Anam Cara

Wonder Invites Mystery to Come Closer

The sense of wonder can also help you to recognize and appreciate the mystery of your own life. There is always a vitality and excitement about a person who has retained a sense of his or her own mystery. They have passion to explore and discover new aspects of themselves. Such a person is a living presence. It is deadening to be trapped in the company of someone who has a predictable and ready-made reaction to everything. Conversation is carefully framed and directed. Should you risk leading the conversation into uncharted areas, you draw a blank. It is as if a whole inner domain has been robbed of its natural resonance. One gets the same feeling from people who have explored their inner world and describe their identity in terms of whichever syndrome is in vogue at the moment. The words they use to describe their self-discoveries are all borrowed. This jargon has no colour and no resonance of any mystery, opaqueness, or possibility. Real wonder about your soul demands words which come from the more submerged inner thresholds where different forces meet. These words would be stamped with the unique signature of your presence. They would be imaginative and suggestive of the depths of the unknown within you. Unlike the fashionable graffiti of fast-food psychology, they hold the reverence to which mystery is entitled. Respect is a close companion of wonder.

Wonder, as the child of mystery, is a natural source of prayer. One of the most beautiful forms of prayer is the prayer of appreciation. This prayer arises out of the recognition of the gracious kindness of creation. We have been given so much. We could never have merited or earned it. When you appreciate all you are and all you have, you can celebrate and enjoy it. You realize how fortunate you are. Providence is blessing you and inviting you to be generous with your gifts. You are able to bless life and give thanks to God. The prayer of appreciation has no agenda but gracious thanks. Nothing is given to you for yourself alone. When you receive some blessing or gift, you do it in the name of others; through you, they, too, will come to share in the kindness of Providence.