Being For One Another

CAUTION:  The following quotation is from Benedict XVI, a pope, yes, but also a great theologian.  Thus, I recommend a slow, thoughtful reading rather than a skimming.

Because Christian faith demands the individual but wants him for the whole and not for himself, the real basic law of Christian existence is expressed in the preposition "for."  ...That is why in the chief Christian sacrament, which forms the center of Christian worship, the existence of Jesus Christ is explained as existence "for many," "for you," as an open existence that makes possible and creates the communication of all with one another through communication in him...

Being a Christian means essentially changing over from being for oneself to being for one another.  This also explains what is really meant by the often rather odd-seeming concept of election ("being chosen").  It means, not a preference that leaves the individual undisturbed in himself and divides him from the others, but embarking on the common task....

Accordingly, the basic Christian decision signifies the assent to being a Christian, the abandonment of self-centeredness, and accession to Jesus Christ's existence with its concentration on the whole.

(Pope Benedict XVI: Introduction to Christianity)

As Catholic children, we were taught to say the Morning Offering: O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings this day in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, the reunion of all Christians, and in particular, for the intentions of our holy father, Pope Francis.  (Note: there are many variations of this prayer.)

We were also taught to offer ourselves to the Father in union with the sacrifice/offering of Jesus during every Mass.  The "missing link" in the explanation, in my opinion, was what we were offering ourselves FOR.  I was never quite sure what the Father would do with my "offering" of myself, or of my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings.

I think Benedict XVI hits the nail on the head when he says that the basic Christian decision means assenting to the abandonment of self-centeredness and agreeing to being FOR others, as Christ is FOR us.  

As a mother is FOR her child in every way, from lack of necessary sleep and rest to sacrifice of her own comfort for the welfare of her child;

As a husband and wife are FOR one another to the sacrifice of their own desires and even dreams, at times;

As parents are FOR their children;

As a pastor is FOR his flock,

we, too, are FOR those we love and serve in whatever capacity or assignment is given to us.  It is for us as members of the Body of Christ to forget our own interests and to serve the needs of others.  And the only way we can do this is to first know that God is FOR US!  We cannot forget ourselves and our own interests unless we know that someone (God) will take care of us.  Only then can we abandon ourselves into His care and extend our arms to the care of others.

Dive In

 I read a wonderful reflection yesterday in Give Us This Day, the daily prayer/meditation book that I use.  The reflection was written by Father Anthony J. Gittins in his book, The Way of Discipleship.  Father Gittins died in 2023, but I am sure he would be pleased that I pass along his profound thoughts.

He said that he had been standing on Promontory Point overlooking Lake Michigan, thinking how vast -- almost infinite -- the lake is, how hard it is to "take it in," so to speak in its beauty and wonder.  It somewhat overwhelmed him as he tried to drink it all in.  However, a few months later, he stood on the same point and watched people all around him jumping and diving into the lake -- and he realized that although none of them was completely able to "take in" Lake Michigan, that immense body was able to take in each one of them, so that they were immersed and submerged in it (but not swallowed up or drowned.)

Father Gittins reflected that God is like that lake and we are the swimmers.  None of us can completely "take in" or comprehend God, but each of us can become immersed in Him without drowning or being engulfed.  We can experience God by throwing ourselves into His unfathomable depths, trusting that He will give us bouyancy and life.

Jesus, like the Rosetta Stone, translated the infinite and incomprehensible love and mercy of God into concrete signs of love, of healing, of forgiveness, of table fellowship.  He didn't ask us to try to comprehend it, but only to "dive into" God's offer of covenant love and friendship.  He even poured out the Holy Spirit as the means to enter into and submerge ourselves in the love of God.

Someone once said to me, "No one has ever proved to me the existence of God."  I wish I had been clever enough at the time to say, "If our small minds could comprehend the mystery of God, He would not be God. But we can dive into Him without understanding, and in Him we can find bouyancy and life!"

