Recovering a Spiritual Sense through the Power of Words
For many thousands of years, humanity has marveled at the bird’s ability to fly. From the Greek myth of Icarus flying too close to the sun to the Wright brothers’ first twelve-second flight, who could have ever imagined the hundreds of thousands of pounds of metal we send up in the skies every day?
That everyday miracle is made possible by an unseen force called lift, working with the curve of the wing. In fact, unseen forces are all around us. Who could have imagined that we would discover sound waves, microwaves or radio waves — and then 5G ones not just to talk, but to transmit data instantly! Discoveries that we take for granted today were once thought impossible.
When we invented microscopes, we uncovered microscopic living organisms we never thought could exist. Then we ascertained the basic building blocks of matter: atoms. We cannot see atoms because they are smaller than light waves, yet we know they are real from their effects.
While learning about atoms in our homeschool science, we watched a PBS video that admitted, “We just have to accept that the world we know and see is one that emerges from a world that we will never be able to observe directly. … We may not have ever seen an atom, but we still know that they are there. We find ways to catch their ripples and shadows and textures.”
Words Reveal the Unseen
Both science and our faith tell us that just because we can’t see it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. The Holy Spirit, grace and even angels and demons all move invisibly. The whole created world emerged from the spiritual realm. In the beginning, the earth didn’t exist until God spoke it into being. He creates by his word, and we participate in that creative act every time we use our words to make the invisible realities of the spiritual world visible.
We see this most notably in the sacraments, where every sacrament requires specific words to impart grace. Consider the words of consecration or absolution, the exchange of matrimonial vows or the Trinitarian formula for Baptism. Even in Confession, when we speak our sins out loud, we own up to what we did so we can receive God’s forgiveness. The Ignatius Study Bible notes that confession is something we do with our lips, not just in the silence of our hearts.
Words have the power to clarify our thoughts or enable encounters. Words invite relationship but also repair it when it is broken. “I love you” and “I’m sorry” are two of the most powerful phrases in the English language. Ideas written in books can shape cultural movements; the spoken word, when preached well, cuts right to the heart and leads to conversion.
My kids don’t understand how adults can talk for hours. After Mass, they beg, “Pleeease, can we go?” But we use our words to communicate with others, to make abstract ideas concrete so we can share them. Our words are an incarnational expression of what is transpiring at the deeper levels of our being.
Words contain authority. Just as God gave Adam the authority to name the animals, we also have the authority to name our thoughts, feelings and desires. When we express our fears, worries and anxieties by putting them into words, they lose some of their power over us.
We become closer to our Father when we use our words to reveal our hearts to him, just as the Father used words to reveal himself to us not only through Scripture, but through his Son, the Word made Flesh.
God Speaks to Us Through Words
Maybe we don’t have the tools to measure it scientifically, but God is always speaking to us. Primarily, God speaks to us through Scripture. His words were inspired by the Holy Spirit and put into our own languages so we can know something of the mind of God and his plan for us. There are different authors and genres, but all are inspired by God. If you have ever been moved by a passage to ponder it more deeply, to trust in God, to praise or even wrestle with understanding, that is the unseen Spirit at work.
Often, I get words that come to me during my Holy Hour. I might be journaling to God and hear a response that I write down. The words are not audible, but they are specific, like a direct yet divine word to my mind. Often God uses my name, and I pay attention. Usually, there is the fruit of clarity or peace.
Even if there is a call to repentance, God’s words do not bite or sting; they are earnest and sincere. God is patient, merciful and loving. The enemy’s voice, on the other hand, is frenzied, controlling or accusatory. When I learned through practice what God’s voice sounded like, I realized I had been listening to my own inner monologue of criticism for so long! His words heal and offer forgiveness, but they should never cause shame or force us to do something. The devil condemns us, while the Spirit convicts us of truth that leads to freedom and repentance.
Of course, there is only so much we can say with our words to the transcendent God. Our words will always fall short of God’s ineffable love, greatness, holiness and goodness. What’s left to be done is to enter into the mystery, let God dwell within and surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit.
We may not be able to see spiritual realities directly, but we can catch the ripples, the movements and textures of an interior spiritual life when we pay attention.
These concepts on the importance of words come from my new book, Ineffable: Learning to Love the God Beyond Words, available from Sophia Institute Press.
