OASI is based on one of the Carmelite’s principles, namely, ‘to make space for God.’ This space is not only important but necessary for the journey of faith in the life of the couple and also as man/woman. This truth may be absorbed more thoroughly when Jesus met with the Samaritan woman at the well, explaining the importance of the relationship with God: “Jesus said to her, ‘Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.’ ” (Jn 4, 21-24).
In expanding the above Gospel truth, it is good to briefly reflect on the word ‘contemplation.’ The root of this word is Latin: con tempio – to worship in the temple. Therefore, taking Christ’s words – to worship in spirit and truth – (that is, there is no fixed place to worship God), adding them to St Paul’s that “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Cor 16, 19), contemplation then is understood as ‘a way of life,’ this ‘space’ to allow God to work and at the same time ponder on the ‘work of God.’ In other words, you become ‘the space for God.’ This is the journey that OASI takes at heart: together as a couple we become ‘the space for God.’
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