THE CHURCH’S LABYRINTH
We all long for God’s love, yet we often misunderstand why it sometimes feels near and at other times distant. The Church’s Labyrinth begins in this inner movement — in the heart’s ability to open itself to what already flows. Here the crisis is not first about structures, but about the human capacity to receive love.
God’s Love and the Labyrinth of the Heart
It is often said that God has no favorites. Yet many of us walk around with the feeling that some people seem to receive more than others. More comfort. More presence. More answered prayers. More love. And there you stand, small as you feel, thinking: If only God would have mercy on my situation… if only I could feel a little more of what others seem to be bathing in… then it would be easier to believe.
But perhaps we have misunderstood the whole thing. Perhaps the problem is not that God gives different amounts. Perhaps the problem is that we receive in different measures.
We all have the ability to love. That comes naturally. But receiving love — that is something entirely different. It requires openness. It requires vulnerability. It requires a heart that is not closed by fear, shame, stress, or old experiences.
So it is with God. He is the subject. We are the object. Love always flows from Him — but it needs an opening in order to land.
That is why Jesus says: “Whoever believes in me, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.”
This is not a description of favoritism. It is a description of openness.
That is why Paul prays for the Ephesians: “…that you may know His love, which surpasses all understanding.” Not so that God will love them more. But so that they will understand more of what already flows.
This is where THE CHURCH’S LABYRINTH begins. In the innermost room of the heart. In the place where we often think God is holding back, when in reality it is we who are holding back.
The crisis of the church does not begin in its structures. It begins in the inner labyrinth of the human person — in our capacity to receive love, to open ourselves, to let the Spirit flow through us.