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When God draws near, His presence is not only known in the soul but also felt in the body. Scripture bears witness to trembling, burning hearts, opened eyes, loosened tongues, radiant faces, and renewed strength. These are signs of the temple of the body being cleansed, consecrated, and filled with God’s glory.

The Song of Songs gives a poetic vision of this embodied union: longing, awakening, fragrance, and the indwelling of the Beloved.

The Head & Face – Radiance of Glory

“His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.” (Matthew 17:2 – Transfiguration) “The glory of the LORD shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.” (Luke 2:9) “Tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.” (Acts 2:3 – Pentecost) “The king is held captive by your tresses.” (Song of Songs 7:5 – crowned beauty)

Sign: God clothes His people with light, crowning them with His glory and delight.

The Eyes – Scales Falling, Sight Restored

“Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight.” (Acts 9:18) “Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” (Luke 24:31 – Emmaus) “Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17, Joel 2:28) “I saw visions of God.” (Ezekiel 1:1) “Your eyes are doves.” (Song of Songs 1:15; 4:1)

Sign: God removes veils and blockages, granting vision to see with purity and understanding.

The Mouth & Breath – Cleansed Lips, New Speech

“Then I said, ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips…yet my eyes have seen the King.’” (Isaiah 6:5) “Then one of the seraphim touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away.’” (Isaiah 6:7) “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:4) “His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones, I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” (Jeremiah 20:9) “Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride; milk and honey are under your tongue.” (Song of Songs 4:11)

Sign: God purifies lips and breath, filling them with sweetness, prophecy, and Spirit-filled praise.

The Heart – Burning with Love

“Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road?” (Luke 24:32) “The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 5:5) “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you.” (Ezekiel 36:26) “Place me like a seal over your heart…for love is strong as death, its fire is a blazing flame.” (Song of Songs 8:6)

Sign: God sets the heart aflame with holy love, unquenchable and eternal.

The Inner Being – Rivers of Living Water

“Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38, KJV) “My heart is troubled, and what shall I say?” (John 12:27 – the stirring before surrender) “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” (John 4:32 – divine nourishment) “A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.” (Song of Songs 4:15)

Sign: God fills the innermost depths with streams of living water, cleansing and renewing.

The Loins & Strength – Generative Power

“Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.” (Job 38:3) “Out of your womb will come a ruler who will shepherd my people.” (Matthew 2:6) “May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.” (Proverbs 5:18) “Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat encircled with lilies.” (Song of Songs 7:2)

Sign: God blesses strength, fruitfulness, and generativity for His purposes.

The Whole Body – Trembling and Renewal

“My body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones, my legs tremble beneath me.” (Habakkuk 3:16) “I fell at his feet as though dead.” (Revelation 1:17 – John’s vision of Christ) “Daniel…no strength remained in me; my radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength.” (Daniel 10:8) “When the guards saw him, they trembled and became like dead men.” (Matthew 28:4) “The Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands.” (Judges 14:6 – Samson’s empowerment) “When I found the one my soul loves, I held him and would not let him go.” (Song of Songs 3:4)

Sign: The body, overwhelmed by God’s presence, trembles, falls, and rises renewed in love and strength.

The Temple Cleansed and Filled

From Paul’s scales falling, to hearts burning, to trembling before the Holy One, Scripture reveals that the body is a living temple. The Song of Songs shows the Beloved entering the garden of the soul, awakening love, fragrance, and union.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)

When the temple is cleansed and filled, the whole person—head to heart, breath to bones—becomes a vessel of divine glory.

Gandhi’s words—“Live simply so that others may simply live”—hold a piercing truth. The choices we make each day ripple outward. I often find myself caught in the tension: Do I choose the convenience, the comfort, the upgrade… or do I live with less so that someone else may have enough?

It is not an easy struggle. When I stand in a store debating over what I “need,” I know that, at the very same moment, there are neighbors in my city and around the world wondering if they will eat tonight. My comforts are not neutral—they exist in a world where there is plenty of food and resources for all yet are unevenly dispersed.

Jesus reminds us:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21) “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail.” (Luke 12:33)

And the prophet Isaiah warns against excess while others suffer:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice… to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter?” (Isaiah 58:6–7)

Living simply does not mean rejecting joy or beauty—it means refusing to let comfort numb us to compassion. It means saying no to some of what the world tells us we “deserve” so we can say yes to what God asks of us: mercy, generosity, justice.

As Thomas à Kempis wrote, “Do not be concerned about who is with you or against you, but take care that God is with you in everything you do.” God is with us when we choose the harder path of simplicity for the sake of love.

