Receiving Stations

St. Clement of Rome Church in Metairie has a statue of Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit.  Mary is holding and drawing close to her breast a dove, a symbol of the Holy Spirit.  The first time I saw this stature, it spoke to me; I realized then that this is what we are all supposed to be -- receiving stations for the "Gift of the Father," as Jesus called the Holy Spirit, and with Him, all the goodness that God so longs to pour out in the world. 

He does not demand goodness from us; He knows better --- Jesus came for sinners, not for saints.  All He asks is that we receive:  God does not love us because we are good, but His love makes us good.  Anyone can receive, but God will never give us anything we do not desire.  If we want wisdom, we need to ask for wisdom.  If we want truth, we need to ask for truth.  If we want goodness, we need to ask for goodness.  Jesus told us to "ask, seek, knock," and the door will be opened:  if you, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him! (Luke 11:13)

Although I cannot hope to penetrate the mysteries of the Incarnation of Jesus in the womb of a woman, one small insight pointed out by many theologians is that the soul of man is always "feminine" in relation to God.  It took a virgin to symbolize the interactions perfectly.  The Holy Spirit hovers over the dark, empty womb to bring forth a new creation, just as He did at the first creation.  And Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor (empty) in spirit; the kingdom of God is theirs."

Those who are "little" (the anawim, in Hebrew), "poor," "not rich," "helpless," etc. are the ones who most stir the mercy and tenderness of God, according to Julian of Norwich.  The word "mercy" is derived from the word for "womb" in Hebrew -- and Isaiah has God speaking as a Mother:

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget,

I will not forget you!

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are ever before me (49:15-16).

 

Man tends to want a reward system when it comes to God -- He wants to earn his way to heaven, but Jesus was always talking about a banquet-- a joyous party to which everyone has been invited.  When those who first received an invitation excused themselves, the king sends out his servants to the highways and byways seeking anyone who will take up the invitation.

 

One of the reasons I love to read Richard Rohr's books is that he is one of the most honest of all Catholic writers -- at least about the Catholic church.  In Scripture as Spirituality, he has this to say:

 

Yet even the Eucharist has been presented as a reward system for good behavior, a worthiness contest, a sacrificial system.  We see it often more as an agreed - upon belief system, than the simple, gratituitous table fellowship that it was for Jesus and his first unworthy ones.....God is still trying to give away God.  Yet no one seems to want God; what we want is a worthiness system (p. 176-177).

 



Rohr goes on to remind his readers of a great movie -- Babette's Feast.  This is a movie I think we should all see about once a year.  In the short story upon which the movie is based, the author Isak Denison writes:

 

Grace...demands nothing from us but that we shall await it with confidence and acknowledge it in gratitude.  Grace..makes no conditions and singles out none of us in particular; grace takes us all to its bosom and proclaims general amnesty. 

 

That which we have chose is given to us, and that which we have refused is granted us.

 

After quoting Denison, Richard Rohr says this:  "If the bible doesn't lead you to that experience, I don't believe you are allowing it to do its greatest work (p. 183).

 

I'm wondering if we are able, like the at-first-cold guests at Babette's Feast, to warm up a bit in the presence of God's freely offered wine and food.  It has nothing to do with our "just desserts," but everything to do with His joy in preparing the feast for us!