Comfort Food for the Soul

Reading the Homilies on the Gospel of John by St. John Chrysostem is so soothing, so comforting, so peaceful that I have begun turning to them at night when I cannot sleep.  If I awaken during the night, attacked and disturbed by a "war of words," I simply have to turn on my Kindle and begin reading St. John's commentaries on the Gospel of John.  Instantly, I know the "peace that passes all understanding," and I drift off to sleep.

C.S. Lewis, in his Reflections on the Psalms, says that finding the truth is like a man who has been slogging for miles through swampy ground suddenly putting his foot on a firm, unyielding surface.  It is a feeling of peace, of security, of comfort.  In a world where one man's opinion is as good as another's, in a world bombarded by "communication" media, where what is communicated is often the fad idea of the moment, returning to solid inner truth is like entering a shady forest grove, where the only sounds are the songs of birds and the rustle of trees, where a man can hear the Voice of God speaking in his heart.

In his introduction to the Gospel of John, Chrysostem remarks that we often go to theaters to hear great orators and actors speaking.  If that is so, he maintains, how much more should we listen to John the Evangelist, who "...made ready his soul, as some well-fashioned and jeweled lyre with strings of gold, and yielded it for the utterance of something great and sublime to the Spirit....Seeing then it is no longer the fisherman, the son of Zebedee, but He who knows the deep things of God, the Holy Spirit I mean, that strikes this lyre, let us listen accordingly....

"For if we long to know what is going on in the palace, what, for instance, the king has said, what he has done, what counsel he is taking concerning his subjects, though in truth these things are for the most part nothing to us; much more is it desirable to hear what God has said, especially when all concerns us.....

"He has speaking within him the Comforter, the Omnipresent, who knows the things of God as exactly as the soul of man knows what belongs to herself, the Spirit of holiness, the righteous Spirit, the guiding Spirit, which leads men by the hand to heaven, which gives them other eyes, fitting them to see things to come as though present, and giving them even in the flesh to look into things heavenly.....

"For the words of John are nothing to those who do not desire to be freed from this swinish life, ...but this man's voice troubles none of the faithful, yea, rather, releases them from trouble and confusion; it amazes the devils only, and those who are their slaves.  Therefore.....let us preserve deep silence, both external and mental, but especially the latter; for what advantage is it that the mouth be hushed, if the soul is disturbed and full of tossing?  I look for that calm which is of the mind, of the soul, since it is the hearing of the soul which I require....for it is not possible for the ear, except it be cleansed, to perceive as it ought the sublimity of things spoken.  [Note:  Jesus often said, "Let him who has ears to hear, hear what I say.]  If a man cannot learn well a melody on pipe or harp, unless he in every way strain his attention, how shall one who sits as a listener to sounds mystical, be able to hear with a careless soul?"

Can't you just imagine listening to St. John Chrysostem preach these words?  Do not his words make you want to pick up the Gospel of John with silent reverence, to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking through the words of the Gospel?  In 390, when Chrysostem was preaching, none of his hearers -- or very, very few of them -- would have had access to the written word.  Even after the invention of the printing press in 1440, only the very, very wealthy or royalty would have had access to the Scriptures in written form.  We are so fortunate today to have a Bible near at hand, to pick up and read for ourselves.  The problem is that most people will try to read the Scriptures, not as they would be listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking in their hearts, but as they would read a newspaper -- searching for information to fill their heads instead of their hearts.

If we want to know the truth that makes us free, there is only one way  -- through the Scriptures, or else through the Holy Spirit writing His word in our hearts.  And these two are One; they do not disagree, for it is the same Spirit speaking the Word of God through the printed page and on the book of the heart.  Many are those who cannot read or who have never seen a Bible, and yet who know the God of the Scriptures, through the activity of the Holy Spirit writing His truth in them.

Eureka!

The whole question of divorce and re-marriage has been a thorny one for the church.  On the one hand, it is charged with upholding the teaching of Jesus Christ on this matter; on the other, it must respond with compassion to those who have been caught in impossible, abusive, or dead-end marriages. 

It has seemed to me that the one sin that could not be "forgiven" was divorce and re-marriage.  Of course, the tribunal -- the review court on marriages -- can grant an annulment, and in truth, I have heard that its purpose is to help people process and grieve the loss of their first marriage.  One thing the church does not want to do is to encourage serial marriage without thought, prayer, and counsel.  But the process of annulment is lengthy and the thought of it frightening to people who just want to move on in their lives.  In the meantime, they cannot receive Communion under the laws of the church. 

The situation in a small town, as I have discovered, is particularly troubling.  In a large city, few  could people other than your immediate neighbors would even know you were divorced; in a small town, everyone knows it.  So divorcees who want to re-marry most often just stop going to church; it is just too painful to be there and not receive communion with everyone else. And yet, Communion is the sacrament of spiritual healing, the one thing people have most need of after a divorce.

The church changes slowly, as indeed it should, considering that as a world-wide organization, it must embrace and minister to the culture and values of millions of people in millions of communities.  But the value of moving slowly often gets lost in stagnation, in not moving at all when it needs to.  Thank God that Jesus is still the Head of the church; when the human scaffolding becomes an impairment to the spiritual needs of the people, He sends help from above! 

In the 1960's, Pope John 23rd prayed that the windows of the church would open and a New Pentecost would blow through it.  Vatican II was the organizational renewal he prayed for, but the totally unexpected charismatic renewal appeared in the early 70's -- a movement no one could have orchestrated, foreseen, or planned for "from the top."  This morning, I was reflecting on how graced I have been to have known the "old" church and to have experienced the "new" church, the church renewed from above---it has changed my life entirely, bringing me the Word of God and the realization of the Holy Spirit in a way that doctrine and church membership never could have done!

And now, Francis.  In reading his encyclical The Joy of the Gospel, I found these words:

The Church is called to be the house of the Father, with doors always wide open....there are other doors that should not be closed either.  Everyone can share in some way in the life of the church; everyone can be part of the community, nor should the doors of the sacraments be closed for simply any reason.  This is especially true of the sacrament which is itself "the door:" baptism. 

