood Renewal Center. Allow the pictures to sensitize you to the presence of God now, and in the days ahead.

You are having an encounter of the fourth kind; not just the sighting from a distance, but the actual personal encounter of a human being (yourself) and a non-human being (God), experienced in the common bush or tree.

Continue to sit in silence for a couple minutes and continue to experience that encounter. Savor it.

Today’s episode concludes this series on “Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind.”  I hope that they have sensitized you to new experiences of God and that you have allowed yourself to be embraced by God’s love.

All of these episodes are archived on the website of Precious Blood Renewal Center. I invite you to re-visit them and to also share

them with friends.

Thank you for joining me each month.

Look for a new series from me in the near future entitled “The Gift that keeps on giving, and giving, and giving.”

May God bless you.

All of the videos in this series can be found here: Encounters of the Fourth Kind.

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[Fr. Ron Will, a Precious Blood priest and spiritual director, is a graduate of Catholic Theological Union and Creighton University’s School of Christian Spirituality. He has a special interest in helping form intentional disciples of Jesus, encouraging others to go spiritually deep-sea diving to explore a deeper relationship with God, and walking with people as they dive into the ocean of God’s mystery actually experiencing God rather than simply dipping one’s toe into the water.]

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