Week Fourteen: Failing, Falling, Into the Abyss. April 2 – The Abyss in the Bathtub
There is the free fall into the boundless abyss of God in which we all meet one another. James Finley
Gregg’s Reflection
Our culture is all about success, climbing to the top, competing and winning. Yet God’s world is upside down, you go up by going down, you win by failing. Richard Rohr tells us, “Grace, like water, seeks the lowest place and there it pools.”
One evening, I was meditating in a hot bath, a candle flickering beside me. As sometimes happens in prayer, I slipped into a dreamlike state. Suddenly, the bottom of the tub gave way, and an abyss yawned beneath me. Instinctively, I grabbed the edge of the tub to keep from falling. The jolt woke me.
A few days later, I described the experience to my spiritual director, Mark Ritchie. He asked, “What happens to you when you fall into the abyss?” I had no answer. Mark leaned forward and said, “You fall into the arms of God.”
That one sentence shifted something deep in me. I realized much of my fear of “falling” was about losing control—something my ego despises. But what if the abyss is not destruction, but surrender? What if the bottomless fall is into the One who holds us? This changes everything. The abyss no longer has to be a place of dread, but a place of trust.
Scripture
The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
Psalm 145:14
Ancient Quotes
The divine will is a deep abyss of which the present moment is the entrance. If you plunge into this abyss you will find it infinitely more vast than your desires.
Jean Pierre de Caussade
Modern Quotes
There is the free fall into the boundless abyss of God in which we all meet one another, beyond all distinctions, beyond all designations.
James Finley, Living School Teaching
Journaling Prompts
- When you imagine “falling into the abyss,” what fears rise up in you?
- How might those fears change if you saw the abyss as falling into God’s arms rather than into emptiness?
- Where in your life right now are you clinging to control?
Go deeper into this week’s theme:
Read the full Week 14 Reflection: Failing, Falling, Into the Abyss