 

The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacrament life, is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.  These convictions have pastoral consequences that we are called to consider with prudence and boldness. 

 

Frequently, we act as arbiters of grace rather than its facilitators.  But the Church is not a tollhouse; it is the house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems.

 

This has frequently been my suffering, as I agonized with those who felt rejected by their church after a painful divorce and re-marriage.  We are all sinners; we fail in different ways  -- but that never seemed to bother Jesus.  The one question He asked His disciples about the Eucharist was, "Will you also go away?"  I think He knows that if we keep coming to Him, He has to power to change our hearts from within.  The one thing that prevents that transformation is for us to stop coming to Him, to walk away. 

 

I don't know how long it will take for the church as a lumbering institution to reflect upon and find ways to implement Francis' philosophy of the church as the Father's house and the sacraments as healing for the sick.  My hope is that I will see it in my lifetime.  But at least, at least, we have a ray of light that can lead to change in this area! 

 

I have always seen the church as a hospital, where recovering patients actually tend to those who are more in need of help, a place where, as Jesus told Peter, "when you have turned, turn and help your brothers."  Peter is chief of the apostles because he was the chief sinner who turned back to Jesus; in his weakness, he could have compassion on the sins of others without judging them.  If we can somehow find an avenue back to Jesus for those who have lost their way, the church will become more conformed to Francis' vision of the Father's house.



On Love and Fear

Whoever fear the Lord are afraid of nothing/ and are never discouraged, for He is their hope.  Happy the soul that fears the Lord!  In whom does he trust, and who is his support?  The eyes of the Lord are upon those who love Him; / He is their mighty shield and strong support,/ a shelter from the heat, a shade from the noonday sun,/ a guard against stumbling, a help against falling./ He lifts up spirits, brings a sparkle to the eyes,/ gives health and life and blessing (Sirach: 34:16-20).

 

....I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.  For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-control (2 Tim. 1:7).

 

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The man who fears is not made perfect in love (I Jn. 4:18).

 

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death....we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure (Hebrews).

 

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"Happy the soul that fears the Lord!"  (from Sirach 34, quoted above).    I have a friend who hates the term "fear the Lord," as if fearing the Lord has anything to do with being afraid of the Lord.  She says, I cannot fear and love at the same time.   And yet, in the passage from Sirach, as well as in the other passages above, fear of the Lord and love seem to blend in a marriage of joy and of rejoicing!  "Fear of the Lord" is coupled with "those who love Him," and both bring confidence, reassurance, peace, and safety.  There is a famous saying:  Those who fear the Lord fear nothing else; those who don't fear the Lord fear everything else.

 

This same friend always says, "Whenever I feel the Spirit moving, I feel afraid," quoting the well-known Gospel hymn.  But this "afraid," it seems to me, has nothing to do with either "fear of punishment," as in the passage from I John, or with the "fear of death," as in the passage from Hebrews.  This kind of "fear" (when I feel the Spirit moving) is more related to the "fear" that Peter felt when Christ walked on the water and Peter said, "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man."  This is the kind of "fear" that led Isaiah to cry out when he saw the great vision of the Lord seated in the temple, surrounded by angels:  Woe is me!  I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty (6:1-5).

 

The "fear" that we feel when the Spirit is moving is not a bad thing; something good is always about the happen when the Spirit is a-movin', but we always think we are not "up to" the wonderful thing that is about to occur.  We are conscious of our sinful nature and really do not want a visitation from the divine -- but never in Scripture is an angel sent to punish or to cast fear into someone; never does God appear to threaten mankind.  He sends prophets to warn man, but His appearance --like that to Moses in the burning bush -- is always for a great event, to benefit man.  "Be not afraid," the angel said to Mary, and we have to believe that his words to her brought peace, not fear.

 

Very early on in my walk with the Lord, I realized that I had never been 'afraid' of God -- I was very fortunate not to have grown up in a culture of fear.  But the Scriptures like the ones above extolled the benefits of "fear of the Lord."  I did not really understand what it meant to fear the Lord, so I asked in prayer for God to show me what it meant to 'fear the Lord.'  (From my own experience, one reason I do not usually press forward with trying to explain spiritual truth is that I know it does not come by reasoning or explaining, but through the inner instruction given by the Holy Spirit to those who seek for it. Yet, St. Peter tells us, "Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,  but do it with gentleness and reverence...."(3:15-18).   So, when asked, I try to explain, all the while knowing that only the Holy Spirit can really reveal spiritual truth.)

 

Anyway, my understanding from the Scriptures of "fear of the Lord" is related to the words reverence and respect.  Husbands are urged by Paul to "love their wives as they love themselves," while wives are instructed to "respect" their husbands.  That is an interesting passage to reflect upon, for women are more prone to the emotion of love, and in the 21st century, less to the action of respect.  When someone says to me, "I love you," without respect for me, I have a hard time 'hearing' those words.  Reverence for the other person is the mark of real love, in my opinion.  Without respect, love is impossible!

 

The book of Deuteronomy commands the Israelites, as does Jesus, to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole mind, and your whole strength.  And yet, all of Scripture exhorts us at the same time to "Fear the Lord, and walk in His ways."  Obviously, since God speaks as if we were capable of both love and "fear" at the same time, He evidently considers us capable of both, for He does not command the impossible.  If our love for Him is not combined with worship, reverence, and respect for His commands, we cannot say we love Him.  Jesus said, "If anyone love Me, he will keep my commands, and the Father and I will make our home in him." 

 

The "fear" involved in love is really fear of loss from lack of respect.  If I "respect" my husband, I do not do things that will offend him.  Recently, a husband of less than a year took all of his new bride's savings out of the bank to buy a boat that he wanted.  Needless to say, his lack of respect for her destroyed their marriage immediately.  He could not say he loved her and show such a lack of respect at the same time.