One Bird Watching

 Many years ago, at an artists' retreat in New Harmony, Indiana, I came across the following poem engraved on a monument beside the lake.  As my sister and I stood there reading the poem, a magnificent blue heron with about a 12 foot wingspan slowly flew across the lake and softly landed about 10 feet from where we stood.  He (she?) quietly folded his/her wings and stood, as if alongside us, contemplating the scene.  For me, it was a breath-taking moment.  It was as if I had found my vocation -- or, rather, as if the scene embodied and described my life's purpose:  to quietly watch God at work in my own life and in the life of others.

Strangely enough, or maybe typically enough in the way God works, when I left Indiana (and Kentucky, where my sister lives), I decided to take an unplanned side trip on my way home to Mississippi.  A friend of mine had found a home in the hills of Tennesse after the total destruction of her house in Hurricane Katrina.  I was within driving distance of her new place and decided to stay overnight with her.  The next morning, I awoke to the sound and light of her working on a computer right outside my bedroom.  It seemed that she had just started writing a blog, something I had never heard about before then.  

Intrigued, I asked her to show me how to start a blog.  By the time I drove home later that day, the inspiration had settled in for this blog:  ONE BIRD WATCHING.  I think it took the combination of back-to-back experiences to launch me into blogging.  Without the first experience, I would have felt that I had nothing to say on a blog.  Without the second, my initial awe might have died for lack of expression.  Do you see what I mean about watching God work?

Here is my initial inspiration:

When no one listens
To the quiet trees,
When no one notices
the sun in the pool;

When no one feels

The first drop of rain,

Or sees the last star;

Or hails the first morning

Of a giant world

Where the peace begins

And rages end:

One bird sits still

Watching the work of God:

One turning leaf,

Two falling blossoms,

Ten circles upon the pond.

Grace, Grace, and More GraceI

 I have been re- reading a wonderful book by Harvey Eagan called Karl Rahner: Mystic of Everyday Life.  Karl Rahner, the greatest theologian of the 20th century (in my opinion), maintained that every person is the subject of "the always-offered grace of God's self-communication."  We call that self-communication of God The Holy Spirit.

Rahner also believed that "the devout Christian of the future will either be a mystic, one who has experienced 'something,' or he will cease to be anything at all."  

Jesus said, "I have come to case fire upon the earth, and what would I but that it be kindled" (Luke 12:49).  Those who maintain that Jesus is only a great teacher have not yet caught the fire He came to give.  The reason He came was to give us the Holy Spirit, who will "teach [us] all things and lead [us] into Truth."

There is much to be said and studied about the Role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  For those who want to understand and receive more, I will list some Scriptures at the end.  Reading/praying these Scriptures will bring us into communion with the Spirit Himself.  By opening the door to the "always-offered grace of God's self-communication," we can ready ourselves for the fire that Jesus came to give us.  Even better would be to study these Scriptures with a small group who can pray together for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and who can share together the result of grace, grace, and more grace!

According to Karl Rahner, here are the results of experiencing the 'something' he referred to (or the Role of the Holy Spirit in our lives):

--- a taste for prayer

--- a heart open to the mysteries of Scripture ("To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted" Matt. 13:11)

--- the experience of Christian community

--- a deep sense of ecumenism

--- a mysticism of everyday life: the finding of God in all things

--- consciousness of being under the special and personal guidance of the Holy Spirit  ["The mystic is absolutely sure that God and God alone is acting"]

--- an infused (or awakened) contemplation of Scripture and of life itself.

How do we get there?  God has already opened the door for us; we just have to walk through it (see John 10).  Here are some great starting places:

John 14-16

Matthew 7 and Luke 11

Zechariah 4:6

Acts 1

Luke 12:49 and Matt 3:11

Galatians 5:22;   Isaiah 11:1ff;  I Cor. 13

Isaiah 12:3 and John 4:10  (Read together)

Where Has God Been in YOur Life?

 When the ancient Israelites were journeying through the Promised Land, they would often construct a monument of stones and call it "Ebenezer," meaning "thus far has God helped us."  In my own life, God's help was so present to me during and after Katrina that I wrote the story of His Providence and called it "Ebenezer Road" (not published).

