Hesed

If we carry one another's burdens, we will have fulfilled the whole law.

But first, we must have experienced the lovingkindness of others, of our God, who daily bears our burdens.  "Lovingkindness" in Hebrew is chesed (or hesed); we have no real equivalent in English.  

Yesterday, I was listening briefly to someone on the radio whose theme was "a generous world is a better world."  I wish I could have heard the whole broadcast, but caught only a portion of it, in which his 16-year-old son was telling his story.  Tim had grown up watching and listening to his father, who lived generously to strangers and friends alike, so he decided when he entered high school to overcome his tendency to make life about himself.  On the first day of high school, he saw a boy in his class who was shorter than average and who seemed to be afraid and alone.  Usually Tim would have ignored such a kid in favor of hanging out with his own friends, but on this day, he decided to overcome his natural tendency, so went over to make friends with the lonely kid.  Tim reported that by the end of the first week of school, his own friends were accepting and including the short kid, and they remained friends the rest of high school.  

Reading the Gospels, we find Yahweh moving among His people, gathering the outcasts and bearing their burdens, even to the shame of being crucified with the criminals.  Jesus shows us the face of God when He stoops to write in the dust the sins of those who condemn the woman caught in adultery, saying to them, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."  Lovingkindness/ hesed.

When He speaks to the lonely woman at the well---"Give me a drink."

When He heals the leper who cannot eat and drink with others, who cannot enter the temple to worship with others;

When He heals the woman with the issue of blood who cannot be a part of society for 17 years;

When He says to Matthew, the hated tax collector, "Follow Me."

When He sits at table with tax collectors and sinners, bearing their burden of being the outcasts and looked-down-upon.  Lovingkindness/ hesed.

The man on the radio whose name I do not know was advocating that we "live generously" every day.  It's a new concept for most of us, but one I am willing to try.   When we look at the great saints throughout history, this is what we find in a nutshell -- those who lived generously, not worrying about their reputations, their convenience, their egos.  One of the tennis shoe brand names -- Nike-- has a motto: Just do it!

Somehow, that seems to wrap up the whole law of our God -- just do it: live generously, and you will fulfill the whole law of Christ!  

Unopened Treasure

One of the things I love about Catholicism is its hidden treasures of the past.  Once you begin reading people like Augustine, Ignatious of Antioch, Gregory of Nyssa, Teresa of Avila, Therese of Liseux, Henry Cardinal Newman, C.S.Lewis (although not technically Catholic)... modern writings seem pale by comparison.  And one of the things that keep me from writing on a regular basis is my reading of these great treasures.  I always think, "They have said it all; what can I add?"

However, the truth is that for most people today, these treasure remain hidden and unread. Instead of my trying to enter into the circle of the greats, I should just be satisfied with bringing some of these treasures to the light of our 21st-century awareness.  And one of the treasure chests I'd like to open today is that of Gertrude the Great, or Gertrude of Helfta (1256-1301).  Like Hildegaard of Bingen, this woman was a spiritual giant, a German Benedictine nun, mystic, and scholar.  Since she can easily be found on the internet, I'll skip the rest of her accomplishments in order to present one of her joyful prayer-hymns:

With the well-tuned, harmonious harp of your divine heart,
and through the power of your Holy Spirit, the Paraclete,
I sing to you, Lord God, lovable Father.
I sing you songs of praise and thanksgiving for all creatures
in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, 
for all which are and were and will be born.

I give you thanks to the best of my ability, Lord God.
You created and re-create me.
Thank you for your kind forgiveness
and for reassuring me of your unending love,
flowing down from up above.

Be my honor, Lord,
my joy, 
my beauty,
my consolation in sorrow,
my counsel in uncertainty,
my defense in everything unfair,
my patience in problems,
my abundance in poverty,
my food in fasting,
my sleep in vigilance,
and my therapy in weakness.

Such richness we have --- unopened treasures of song and thought!

O Beauty Ever Ancient! O Beauty Ever New!

Recently I decided not to order any more tea online (Amazon makes it so easy) until I have used up or thrown away what has been accumulating in the back of the cupboard for several years.  I came across a tightly sealed tin with a label:  Packed especially for _______ on October 8, 2010, with the name of the specialty tea.  "Well, this cannot possibly still be good!" I thought.  And then, because it was loose tea, I probably put it away with the thought of buying a teapot or at least a tea caddy before trying it.  But I forgot, as is not unusual with me.

Now that I have both a teapot and a tea caddy, I had nothing to lose by at least trying it -- a Chinese special white tea by the name of Pai Mu Tan.  It had been a gift from my daughter, and, with guilt for not appreciating her effort so long ago, I felt that the least I could do was to try it.  After 10 years, the tea was absolutely delicious -- a delicate blend with a robust flavor -- not something you can find in the grocery store!  How is it that it is not stale, old tea? 