 

Typically, teenagers may be "afraid" of their parents' punishment, but they do not "respect' their parents so much at that age, as they are exerting their own independence and identity.  As Mark Twain observed, however, his father, who knew nothing when Twain was 15, amazed him with how much he had learned when Twain was 21.  If we are "afraid" of God, could it be that we have not yet grown beyond the teenage period in our relationship with Him?  Are we still trying to exert our own independence and identity, apart from Him?

 

At the last supper, Jesus spoke to us as "no longer servants, but friends."  He assumed that we were assimilated to Him and in union with Him as equals.  In fact, after the Resurrection, He told Mary Magdalene to go to "my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God."  How beautiful an expression He used there!  Perfect love casts out fear!  If we reverence and respect God, as Jesus did, we "fear" Him, but have no reason to be "afraid" of Him ---ever!

The Words of Everlasting Life

Yesterday, I wrote about Zoe, eternal, everlasting life, life that cannot be diminished, run down, or extinguished.  This life does not come to us automatically, because we are human beings; it is not our biological life -- it is the life given to us as a "Gift of the Father," in Jesus' words -- the Holy Spirit.  It is the Life promised to the woman at the well that "I will give you," a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

How do we receive the "Gift of the Father" and the spring of water that Jesus gives?  Obviously, this is the fruit of a personal relationship with the Father and with Jesus Christ -- it is given as a gift, not earned because of good behavior; nor is the Gift "conjured up" by witchcraft or other kinds of manipulation of the spirit-world.  The Book of Hebrews tells us  ...anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (11:6). 

The "reward" we receive for seeking God is the Gift of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit Who animated Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry.  The Gift flows out to us from the heart, mind, and soul of the risen Christ -- and it ministers to our hearts, minds, and souls, just as Christ ministered to the whole man on earth.

If we do not really believe that God exists, if we do not seek to know Him, there is no point in trying to somehow "manufacture" a semblance of the Holy Spirit.  "Simony" is the term used for those trying to "buy" religious gifts, as did Simon in the Acts of the Apostles, who was envious of the acts of the Apostles and who offered them money to confer upon him the Holy Spirit too.  The purpose and mission of the Holy Spirit in us is to bring us to a knowledge of Jesus Christ,
who will bring us to a saving knowledge of the Father,
Who will then give us more of the Spirit. 
It is a dynamic, loving, flow of energy -- a living relationship -- and we are brought into that flow of life and love by the Gift of the Spirit. 

Although we cannot buy or earn eternal life, there is a way we can ask for and receive the Spirit of truth.  That "way" is found in the words of Jesus Himself, the Words of Everlasting Life.  Jesus said, The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.  The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life (Jn. 6:63).  Then, upon asking if His disciples also wanted to walk away from Him because of His words, Peter answered Him:  "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."

Jesus Christ is the Word of God-- He is the full and total expression of Who God Is and of what God wants us to know about Himself:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He is the Living, incarnate Word of God --- and none of His words were His own, but He spoke only what He received from the Father.

Jesus said,     "I tell you the truth; whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.....

...The Father who sent Me has himself testified concerning Me.  You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, nor does His word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one He sent (Jn. 5: 24 & 37).  

One of the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit is the ability to receive the words of Jesus Christ and of the Father.  At one time in our lives, the Scriptures were empty words, occasionally beautiful and inspirational, but not "living" words.  Those who read/ study the Scriptures for information instead of for inspiration still have not "heard" the words spoken by Jesus.  When the words are "breathed into" us by the Spirit, we "hear" His words -- they become for us Spirit and truth-- eternal life. 

Jesus said, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.  These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life" (Jn. 5:39).  I know of a man who supposedly "diligently" studied the Bible, and yet who beat his children without mercy.  I cannot believe that man ever "heard" the word spoken in his mind, heart, and soul -- he studied them as we might study geography or ancient history, for content and knowledge, but not for the LIFE they impart to us.

If anyone really wants to "hear" the words of Jesus, the Word of God, let him take up the Gospel of John with prayer -- not trying to reason with the mind, but trying instead to receive with the heart.  Let that person believe that God exists and that God wants to communicate with him on a personal level.  Let that person open his heart to receive the Gift of the Father promised to us by Jesus Christ.  Let that person put aside his own pre-conceived ideas and let Jesus reveal His thoughts.

One of my favorite prayers is this:  Holy Spirit, think Your thoughts in me until my thoughts become Your thoughts.  It takes humility to realize that our thoughts are not necessarily God's thoughts, and that we need the Holy Spirit to impart to us the thoughts of God.  But without that humility, we will never know the Truth, nor will His words dwell in us.

As our biological life winds down, it is imperative that eternal life grow stronger in us.  By slowly and prayerfully "eating"  and "digesting" the words of Jesus Christ, we nourish in us the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Life/Zoe.  Although I have "read" the Gospel of John many times, it has never become old or "familiar."  Every time I open the book, the words of Jesus leap off the page and become for me Living Words, new and fresh, always ministering truth to every new situation of my life, always imparting peace and strength.  This is a gift I wish that I myself could 'breathe' into everyone I know -- so I can somehow feel what Jesus must have felt and must still feel about the Word of God and the Gift of the Father.  He willingly surrendered His life on a cross to impart to us this very Gift, and still we do not receive it.

Zoe!

I have come that they might have life (zoe) and have it more abundantly.

 

The first man (Adam) became a living being (bios);

the last Adam, a life (zoe)-giving spirit (I Cor. 15:45)

 

One of the first things Jesus did after His Resurrection from the dead was to breathe on the apostles, just as the Creator breathed the breath of life into Adam at the creation. Before the Resurrection, Jesus taught, Jesus touched and healed, even spit and healed.  But He did not "breathe" on anyone that I know of.  In Hebrew, the word "breath" is ruah, the same word used for "spirit/Spirit," "wind," "breeze," etc. throughout the Scriptures.  In the passage from I Cor. quoted above, Adam receives life (bios), but he is not a "life-giving spirit."  Only the "second Adam" now living a new kind of life -- a life beyond bios-- can communicate a new kind of life to those dwelling in Him -- no longer "bios," but zoe.