Karl Rahner, the greatest theologian of the 20th century, once said that every person has encountered God in his/her life.  To those who aver that they have never encountered God, he says, "O yes, you have encountered Him!"  But I'd be willing to bet that not one in thirty people can tell you how, when, or where that encounter took place.

It has been said that unless we find God in our own lives, we will not find Him at all. But reflection has not been part of our culture, as it was, for example, in Greek culture.  So turning outwards to the world around us for stimulation, we hardly know how to turn within our own lives and histories to find God.

As I go back through my own history, I can find so many landmarks along the road, places where I met God, though at the time, I may not have recognized the encounter.  One of those times was after my third child was born.  I had had three children in four years, with all of the attendant ear infections, tonsillitis, and frequent hospitalizations, etc.  Since I nursed all my children, I think I had not slept more than an hour and half in those four plus years.  I thought I was doing fine until one day I found I could not stop crying; I think sheer exhaustion had set in.  

My husband took three days off from work, and I went to the Cenacle, a retreat house in Metairie, for rest and recuperation.  There I met Sr. Gautreaux, a nun trained in counseling.  The first night I met her, I simply mentioned that I couldn't stop crying, but that I had no real problems -- the kind that other people had.  She did not try to counsel me, telling me that God loved me, for example, or offer words of practical advice.  She did not pray with me or for me.  She simply asked me one question:  Who is God to you?

She asked me to ponder the question overnight.  And the answer to that question changed my life.  

I came back the next day and told her that God was the God of my past and occasionally of my present, but He was not the God of my future.  That is, I could look back in my life and see where He was, and sometimes I could sense His presence in the moment, but that I could not trust Him for the future.  In other words, I thought I was responsible for handling all the problems of each day.  The burden rested on my shoulders, and I thought I should be able to handle it by myself.  I didn't really think God would be there for me in the future.  

The following day, as I was packing to leave the Cenacle, I heard a bird singing and singing and singing, really loud!  I turned, and there on my windowsill sat a cardinal, singing its little heart out!  Truly a moment of grace for me, as the thought went through my mind:  You don't have to solve all the problems alone; all you have to do is to get up each morning and sing!

It was the beginning of a new journey toward God for me, even though it took years for me to travel that new road.

I now find it a prayerful experience for me to look back on my life in 10-year segments, asking myself where God was in each of those segments of my life.  And discovering His presence for me in the past leads me to trust that He will continue to be there for me in the future! 

Taste and See!

 When my daughter was very young, she refused to taste cheesecake, despite the fact that the rest of us were enjoying it greatly.  The very name put her off; surely something called "cheesecake" could not measure up to our testimony.  I think she suspected we might be trying to trick her into tasting something awful.  One day she decided to try the tiniest bite.  Until this day she is an afficiando.

I think many of us approach God in the same manner -- at an arm's distance.  We have heard from other people, including Jesus Christ, about the goodness of God, but we prefer to keep our knowledge of Him in our heads rather than to venture a "taste" of Him personally:

When the great masters of the Christian way speak of knowing God, they do not use the term in its distanced, analytical sense; they use it in the biblical sense, implying knowledge by way of personal intimacy.  This is why St. Bernard of Clairvaux, for one, insists that initiates in the spiritual life know God not simply through books and lectures but through experience, the way one friend knows another. That knowledge is what the Holy Spirit facilitates  (Bishop Robert Barron).

 Bishop Barron often compares God to a helicopter pilot hovering over our lives, searching for a landing place to enter.  Again, though, we tend to keep Him "up there," away from the daily affairs which we prefer to manage on our own, and with our own resources, limited though they be. If we but clear a space for Him, asking the Holy Spirit to guide both our prayer and our daily activity, we might be very surprised to learn that we actually love "cheesecake."

