God's Ways Are Not Our Ways

The last week of the life of Jesus clearly illustrates God’s declaration in Isaiah 55:8: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.” What were the ways of humans during those fateful days?

• Protecting one’s own power and status through deception and violence (members of the Sanhedrin)

• Betraying an innocent man for money (Judas)

• Abandoning a friend out of fear (Simon Peter)

• Making sport of one condemned to death (Roman soldiers)

• Shaming and taunting a dying man (the crowd that gathered to witness the crucifixion)

On the other hand, the following actions of Jesus show us the mind of Christ:

• Staying true to God’s call to love (continuing to teach and heal despite the danger to himself)

• Teaching the importance of serving others (washing the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper)

• Rejecting violence (healing the man whose ear had been severed with a sword)

• Forgiving those who perform evil deeds (praying that God will forgive those crucifying him)

• Turning his entire being over to God (“Father, in your hands I commend my spirit”)

The Triduum provides a yearly opportunity to meditate on how we can make Jesus’ ways our ways, trusting that, in spite of the suffering we may experience, the way of love and faithfulness will always lead to new life. May you have a fruitful and blessed Triduum and Easter season!

Wisdom Teachings of the Young

When we want to acquire wisdom, we usually look to people who have lived a good many years, reasoning that experience translates into wisdom. On the other hand, the book of Job teaches us that suffering leads to wisdom, and unfortunately suffering is experienced by people of all ages. The teenagers of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, suffered fear and grief after living through a mass shooting in which 17 of their classmates and teachers died. Therefore, it is reasonable to ask what wisdom we can learn from their response to their suffering. Here are a few of the lessons they have given us:

• Don’t be afraid to stand up to the people who provide and promote the tools of violence, even when they have much more money and political power than you do.  

• Trust that people will listen when you speak the truth of your suffering and support your efforts to prevent others from suffering too.

• Don’t believe that you have to be a certain age before you can change the world.

• Honor those who have died with your silence, your tears, your time, and your talent.

In Hebrews 5:8, St. Paul says of Jesus, “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.” Through their suffering, the youth of Parkland, Florida, have learned that they must be obedient in working for the manifestation of God’s kingdom of peace. As we meditate on the suffering Christ and the suffering people of our world on Good Friday, may we too muster the energy and the resolve to promote nonviolence and respect for each other through our words and actions.

Making a Choice and Living Deeply

Middle- and upper-class North Americans have many choices about how to live their lives. That would seem to be a great blessing—or is it? Sometimes too many choices can result in anxiety and paralysis. What if we make a choice and something more suitable or appealing comes along, resulting in a missed opportunity? Maybe it would be better to wait a while longer before making a decision….

One reason I waited so long to enter the monastery is that I honestly didn’t know which would lead me closer to God: community life or marriage. I’m not sure I’ll ever know the answer to that question, because trying both paths isn’t an option. However, I finally made an educated guess, because the single life wasn’t giving me the support or challenge I needed.

Although making a commitment reduces one’s options, ironically, it also opens us up to the life that dwells in all things. As Richard Rohr has commented, “Go deep in any one place and we will meet all places where the divine image is present.” That thought is very reassuring. At some point, discerning which way of life is best becomes a distraction from making a choice and living deeply there. Ultimately, encountering the divine image is more important than the method used to achieve the encounter, and making a wholehearted commitment is the pathway to inner peace.

Birthday Meditation

Abraham Joshua Heschel gave me good fodder for meditation on my birthday when he wrote, “Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living.” I once read an article about the intricacies involved in bringing a child into the world, from timing of ovulation and fertilization to hormone levels of the mother to the uncertainty of implantation of the egg in the uterus to chromosomal abnormalities that can lead to miscarriage. The cascade of events that must happen just so in order for a live birth to occur is truly miraculous. You and I are walking miracles, and birthdays are particularly good times to remember that and rejoice in the gift of life.

Although birthdays are rightly a time of celebration, they also provide cause to reflect on St. Benedict’s instruction in the prologue to his Rule: “Run while you have the light of life, that the darkness of death may not overtake you.” The average life span of women in the United States is now 78.6 years, and although I might well beat the average, the fact remains that I’m one year closer to the end of my life on earth. On my birthday, contemplating all the wonders I have yet to experience and all the wisdom I have yet to attain is a reminder not to get complacent about the life I have been given.

Ultimately, Dag Hammarskjold offers perhaps the best prayer to recite on one’s birthday: “For all that has been, thanks! For all that will be, yes!”

Pick Up Your Mat

The gospel reading from mass on Tuesday (Jn 5:1-16) tells us how Jesus healed a man who was paralyzed. Jesus said to the man, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” I find myself wondering why Jesus told him to take up his mat. If he could now walk, why did he still need the mat? Why not leave it behind for the use of some other stricken person who was languishing by the Bethesda pool with the hope of being healed?

Perhaps this instruction by Jesus was a sign that the act of healing still requires work on our part. We need to integrate life as it was before being healed with life after being healed. Sometimes we have visible scars from our healing, or weakened muscles, or an ability to trust that is still tender. Or perhaps the mat was to be an ever-present sign to remember how life used to be and thus give continual thanks to God. At any rate, by carrying the mat, the man was seen as working and thus breaking the Sabbath law. Apparently, healing—even that provided by Jesus—requires work. Although grace is a cause for rejoicing, it appears that this gift does not release us from the requirement to roll up our work sleeves! 

How to Bless God's Holy Name

Psalm 103 begins with these lines:

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all within me, the holy name of God.