 

In Lewis' classic, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when Aslan rises from the dead, he goes into the White Witch's castle and one by one, breathes on the statues frozen by the Witch.  Before his death, Aslan stood for justice and truth, but he did not have the power to breathe on the statues which had come under the power of the Witch.  His righteousness was limited to his physical and biological influence -- his bios.

 

Our "bios," our physical life, eventually runs down and dies, but the Risen Christ possesses within Himself "zoe" -- Life itself, or "eternal" life -- a life that cannot run down, get sick, grow old, or die.  Zoe is the kind of life possessed by, inherent in, God Himself; it is God's own life.  To become a Christian does not mean gaining more "bios;" it means receiving from the Fountain of Zoe eternal life.*  Jesus came to share His own Zoe with us, with all of us. 

 

No mere man or woman has the power to communicate eternal life; the best we can do is to pass on our natural, biological, life.  As children in Catholic school, we heard about "eternal" life, but we thought that that was the life we would have in heaven -- if we were good on earth; we would "earn" eternal life.  Reading the Scriptures for ourselves, however, communicates an entirely different concept.  Jesus promised the woman at the well -- not exactly a role-model for "earning" eternal life -- a spring of water welling up to eternal life.  And she obviously, despite her sinful nature, received this life-giving water, becoming the first evangelist and drawing her entire village to Jesus Christ.

 

Zoe is the promised "Gift of the Father," the Holy Spirit, the "pledge," or "earnest money" of another kind of life given to us in Christ Jesus.  And we do not have to wait until we die to receive it.  Our baptism is a symbol, a re-enactment ahead of time, of our death to the first Adam, the natural man, and our rising to a new kind of life in Jesus Christ, the second Adam.  This new kind of life comes not because we are earning it by our behavior, but because we accept Christ's death as our own, and His resurrection as our own. 

 

Don't we all wish we could go around "breathing" on people a new kind of life to replace what Peter calls "the empty way of life handed down to us by our fathers"?  When we ask for the Gift of the Holy Spirit, we are opening ourselves to Zoe-- eternal life, the life of God Himself.  The reading today from God Calling 2 says this:

 

Men are trying to live the Christian life in the light and teaching of My three years' mission alone.  That was never My purpose.

 

I came to reveal My Father, to show the God-Spirit working in man.  I taught, not that man was only to attempt to copy the Jesus of Nazareth, but that man was also to be so possessed by My Spirit, the Spirit actuating all that I did, that he would be inspired [breathed into] as I was.....

 

I told my disciples that I could not tell them all, but that the Spirit would guide them.  That is where my followers fail Me.  Dwell more and more upon this Spirit-guidance, promised to all, and so little claimed.

 

In the desert following their escape from Egypt, the Israelites thirsted for life-giving water.  Moses struck the rock, and water poured out for all who were thirsty, saints and sinners.  So, too, in our journey, we all thirst for the life-giving water of peace, joy, and truth.  Our Rock has been struck; from His side flows the water of eternal life, for all who will come, saint and sinner.  He will give of the Spirit to all who ask.  No one should be afraid to approach the Man of Sorrows, crowned with the thorns of sin, bearing our burdens and grief.  He is not the Unapproachable Throne of Divinity; He is the Lamb, slain before the foundation of the world, that we might have Life/ Zoe. 

 

*this paragraph, as well as the information about Aslan, is taken from Louis Markos' excellent book, A to Z with C.S.Lewis

Friendship with Jesus

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business.  Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father, I have made known to you ... if the world hates you, know that it hated me first ....(Jn. 15:15).

 

When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me, but you also must testify (Jn. 15:26).

 

What if we saw 'religion' as just the invitation to friendship with Jesus?  Somehow, we have not seen it that way at all, but if we look at the Gospels, we see Jesus simply walking the roads of Galilee, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Caparnum,...healing the sick, forgiving sinners, and inviting people to 'follow Me.'  After His Resurrection and Ascension, after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the followers/ the church grew in such great numbers that some organization and discipline became a necessity.  But still, the original invitation to encounter the risen Jesus and to enter into friendship with Him never changed.

 

As Richard Rohr points out, the church is but a "holding tank," holding us in place until we grow into spiritual maturity to the point that we can encounter and respond to the living Christ.  Those who see Him as simply a good role-model, as a historical figure like George Washington, have not yet encountered Him as a friend, as a living Person.  If His rising from the dead and appearing to many meant anything, it meant that He continues to walk with us as a friend and companion. 

 

I have a screen-saver that says, "We're all just walking one another home."  So, too, is Jesus with us on a daily basis to walk us home.    The very thing He said to His apostles, He says to us, "I call you friends, because I make known to you all that I receive from the Father."  The Spirit of Truth testifies to us that we are children of God, and every child has a right to know what his Father expects from him.  If the Spirit did not testify in our hearts, we would not be children, but still servants.

 

When we "testify" to Jesus Christ, we are not proclaiming something which others must believe because we say it; we are "testifying," or witnessing to the inestimable riches of walking with God, of friendship with the Holy One of Israel.  I always tell my students that I am not their teacher, that Jesus Himself will teach them everything they need to know, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their hearts.  I am there with them as a witness to the truth of the Gospel; I am there to "certify" that what Jesus promised us is true -- because I have experienced it myself.  I am there only to extend the invitation that Jesus offers them:  Come, walk with Me; learn from Me.  I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.

 

Still, some always walk away, just as people walked away from Jesus on earth.  Not all will recognize the Gift He offers us.  Not everyone thinks the "Pearl of Great Price" is worth asking for and receiving.  If we do not know Jesus Christ, as Paul told the Jews, our religion is in vain:  No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code (Romans 2:29).  (The Christian assembly should read "baptism" for 'circumcision' in this passage.) 