In the past few months, I have been placing all of my daily activities and concerns before the Lord each morning, inviting Him to "guide my feet into the way of peace."  I have always loved that prayer because I think of myself as the Lord described the Ninevites: not knowing their left hands from their right (Book of Jonah).  When I ask the Lord to "guide my feet," I am acknowledging that I don't (and won't) always figure things out very well in my head.  That is, I don't always need to know ahead of time the best plan for my day.  I am relying not on my own knowledge, but on His:  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.

Here's the thing -- by "acknowledging" Him at the beginning of the day, I find myself listening less to the voice in my head (often confused and muddled) and more to the Spirit within.  I find myself leaning on Him to direct my activities --- and surprise, surprise!  Without my so-called "planning" and "scheduling," my days seem to flow easily, with tasks getting done smoothly, even those I had not planned to do.  Instead of feeling burdened by my work, I find myself energized in doing it.  In his book The Three Ordinary Voices of God,  Matthew Kelly says, Mental vitality leads to physical, emotional, and spiritual vitality. Everything in our lives begins as a thought.

One Sunday, I was working on a project at my desk.  But I had a headache that I was trying to ignore in order to finish what I was working on.  I paused for a moment and asked the Holy Spirit for direction.  Suddenly and without planning, I put the project aside and walked outside into my garden.  It was a beautiful day, and while walking around gazing at the plants, I realized that Sunday was the day I usually watered those plants under the overhang --- those that get no rain.  So I watered the plants and continued to enjoy the clear skies and soft breeze.  By the time I got back inside, my headache was gone and my 'burden' relieved.  I realized that Sunday was not the day to worry about finishing my project after all, and had I persisted in my own plans, the plants would not have gotten watered.

Day by day, I am experiencing that the Holy Spirit's plans for my life far outweigh my own in goodness and simplicity.  This is a rather simple way of "tasting" and "seeing" the Goodness of the Lord.  If  you try it, I think you'll like it!

The Way of Life; the Way of Death

 Prior to the entrance of the Israelites into the Promised Land, Joshua stressed to them two ways: the way of life and the way of death -- and he gave them an ultimatum:  Choose Life or choose Death!

By the middle of the second century A.D, the Church had developed a kind of catechism for neophytes -- those seeking baptism into the Way.  The catechism was called the Didache, and it stressed again (like Joshua advising those seeking life in the Promised Land) that there are two ways of life -- the way of Life and the way of Death.  Some scholars believe that the Didache might have indicated the basic way of life for those seeking to enter the church.

Recently, I came across another first century document that echoes both Joshua's teaching and the Didache -- the Epistle of Barnabas.  Barnabas (mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as a companion to Paul on his journeys) died in 61 AD, according to legend.  Modern scholars maintain that he did not write this epistle, which early Christians attributed to Barnabas.  Nevertheless, the Epistle echoes much of very early Christian writing, describing the "two ways."

There are two ways of doctrine and authority, one of light, and the other of darkness. But these two ways differ greatly. For over one are stationed the light-bringing angels of God, but the angels of Satan are over the other.

This, then, is the way of light: Love God who created you. Glorify God who redeemed you from death. Be simple in heart and rich in spirit. Hate doing anything displeasing to God. Do not exalt yourself, but be of lowly mind. Do not forsake the commandments of the Lord. Love your neighbor more than your own soul. Do not slay the child by procuring an abortion, nor destroy it after it is born. Receive your trials as good things. Do not hesitate to give without complaint. Confess your sins. This is the way of light.

But the way of darkness is crooked and cursed, for it is the way of eternal death with punishment. In this way are the things that destroy the soul: idolatry, overconfidence, the arrogance of power, hypocrisy, doubleheartedness,adultry, rape, haughtiness, transgressions, deceit, malice, avarice, and absence of any fear of God. Also in this way are those who persecute the good, those who hate truth, those who do not attend to the widow and the orphan, those who do not pity the needy, those who murder children, those who oppress the afflicted and are in every respect transgressors.

Put this way, the choice is pretty clear -- choose life or choose death!  Maybe we should require all children and those adults coming into the church to memorize the Epistle of Barnabas!