Thin Places
The early Celts had an affinity for the spirit world. Gifted with imagination, they found the threshold between this and the unseen world easy to cross. They used to say that heaven and earth are only three feet apart., and that in thin places the distance is even smaller! The term “thin places” can put words on our own experience of being drawn beyond ourselves into awesome yet kindly Mystery.
It is not strange that we have such experiences. Creation, after all, is intense with divinity. Divinity embraces us, and reveals itself, if unpredictably if we have eyes to see. The veil between God’s world and what we call “our world” is often drawn back for a moment to give us a glimpse of the “beyond.” Thomas Merton rightly says that the gate of heaven is everywhere. Places of beauty, wild landscapes, lonely mountains, magnificent sunsets, starry nights, or the roaring sea can enchant us. On other levels, falling in love can open up a transfigured world. Or the divine breaks through in a smile, a baby’s tiny finger, human beauty, a kind remark, a bar of music. The beggar’s face, the eyes of a starving child, the hushed moment of death of someone we loved can also break open the door of the heart. Be alert for such “thin places” for God can be found in all things. And our Sacred Word points us daily to Jesus, in whom the human and divine blend perfectly to form one Person.
Taken from Sacred Space 2015 Page 304.