 

Jesus came that we might know Him and, through Him, know the Father:  Have I been so long with you, and you still do not know Me? He asked Philip at the Last Supper.  And, If anyone loves Me, he will keep my commands, and the Father and I will dwell in him.  What a promise -- to know the indwelling Presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as companions on the journey of life! 

 

There is still one more aspect of friendship with God -- the world will not receive Him (the Holy Spirit) because it does not see Him or know Him (Jn. 14) -- and it will hate those who do know Him. The early Christians were persecuted by the Jews; then they were put to death by the Romans.  Even into the 21st century, the "world" still persecutes both Jews and Christians, hunting them down and putting them to death, driving them out of their homes and cities.  As Scripture says, The blows of those who hated You have fallen upon me (can't locate the source). There will always be enmity between God and the world, but Jesus is the doorway through Whom we pass from the ways of the world to the ways of God.  Through Him, we enter into the very life of God -- and that friendship that cannot dissolve or pass away is worth any price we have to pay.

On Not Getting It Right....

Guide my feet into the way of peace...direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me (Ps. 119).

 

Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light for my path.

 

I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me (Ps. 119).

 

I would venture to guess that most of us spend a good bit of our lives trying to "get it right," and find more often than not that we have "screwed up" once again.  (Just as I finished writing the Scripture quotes above, I overturned an entire cup of coffee all over my keyboard, mouse pad, papers and books littering my desktop, and even under the glass top of my desk, necessitating taking everything off the desk, removing the heavy glass top, and mopping up the desk, the floor, and everything in the vicinity -- case in point!)

 

When Jesus said, "Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect," I do not think He was smoking acid or hallucinating.  He knew exactly what He was dealing with, beginning with the apostles and moving outwards to the general populace, including you and me.  In the Book of Jonah, YHWH tells the prophet that the poor Ninevites, the most cruel people on earth, "do not know their right hands from their left hands."  I've always loved that insight into human nature, and I often tell the Lord that He knows well that I do not know my left hand from my right!  If He does not guide me at every moment, I will do exactly what comes naturally to me -- screw it all up, confuse myself and everyone around me!

 

One of the things I love about Jesus is His basic assumption that we would never "get it right" without Him:  Without Me, you can do nothing!  He assumed from the get-go that we were all sinners in need of redemption, that we had all created chaos and confusion for ourselves and for those around us -- and that, without Him, we would continue to do so.  The good news is that we do not have to get it right and figure it out ahead of time.  The Christian life is one of being taught, of continually receiving instruction from the Spirit sent to us to dwell in us and teach us at every moment of our lives.  We just have to keep coming back -- every day -- for our lessons.

 

I have written before about a vision granted to me many years ago, but I'll repeat it here:

 

In my vision, I saw the entire heavenly court surrounding a large open space where a retarded child -- a little girl that I knew to be myself -- who was being instructed by Jesus.  Jesus was teaching the child the first step of a dance.  As the child learned the step, she did it over and over, "showing off" to the court of heaven:  "I got it!  I've got it! she exclaimed with joy and excitement, over and over.  Then, after she had made the rounds, showing everyone her "dance," Jesus gently called her back to Him and began patiently teaching her the next step.  "I've got it; I've got it!" she exclaimed again, dancing her two steps around the circle for all to share in her joy. 

 

All we can do on our journey is to stay connected to the indwelling Presence of Jesus in us through the Holy Spirit.  It is true that we know some things, but the dance has only begun.  Only He knows the whole story of our lives; only He can lead us to the next step.  I love that the Psalmist says, "Direct my feet into the way of peace," and "Your (living) Word is a lamp unto my feet."  In our heads, we do not have it all figured out.  We know only what we have been taught by the Lord, but that is only the first or the second step.  The child thinks she's "got it," but if we do not stay connected to the Teacher, as Paul says, "We know in part."  We don't know how to "be perfect," but we can stay in union with the One Who does know and who knows how to teach us.  "If you remain in Me, and I remain in you," says Jesus, "you can ask for whatever you will, and it will be granted to you" (Jn. 15:7).  

 

When we're connected, in union with, the Teacher, life is no longer coincidental -- everything begins to teach us if we are willing to learn.  Now, let's hope my computer continues to work with coffee in its "inner man." 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow!

Jim Caveziel's message is just like listening to Jesus Christ Himself.  This video takes 40 minutes, but I, who have no patience for videos over 5 minutes, sat mesmerized, not even wanting to look away.  If you want the best "church" experience ever, sit back and watch this video with an open heart and mind.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0A6zyN37uw&feature=player_embedded

The Beauty of Silence

When I first read the Diary of Sr. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, I was a little puzzled by her repetition to herself: "Silence, Silence."  After all, Sister Faustina lived in a convent where silence was the rule most of the time, except for designated times of recreation and business.  Gradually, however, I came to realize that, as the recipient of Divine Revelation for the world -- the revelation of the Divine Mercy, -- Sister Faustina had her critics and attackers.  In some parts of the world, there is what is called "the tall-poppy syndrome."  That is, anyone who stands out above the others is scorned as prideful, as attempting to show off and call attention to oneself -- the "tall poppy."

Even many of my students at Delgado, who were the first generation of their families to attend college, had to battle the "tall poppy" syndrome -- the "who do you think you are?" questions, the belittling of their ambition to "get ahead" of the others.  Often,  jealousy among family and friends was almost overwhelming, as they did all they could to throw roadblocks in the path of the college student.  Sister Faustina experienced much of the same reaction from those around her, inside and outside of the convent.  Her cry of "Silence" meant to still her soul against the natural response we have to attack from the outside -- the attempt to defend ourselves, the attempt to explain how and why we are doing the things we do.