Whoa! Wait a minute. All within me bless the holy name of God? Including the pettiness, the impatience, the unfulfilled desires, the jealousy, the discouragement, and the craving for affirmation? Wouldn’t those things tarnish the holy name of God rather than bless it?

Bringing our whole self to God is actually what God wants, because it is a sign of trust. Not trying to hide our flaws from God (as if that would be possible anyway) is a sign of belief that our weaknesses can be transformed through the patience and kindness of the One who loves us. If we wait until we are perfect to offer our lives to God, we will miss a lifetime of companionship and the wholeness that comes from knowing we are loved. It seems the psalmist has it right:

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and never forget all God’s benefits.

Feeling God's Presence in Our Bones

Some days I look forward to settling into morning and evening prayers in the choir chapel. On other days prayer just seem tedious, especially when my stomach is clamoring for breakfast or supper or my mind has already jumped to what’s ahead in the day or evening to come.

The following observation by Joan Chittister gave me new perspective on why we pray so often in the monastery: “When we have prayed prayers long enough, all the words drop away and we begin to live in the presence of God. Then prayer is finally real.”

When those words drop away, where do they go? I think they sink into our bones, becoming part of the very structure of our bodies, because it is through our bodies we are aware of the presence of God. Just as we consume calcium to physically strengthen our bones, prayer is a spiritual bone strengthener, allowing us to be more aware of God’s presence in our day-to-day lives. Therefore, it’s important not to miss our daily dose of prayer!

Keeping the Sabbath

Most of us are aware that the sign of God’s covenant with Noah is the rainbow, but I was surprised to learn in my class on the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) that the sign of God’s covenant with the Israelites at Mt. Sinai is keeping the Sabbath. Here is what God says in Exodus 31: 12-14, 17:

The Lord said to Moses: “You must also tell the Israelites: Keep my Sabbaths, 

for that is to be the sign between you and me throughout the generations,

 to show that it is I, the Lord, who makes you holy. Therefore, you must keep 

the Sabbath for it is holiness for you…. If anyone does work on that day, 

that person must be cut off from the people…. Between me and the Israelites

it is to be an everlasting sign; for in six days the Lord made the heavens 

and the earth, but on the seventh day he rested at his ease.”

Why is keeping the Sabbath so important? First, this practice reminds us that it is not through our own efforts that we have life and holiness; rather, God is the sustainer and sanctifier of life. God says that remembering this truth by keeping the Sabbath is holiness for us. Why? Because knowing that God is God and we are not is the beginning of humility, which leads to holiness. When we do not keep the Sabbath, we are thus cutting ourselves off from the source of holiness. We also cut ourselves off from other people by putting our work ahead of being with our family and friends.

Keeping the Sabbath is also important because doing so is a way of participating in God’s way of life. God worked for six days, and on the seventh day, God rested. Is our work more important than God’s, that we need to work seven days whereas God worked only six days?

Unlike in my youth, when stores were closed on Sundays and only a handful of people worked that day, our society no longer distinguishes Sunday from any other day of the week. In fact, society actively discourages us from keeping the Sabbath by equating the amount of work we do and the amount we consume with our worth. To keep the Sabbath today requires courage, discipline, and, as Sr. Bridget Haase notes, trust that God will complete the work begun in us. To maintain our part of the covenant, God asks us not to perform some task, but to rest—not to do but to be.  It’s a surprising request, and the fact that we find it so difficult to honor is food for Lenten reflection.

The Gravitational Force of God's Love

It should not be surprising to find ourselves pulled into the “gravitational force of God’s love,” as Esther de Waal puts it in her book A Life-Giving Way: A Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict. Science teaches us that gravity is a natural phenomenon by which all things with mass are brought toward each other. As Wikipedia notes, “Because energy and mass are equivalent, all forms of energy (including light) cause gravitation and are under the influence of it.” Because the love of God the Creator is the energy that animates all things—manifested in Christ, the light of the world—everything in the universe is pulled toward God, including each of us.

The effects of gravity become increasingly weaker on farther objects, and thus when we are angry or upset we can attempt to distance ourselves from God. However, because the energy of God’s love exists in everything, we can never escape its gravitational pull. Attempting to do so will lead to nothing but frustration and exhaustion.

When the world seems to be spinning out of control, it is comforting to think that it is a temporary phenomenon, because ultimately everything bends toward the energy of God’s love. Furthermore, as we allow ourselves to succumb to the natural forces of gravity that draw us closer to God, our own gravitational force will attract others to make this journey with us, increasing the mass and thus the power of those who live in love. Surrender, then, and rejoice!

The Waters of Discipleship

It makes sense that water is the symbol of our baptism, because water is always present to guide us throughout the challenges of discipleship. The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu illustrates the wisdom we can gain from contemplating water in his book the Tao te Ching:

• When we are confused and life seems muddled, Lao Tzu invites us to consider this question: “Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?”

• When we are trying to make a decision that will lead to the highest good, we can ponder this observation by Lao Tzu: “The highest good is like water. Water gives life to everything and does not force.”

• When we are feeling ineffective and impatient, we can take heart from these words by Lao Tzu: “Water flows humbly to the lowest level. Nothing is weaker than water, yet for overcoming what is hard and strong, nothing surpasses it.”

Water can be considered life blood for disciples of Jesus, yielding clarity and new life through humility and nonviolence. May we remember to be grateful for this precious resource and work to ensure that it is safeguarded for the good of all the earth.