When our life takes a certain amount of presence in the world and among our neighbours – I don’t say takes a more active form, for that’s beside the point – we often experience contemplation as a seeing of Jesus ___ our neighbours. I write “___” because that’s the best I have. I think that, depending on the situation, the grace, the experience, the degree of interior reflection, the activity of the imagination or lack thereof, and probably many other factors that I could never remember or pinpoint, the “___” could be filled with

• in
• behind
• beside
• through

(Given that I can imagine the Holy Child Jesus on someone’s shoulders, I guess “on” and “around” or “between” are not entirely unreasonable either, but perhaps more reliant on imagery and imagination.)

Which is it, really? What preposition best describes this experience of seeing Jesus ___ our neighbours? The idea of the icon and vivification by the Spirit is more like “in”; the idea of the support which the Father offers the entire world is more like “behind”; the idea of Jesus our brother is more like “beside”; the idea of providence is more like “through”.

The longer I live with this reality which surpasses words, the more I’m convinced that this genuinely contemplative experience of not necessarily doing something to our neighbours, but rather becoming aware of a deeper reality that involves our neighbours, is about “all” the prepositions. After all, God is everywhere and deep inside and far above. The problem of prepositions is not new to contemplation!