Interior silence -- surrendering the chance to defend and explain ourselves -- is the most difficult of spiritual disciplines.  It means relying on and trusting in God to defend us against our attackers, believing that He will come to our aid if we lay down our own weapons of defense.  Mary exhibited this trust when she simply said to Joseph, "I am with child."  She could not explain; no one would believe what she said.  She had to trust God to explain what she could not -- and He did.

The problem for us is that we all begin, in the first half of life, in the dualistic state of mind: making distinctions -- this, not that.  We need to make distinctions before we can move beyond them: our family, not that one; our tribe, our religion, our team, etc.  And our team needs to win, especially in high school!  Most of our history is lived in the first-half-of-life consciousness.

Few people move beyond that dualistic mind-set, even in the second half of life.  My brother remarked yesterday that we really don't know what life is until after sixty, when it is no longer about winning, but about being and integrity.  What makes space for that larger and truer level of being is interior silence -- no longer judging, dividing, striving against, competing with, but rather absorbing all that is, just as it is -- the mystical experience I wrote about yesterday, in terms of art.

In Silent Compassion: Finding God in Contemplation, Richard Rohr says, "It is either all God's work or you have a hard time finding God in the mere parts."  Silence allows us to stop defending our own viewpoint and our own way of life long enough to absorb meaning from all that is:  Silence allows the whole, and does not get lost in and over-identify with the parts....it seems that only poets and mystics now have time for such things as meaning or depth.  Silence is that ever-faithful companion, a portal to constantly deeper connection with whatever is in front of you (Rohr).

I would like to quote pages and pages from this book, but all I can do is to recommend a thoughtful, prayerful reading of Silent Compassion. In fact, I am now reading it for the second time and deriving even more depth and understanding than I did on the first reading.

Recently, I had the experience of receiving a long, devastating e-mail that kind of took my breath away.  I did not know where to begin answering all the accusations it contained.  If I took one point at a time, it may have taken me a month or more to "explain" that I had not even thought of the things I was being accused of.  Wrestling with the thoughts and emotions that kept surfacing in response, I turned to prayer -- what should I do?  Where to begin?  Eventually, the answer came:  Wait three days before answering.  Immediately, peace entered my soul; at least for the next three days, I didn't have to do anything at all.  That answer relieved my mind of trying to sort out this from that, truth from half-truth, defense from compassion. 

In experiencing that moment of freedom from the "noise" in my head and heart, I felt that I had been released from a cage.  In the next three days, I became addicted to the silence, freedom from fear, and the need to defend myself, and the peace I was experiencing.  By the end of the time, I preferred the peace of Christ to the need to be "right."  I was able to let it all go.  Later, I was to read Rohr's words:

Leave the silence open-ended. Do not try to settle the dust.  Do not rush to resolve the inner conflict.  Do not seek a glib, quick answer, but leave all things for a while in the silent space. Do not rush to judgment.  That is what it really means that God alone is the judge.  Inner silence frees you from the burden of thinking that your judgment is needed or important. Real silence moves you from knowing things to perceiving a presence that has a reality in itself.  Could that be God?

Twentieth-century philosopher Martin Buber explored relationships in terms of I-it and I - thou.  In an "I-it" relationship, we define and label "this," not that.  We rob people and things of inner meaning and reduce them to objects for us to manipulate and control.  But the "I-thou" relationship simply respects the other without adjusting it, naming it, changing it, fixing it, controlling it, or trying to explain it.  That is the openness of mind, heart, and soul that can come to know God.

As Rohr points out, That does not mean that there is not a place for explaining, not a place for understanding.  But first you have to learn to say "yes" to the moment....if you start with "no," which is critiquing, judging, pigeonholing, analyzing, dismissing, it is very hard to get back to "yes."  You must learn to start every single encounter with a foundational yes, before you ever dare to move to no.  That is the heart of contemplation, and it takes a lifetime of practice.  But you have now begun and can live each day with a forever-returning beginner's mind.  It will always be silent before it dares to speak. 

I think my experience in the art gallery is a life-time lesson for me.  In the silence, in the reverence of  "not - knowing" ahead of time, in the absence of any "explanation" of what the artist was attempting to reveal, I was moved to tears by beauty which touched my soul.  Then my mind began to embrace and attempt to shape the experience into words, just so I could understand and grasp even more consciously and intensely what I had experienced.  It has been said that theology is "love seeking understanding." 

When I "taste and see that the Lord is good," I am overwhelmed with love.  Then, like Peter on the Mountain of Transfiguration, I want to build a tent (of words) so that I can remain in the moment.  I want to invite others into the same tent where I encountered the living God, even while intellectually I know that my words may actually interfere with their own experience, as did the first docent for me. 

Mystical prayer -- interior silence -- allows God to be God, other people to be who they are without our labels and explanations, and the world of nature to enter and change us.  We are vulnerable; we are not building walls to defend our own definitions and experiences.  We are free!

The Casino and the Chapel

I clearly recall my first experience in a casino.  We were visiting relatives in Nevada; when they discovered that I had never set foot in a casino, they were quite sure I was in for a treat -- they would take us to a casino.  Upon entering the door, I was immediately overwhelmed by the cacophony of sounds and the confusion of blinking lights.  The darkened environment infused with artificiality reminded me of the famous bar scene from Star Wars, a scene which invoked in me a sense of fear, strangeness, and danger.

In fact, my immediate reaction to the casino experience was one of fear; it seemed to me that the casino was designed to rob people of their sense of reality and peace, to place them in an environment of artificial excitement, to overwhelm their senses so that they would literally "lose their minds" and all the inhibitions of rational thought.  I could not wait to get out of that place!

If we compare the casino experience to that of our reaction upon entering a small chapel, a beautiful church, an art gallery, viewing the Grand Canyon, or walking along a seashore, the differences are startling.  When we view the grandeur of nature in a sunset, or even the play of light upon leaves in a forest, our immediate response is often a whisper, if we are with a companion.  We fall still, better to absorb the beauty.  The thought of the "bing-bing-bing" of a hundred slot machines in nature is actually blasphemous!  We tread softly, humbly, respectfully, not daring to intrude on the silence that speaks so loudly to our souls in the presence of beauty and peace.