For some reason this morning as I sipped the tea, I was reminded of St. Augustine's famous cry, Late have I loved Thee, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new!  I typed in those words to Google and found the entire quote:

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new; late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.”

How is it that my childhood faith of almost 80 years has not grown old, grown stale?  St. Augustine' Confessions reveals his search for beauty, truth, and goodness in everything that could be found outside of himself -- the perennial search in all of us.  And when we find what we are looking for, it is usually tucked far in the back of our own hearts.  It was there all the time, and we failed to recognize it as the object of our search!  

What Jesus wants to give us is not a religion, but rather His own relationship with the Father.  We reject the religion of our childhood as outdated, old-fashioned, no longer suited to our new sophisticated taste.  And yet, when we finally touch the beauty we have been looking for, we find that it was there all along.  We just had failed to "taste" what had been tightly sealed in the container we call "religion."  

It is the job of the Holy Spirit to take what is "ancient" and to make it "new" for us, to make it come alive with freshness.  Jesus once said, "You cannot pour new wine into old wineskins, for the new wine will burst the old skins."  We cannot pour the new, fresh, beauty He offers us into old forms -- everything must be made new again, including our hearts to receive the beauty He offers.  Do not cast your pearls before swine, He tells us, for they will crush your pearls underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.

The beauty is the same as it ever was, but our hearts are not prepared to receive it without a "second touch" from the Holy Spirit.  We cannot see what is ever before us, what has been always offered to us, before our eyes have been opened and our hearts softened by the grace from above.  I long to offer what I see and hear to others, but there is only One Person who can ever give the Gift of the Father, the Holy Spirit, who makes all things new.

When religion has gone stale, when it no longer satisfies us, we can always ask once again for the Gift which makes all things new, the one Gift from above, the Holy Spirit.  In Him, we discover the Beauty ever ancient, ever new!

Fr. Michel Rodrigue Has Received Prophetic Knowledge of the Future of th...

This One Thing

One thing that always draws me to God is His utter simplicity.  Where I tend to complicate and confuse, He utters One Word that simplifies, clarifies, and brings light.  As at the beginning, He still speaks, Light! Be!  And it was as He had said. 

The first time I experienced the utter simplicity of God was after my third child was born.  For a few months, I thought I was coping with the needs of a husband, a four-year old, a two-year old, and an infant.  But the lack of sleep, the inability to get the beds made every day, the diapers washed, and the meals cooked eventually caught up with me.  Everywhere I turned, I met a sense of overwhelming failure and inability to cope.  Someone was always crying; someone was always being neglected. Not only did I not know how to cook; I didn't know how to plan ahead for meals, so there was always a sense of panic:  What are we going to eat today?  Do I have the ingredients? Is there time to prepare that meal?  

Little by little, I was overcome, losing confidence that I could solve the problems of each day.  As a natural problem solver, I was done in.  Finally, the day came that I called my husband at work:  "I don't know what is wrong with me, but I can't stop crying," I said.  At that moment, I remembered a friend of mine telling me that when her life had fallen to pieces, there was someone at the Cenacle who "helped me glue back the pieces of my life."  (The Cenacle was a local retreat house in New Orleans run by a group of nuns who were trained as counselors.)

I called the Cenacle and was told there was no retreat that weekend, but that I was welcome to come spend a few days with them.  My husband took off a few days from work, and I went to the Cenacle.  It was there that the nun asked me, "Who is God to you?"  I have written about my answer a few days ago.  The morning I was preparing to leave the Cenacle, as I packed my bag, I heard a bird singing and singing and singing.  Turning to face the window, I saw a beautiful cardinal perched on the ledge of my window, singing its heart out.  All of a sudden, the thought went through my entire being: You don't have to solve all the problems; you just have to get up each morning and sing!

At that moment, I realized that I had been thinking that I would go back to the same situation, where I once again would be unable to cope with sick children, sleepless nights, uncooked meals, and dirty diapers.  And yet.....God's answer was utterly simple.  He was not changing the situation; He was about to change my response to it!  I started laughing at my too-serious attitude to what I could not do each day.  I wanted to be, if not "perfect," at least "capable" and in control of the situation.  Little by little, I relinquished my need to be on top of what I could not control.   I learned to sing --- not in tune, I grant you -- but I gradually learned to not care about how badly I sang. 

From that day, I learned to watch for cardinals, who always remind me that I'm not in charge and that things are never as serious as I make them out to be.  Throughout all of Scripture, God's words and His commands are utterly simple:  Leave your father and mother and go to the land I will show you!  The Ten Commandments are actually in Hebrew just "Ten Words."  God's command to Peter was, What I have cleansed, do not thou call unclean! (Acts 10).

Jesus' words were so simple -- The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent! (John 6).  We want to make things complicated, but when God speaks to our situations, He makes things utterly simple.