The Apostle Paul captures the heart of it:

“Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4)

When I wrestle with my decisions—comfort for me or life for another—I remember Christ, who “emptied himself” (Philippians 2:7) for the sake of the world. He shows us that true life is found not in grasping more, but in giving more away.

Many know the chocolatier by her namesake and some remember Lady Godiva for her daring ride through Coventry, but few recall the reason: she was protesting her husband’s policies and taxes that hurt the poor. She risked her comfort and reputation to stand with the oppressed.

Our world still bears the weight of unjust systems that harm the marginalized. God calls us not to look away, but to step out—sometimes into vulnerability—for the sake of mercy and justice.

Prayer:

God of compassion and mercy, give us courage to speak truth, to confront injustice, and to seek Your will above our comfort. Make us bold in love, humble in service, and steadfast in standing with the least of these. Amen.

The earliest lessons of childhood lead us to believe in the illusion of our separateness. The world teaches us to assert, to accumulate, to define ourselves by what we do, what we own, and what others think and say about us. Individualism becomes not just a habit, but a lens through which we see everything—including the Holy.

But Meister Eckhart invites us into a deeper seeing.

“The eye with which I see God (the Beloved) is the same eye with which God sees me.”

— Meister Eckhart

This is no small shift. It is a quiet undoing of the ego’s fortress. As we begin to encounter the presence of our Lover—not merely beyond us, but within—our tight grasp on selfhood begins to loosen.

Eckhart reminds us that it is not through striving that we find union with Holy Oneness, but through surrender. Giving up our individualist ways is not a rejection of our uniqueness but a softening of the walls that keep us alone. Slowly, through love, silence, joy, and undoing, we awaken to the truth that the Beloved is not far off, rather dwelling at the very center of our being.

“The Beloved is at home. It is we who have gone out for a walk.”

— Meister Eckhart

In returning to this inner sanctuary, we are not erased—we are made whole. The love of the Lover does not diminish us; it completes us. Our boundaries dissolve not into emptiness, but into a communion that holds all things.

This journey is not swift. It unfolds slowly, tenderly, sometimes painfully, over the years. But as we release the illusion of separateness, we are drawn ever deeper into the heart of the Holy Oneness, where all things live and move and have their being.

When it comes to meditation, approaches often seem to emphasize goal‑oriented outcomes, turning meditation into a performance: “achieve peace, clarity, progress.” This directly clashes with ancient wisdom, which teaches that clinging—even to peace—is the root of suffering.

As the Buddha taught:

“Attachment is the root of suffering.”

“Nothing whatsoever should be clung to as ‘I’ or ‘mine.’” 

This if we say things like “I want experience peace” or “I want to know God”, etc. … we’ve set ourselves up for a lot of struggle.

Meditation’s purpose is not to hit targets, but to let go of attachments.

When Westerners treat meditation like a productivity tool—with measurable progress—they often feel frustrated. Instead, the ancient traditions point toward spacious awareness and freedom from grasping.

Centering Prayer: A Contemplative Alternative

Rooted in Christian mysticism from the Desert Fathers through Symeon the New Theologian, Desert monasticism, and medieval texts like The Cloud of Unknowing, Centering Prayer offers a Christian contemplative path that parallels Eastern meditation—but leads toward discovering the God incarnate within.

Theophan the Recluse urged: “To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever‑present, all‑seeing, within you.”  Early monastic instructions (via Jon Cassian) emphasize inward repetition: “Unbroken continuance … ceaselessly revolving [a sacred phrase] in your heart … rid of all other thought.” 

Thomas Keating—co‑founder of the modern Centering Prayer movement—wrote: “In centering prayer, the sacred word is not the object of attention but the expression of the intention of the will.”  “The more one lets go, the stronger the presence of the Spirit becomes. The Ultimate Mystery becomes the Ultimate Presence.” 

Rather than striving for mental emptiness or mystical states, Centering Prayer teaches intentional surrender using a sacred word such as “Jesus” or “love.” Whenever thoughts arise, one gently returns to the word—opening toward God’s presence within.

Invitation to Encounter the God Within

Both Eastern meditation and Christian contemplative prayer aim to move beyond performance and attachment.

Centering Prayer may help modern minds be invited into an encounter with the incarnate God within. Through the practice of letting go, we open to inner transformation—not through doing, but by noticing the in-dwelling of Love within us as it is revealed to us in stillness.

For more exploration about meditation, centering prayer, or to set up an appointment in person or on line, please be in touch.