Last week, I visited the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum on the Gulf Coast, a place where the work of different artists is displayed in separate "pods," or buildings.  In the first pod, the beautiful work of a sculptor was displayed.  As I entered the pod, the docent immediately greeted me and began to explain the work, piece by piece.  On and on she talked, giving me the history, the background, the methods, etc. of the sculptor, along with other useless information about his other exhibits.  While trying to be helpful, her words so interfered with my experience of the exhibit that I could not wait to get out of there.  How could she not realize that true art and beauty naturally evokes silence and awe?  By giving me her knowledge and understanding, she deprived me of my own "mystical" experience!

In the next pod, the docent, a young man, greeted me and silently handed me a one-page flyer about the artist and his work.  Then he respectfully backed away, leaving me to view the exhibit in silence.  It was not long before I was moved to tears by the feelings that surfaced in me as I silently and reverently viewed the works of art.  This artist spoke to me in the silence, more powerfully than words ever could!  Having been so moved by what my mind could not entirely process, I turned to the docent to ask some questions.  Again, he directed me to a binder on display which explained in words and pictures some of the "story" behind the artist and his work, but he allowed me to softly turn the pages and read what I chose, skipping the things that did not interest me. 

The latter docent did not try to control my experience; he gave me as much as I wanted, but allowed me to struggle with my own understanding and emotions.  The result was that I fell in love with the work and with the person who had fashioned it out of his own mind and heart.  I had a "mystical" experience -- one that my left-brain eventually wanted to shape into words and understanding, but which had emerged out of my entire intuitive experience: mind, body, emotions, soul, and spirit!

When my husband and I looked for our retirement home on the Gulf Coast, we deliberately stayed away from those cities which had casinos.  Even if one does not attend the casino, the external environment is heavily influenced by the presence of a casino -- the traffic, the constant stream of visitors, the flashing lights competing for attention on building facades, etc.  There is an atmosphere around casinos that does not allow for silence and reverence -- the chapel experience.  Even before one reaches the casino itself, the statues and décor of casino hotels often bespeak the decadence and pleasures of the flesh that draw us away from the silence of the spirit within.

Our world today blares "more, better, brighter, more exiting, more stimulating, more graphic, more violent." There is hardly any room for silence and stillness -- and yet, our spirits crave mysticism.  Tomorrow, I will write about the beauty of silence.

On Mystical Prayer

From the very beginning, encounter with the God of Israel, with the God of Jesus Christ, was always "mystical" -- that is, experiential.  Yahweh was never satisfied with man's ideas or concepts of Who He Is; instead, He always wanted us to experience Him in person.  Abraham heard His Voice, strongly enough for him to leave his people and venture out to a land he knew not where.  And the Voice (probably an inner voice) did not abandon or disappoint him.  God was always with him, even when he made mistakes along the way.

Moses experienced God in the burning bush.  Even though he was afraid, even though he had no confidence in his own ability, the experience of God was strong enough in Moses to eventually lead the Israelites out of the clutches of Pharoah's army.

If God did not want us to experience Him, even now, while still in the flesh, He would not have sent Jesus:  He who sees Me sees the Father; the Father and I are one.  Later, the apostle John was to write: 

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched---this we proclaim concerning the Word of life ...We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ (1John: 1).

 

"Fellowship"  -- it means "experience, touching, sharing, friendship."  We are supposed to go beyond thinking about God, imagining God, to friendship with God.  We are supposed to experience Him body, mind, and soul.  This is what we mean by "mystical prayer."  People imagine that mystics are few and far between, but I tell you that anyone who comes to God in real prayer will experience Him.  He is more ready to reveal Himself to us than we are to see, hear, and taste Him.

 

The psalmist says, "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord."  He means "taste," not something else.  The experience of God is not a left-brain activity; we know Him as we know our friends -- not by "thinking" about them, but by experiencing them -- right brain, left brain, heart, mind, body, and soul.  Mystical prayer is an intuitive grasp of the whole -- God is the center of everything that has life and breath, even of the stones of the earth.  Once we experience Him, everything is holy and inexpressibly beautiful!

 

Immature religion is not experiential; it is cognitive, in the mind.  It is inauthentic in terms of experiencing God, and it is an excuse not to love.  It is more tribal than embracing.  Most of us grew up with the "law" that we were not to enter a non-Catholic church; that was immature religion, based on the understanding of the times.  There are still a few hold-overs from that era, but most of the   church has grown beyond that understanding.

 

Richard Rohr compares organized religion to a holding tank, a container that holds us in one spot long enough for us to discover what the real questions are, and to learn to struggle with the real questions.  According to him, some form of organized religion is necessary for the first half of life...to give you at least the right words to tell you that mystical experience is possible.  The trouble is that it usually tells you that it's possible, but just don't expect it. It's only for special people.

 

A Sunday service and believing a certain set of doctrines -- which is what organized religion means for most people -- is not enough.  All that can do is hold you inside the boxing ring, but it doesn't teach you how to box with the mystery.

 

"Mystical prayer" is looking with a new set of eyes, which are not comparing, competing, judging, labeling, and analyzing, but receiving the moment in its wholeness....If you lead off with the left brain, you lead off with the judging, calculating, dualistic mind; you can't access the holy because the only thing that gets in is what you already think, what you already agree with.  And God is, by definition, unfamiliar, always mysterious, beyond, more.

 

The goal of mystical prayer is divine union -- union with what is, with the moment, with yourself, with the divine -- which means with everything. (Interview with Richard Rohr. St Anthony Magazine, May, 2014).

