Whose centre is everywhere...

I love this tree stump. At first glance its multiple rings are an undulating, swirling pattern, filled with energy and a spiralling inward-outward movement. At first glance it is all swirls and labyrinthine lines; lovely in its unevenness, unless you are someone who craves symmetry and concentric circles.

At first glance there is no beginning or end. Its centre is not obvious, as it is not in the actual, physical centre, where we would expect it to be. But look again, and a centre is there, very clearly so, and all the movement, all the loveliness, emanates from it.

This humble, cracked tree stump speaks to me of the Heart of Jesus; free and unconstrained, broken open yet complete, and the infinite, inward-outward source and destination of any journey in love. And it is what came to mind yesterday when I read some words by St Augustine, whose feast we celebrate today: God is an infinite circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.

And as we journey into the ever-expanding depths of God may we continually discover that his centre is indeed everywhere...