God is All in All

We are in the final days of April, which is National Poetry Month. Here is a poem I wrote in honor of the Holy Spirit, the great poet of the universe.

All in All

The sky is my prayer, the birds are my prayer, 

the wind in the trees is my prayer, for God is all in all.

                                                         —Thomas Merton

When my imagination pales,
the evening sky never fails
to unfurl a panorama

 
When my heart dampens
I can trust the house wrens
to greet the dawn in my stead
 
When my feet grow leaden,
gingko leaves galliantly open
to engage the breeze in a dance
 
When my words are insufficient
to praise you, the omnicient
creator of all that I see,
 
May I always find prayer
as close as the very air
of your breath that is all in all.

Praying As Jesus Did

People often wonder what Jesus was doing during the first thirty years of his life, as the scriptures include no mention of his activities after his trip to Jerusalem with his parents around age twelve until he was baptized years later by his cousin, John.

I think that what Jesus was doing during those years was learning how to pray — that is, he was developing a relationship with God and grappling with how to become the person God was calling him to be.

We are privileged to see something of how Jesus’ prayer journey progressed in the description of his baptism, when the revelation of God’s intimate love for him broke into his consciousness; during his temptation in the desert, when he struggled to throw himself in total trust on his Father’s love rather than trust in his own power; and at the wedding feast of Cana, when (although he didn’t feel ready) he was moved by God’s love to enter into the work of building God’s kingdom of justice, love, and peace.

Jon Sobrino says, “We must be part of the building of the Kingdom if we are ever to come to know the Lord.” This truth is illustrated in the post-resurrection appearances of Christ, as David Farina Turnbloom notes in the April 2023 issue of Give Us This Day: “Mary Magdalen and the other Mary first encounter Christ after leaving the tomb, while on their way to bring the good news to the disciples. ‘Go to Galilee,’ the women tell them. Later, the disciples encounter Christ after they have traveled to Galilee. Christ is not found in the empty tomb; he is encountered when his disciples accept their mission and choose to go where they have been sent.”

During the Easter season, it is tempting to remain rapt in the wonder of the empty tomb, but Christ is calling us to go forth and help fulfill in his heart’s desire — to mend what is still broken in this world in whatever way that calls to us. As with Jesus, the relationship we develop with God through prayer will show us the way.

Coming Before God in the Holy Place

When King David wrote Psalm 63 in the desert of Judah, where he fled to escape an insurrection led by his son Absalom, he recalled his encounters with God under more favorable circumstances, those times when “I came before you in the holy place, to behold your strength and your glory.”

It occurs to me that when we come forward to venerate the cross on Good Friday, we are coming before God in the holy place — the place where the depth of Christ’s strength and glory is revealed through Jesus’ willingness to surrender his life so that others might know God’s love and forgiveness.

King David later says in Psalm 63, “Your faithful love is better than life.” Jesus affirmed this conviction through his death, and God’s faithful love was revealed three days later through Jesus’ resurrection.

On Good Friday, our souls too are invited to cling fast to God in times of trial and in the face of death. Because of Jesus’ willingness to suffer for the sake of love, we join him and King David in knowing that God is our strength and that in the shadow of God’s wings we will rejoice.

 

Holy Week Call to Service

Every day at the Mount, we listen to a short reading from the Rule of St. Benedict at Morning Prayer. Today, on Monday of Holy Week, we heard a selection from Chapter 35: Kitchen Servers of the Week. I thought to myself that this week, the title could very well be “Liturgical Servers of the Week.” Holy Week especially reminds us that prayer is called the “work of God,” with extra demands on liturgists, musicians, sacristans, lectors, artisans who prepare the church environment, and those with other liturgical roles.

Every year, Holy Week is challenging for introverts, who don’t like to be front and center as readers or musicians; for persons whose health is diminishing and realize they can no longer perform liturgical roles or need help in doing so; for liturgists and sacristans, who have a myriad of details to attend to; and for all those who are called to set aside their usual schedules to attend practices, offer hospitality to guests, and participate in emotionally demanding liturgies.

At this time, it is helpful to listen to the words of St. Benedict: “The members should serve one another … for such service increases reward and fosters love. Let those who are not strong have help so they may serve without distress…. Let all the rest [who are not engaged in important business] serve one another in love.”

Holy Week offers a unique opportunity each year to meditate on the self-emptying love of Jesus. I once worked with someone who avoided Palm Sunday and Good Friday services because she couldn’t bear to focus on the details of Jesus’ brutal death. Yet we need this annual reminder that God suffered in the person of Jesus so we can know the depth of God’s love for us and realize that God understands and participates in our own suffering. We also need the reminder that, like Jesus, we will participate in Christ’s resurrection. Such mysteries call us to serve one another in love by creating Triduum liturgies that will help us empty our own hearts as Jesus did so we may know the joy of resurrected life with him.