 

St. Francis, in his union with the sun and the moon, the wolf and the birds, the lilies of the field and with his beloved "Lady Poverty," was a mystic.  In mysticism, the focus is not on what we are doing to "attain perfection," but always on what God is doing in us and in the world around us.  It is opening ourselves to all that is -- the good, the bad, the ugly -- and seeing it from the perspective of the Divine Life in us.  It is entirely possible for each one of us, no matter who or where we are on the path, to experience God.  How that happens will be different for each one of us, but if we are willing and open to it, if we "hunger and thirst for righteousness," if we are pure of heart, we shall see God. 

 

 



Lord of the Flies

The Spirit wars against the flesh, and the flesh against the Spirit....so I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with one another, so that you do not do what you want (Gal. 5:16-17).

 

One of the required high-school books was Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a novel that placed young boys as castaways on a desert island.  There, without the rules of civilization, human nature emerged at its worst, and the boys degenerated into savages, mutilating and killing their own company. 

When I look at the nations that have deliberately suppressed Christianity, I see the utmost savagery and inhumanity:  North Korea, North Vietnam, China.  Whenever a tyrant wishes to take over control of a people, the first item on the agenda is to suppress the spirit, especially as expressed in Christianity.  In China's "cultural revolution," all artists, poets, Christians, priests, intellectuals, etc. were either killed or imprisoned.  When North Vietnam took over South Vietnam, all the professional people -- business owners, doctors, teachers, musicians, and the like -- in fact, anyone who wore glasses, indicating that they could and did read -- were exterminated or imprisoned. 

I recently spoke with a woman who escaped S. Vietnam with her family -- father, mother, and ten children, all of whom were intellectuals and professionals -- after the fall of the South.  They fled to the mountains and lived in a make-shift "tent" until they could find someone to take them out of the country in a boat.  Fortunately, these people were wealthy, because when they were hijacked by pirates on the open seas, the pirates were satisfied with the money and jewels they had; otherwise, the men would have been killed and thrown into the sea, and the women raped.

If anyone doubts the belief in original sin, I think they must be blind and deaf to reality.  What is it about the life of the Spirit that so enrages people?  The religious leaders snarled and sneered at Jesus Christ, ultimately determining that He must be done away with.  And soon afterwards, they did the same to Stephen.  In fact, from the time of Cain and Abel, there have always been two "races:" those who "walked with God," and those like Lamech (Gen. 4:23):

...wives of Lamech, hear my words.

I have killed a man for wounding me,

a young man for injuring me.

If Cain is avenged seven times,

then Lamech seventy-seven times. 

 

Human nature without the Spirit of God withers and dies, or becomes inexpressibly cruel.  My friend from Vietnam told me that the cruelty of North Korea was learned from China, where three generations are beheaded for the crime or offense of one man.  She could not express enough the feeling of gratitude for having come to the United States and for breathing the breath of freedom, even though they arrived with nothing but the clothes they were wearing, even though they all -- 12 people-- slept on the floor in a one-bedroom apartment until they could learn English and find jobs.

 

Human nature, without the Spirit, is not pretty.  Romantics would have us believe in the "natural goodness" of mankind.  Perhaps even Denis Rodman believes in the "natural goodness" of North Korea's leader.  I say, let him live under that reign and discover for himself what man is truly like without God.



Intimacy with God

You cannot serve two masters.  If I am truly your Master, you will desire to please me above all others.  If pleasing people is your goal, you will be enslaved to them.  People can be harsh taskmasters when you give them this power over you.....The joy of living in My Presence outshines all other pleasures.  I want you to reflect My joyous light by living in increasing intimacy with Me. 

--from Jesus Calling, May 3

 

 

"Walk with Me; Sit with Me; Stand with Me."  I heard these words spoken to me interiorly years ago as I worked at my desk at the college.  In my mind, I had images of what the words meant, images from the Old Testament -- Enoch, Deborah, and Abraham. 

 

To "walk with God," as did Enoch (Gen. 5) is to be conscious of where He is leading us.  If someone grabs us by the arm and says, "Come with me," we can go only if we discern that person has been sent to us by God to take us in that direction.  The Spirit within us witnesses to our spirit: "This is the path; walk ye in it" (Is. 30).  If we go in response to human respect instead of being led by the Spirit, we enslave ourselves to human respect, which is ultimately fickle and unstable.  On Palm Sunday, the crowds in Jerusalem hailed Jesus with "Hosannahs;" on Good Friday, they shouted "Crucify Him!"  

 

If we walk with Jesus, we know that though we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, we will fear no evil, for He is with us.  He did nothing on His own, but only what He saw the Father doing, and the works He did were the works of the Father toward His children.  Would that we, too, could do only what we see Jesus doing.  Paul tells us to "put on Christ Jesus and put off the works of the flesh."  He uses terms in the Greek that refer to clothing.  Most of us have clothing that no longer fits us, either physically or psychologically -- as for example, if we still have "hippie" clothes from the 70's hanging in our closets.  Walking with Jesus means wearing the spiritual clothes He wears: kindness, compassion, mercy, truth.....   We cannot walk with others and wear the clothes they wear if they no longer fit who we are spiritually.

 

"Sitting with God," as did Deborah in the Book of Judges, means listening to Him above all the other voices that try to drown His out.  It means being receptive to Him above all other voices.  The goal of prayer is not to twist God's arm to our concerns, but to open our hearts to hear His Voice, His Will, His Truth about our concerns.  And hearing His Voice stills us, as it stills the voices of those around us. 

 

"Standing with God" reminds us of Abraham, who pleaded with the Lord for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18).  The Lord was willing to enter into negotiations with Abraham, agreeing with him that if even 10 good men/women could be found in those cities, He would spare them.  Unfortunately, that number could not be found, but in deference to His friend, God spared the lives of Lot (Abraham's nephew) and his family. 

 

Walking with God, Sitting with God, Standing with God means living in constant intimacy with Him.  He alone is the Source of our peace, our joy, our food.  To know Him is to live and not die a daily death, an event that necessarily follows our dependence on others for our peace, joy, and food.  What they give today, they can take away tomorrow, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow!