Our Piece of Christ

The Mount community welcomed a new postulant, Emily Bauer, in a prayer ritual at supper on August 18. As Prioress Esther Fangman introduced our newest community member, she noted that we are grateful Emily has joined us because she brings with her a little piece of Christ that we didn’t have before.

It is an intriguing concept to think of each person we encounter as having a piece of Christ we didn’t have before. Viewing everyone in this way would lead us to treat others with respect—reverence, even—and the joy of finding a missing piece of the puzzle that is the Body of Christ.

In my nightly examen, I have stopped asking “How was I aware of Christ today?” and now note particular aspects of Christ that I encounter—for example, “I was aware of Christ’s abundance today in the bushels of peaches Sharon Mathis gave us” or “I was aware of Christ’s generosity today in the way Sister Janelle shared some of her organ music with a Sophia Center retreatant.” Every day provides opportunities to learn more about God, with all of us holding a piece of God’s eternal presence.

Being Where God Is

At my pre-profession retreat, I was intrigued by the following piece of advice by Cardinal Basil Hume, OSB, from his book The Intentional Life: “Do not forget that wherever you are, with whomsoever you are, whatever you are doing, you can, in the present moment, attain union with God.” That sounds good—but just how do we go about attaining that union?

I believe the key is to train ourselves to look at things as Christ does. For example, upon being in Atchison, Kansas, Christ would say, “How good it is to be here, where God dwells!” instead of “Well, I’m much more likely to find God at the Cathedral, where they have a bigger organ and more relics.” Upon encountering a street person, Christ would say, “How good we can celebrate God’s love by sharing a meal together!” instead of “You know, I’m much more likely to encounter God by sharing a bottle of fine wine over dinner with a famous theologian.” Upon being invited to help peel a bushel of peaches. Christ would say, “Wasn’t it just peachy of God to create such a fragrant and delicious fruit?” instead of “I’m sure I’d learn much more about God by spending my time reading the latest edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.”

As Fr. Richard Rohr has noted, “…the proper or spiritual way of understanding things is outside the realm of comparison or judgment.” Thus, the key to attaining union with God is to recognize that God is present everywhere, at every moment, instead of making a judgment that some places, peoples, and actions are more worthy of or likely to contain God’s Spirit.

If we define heaven as the place where God is, then it appears heaven is within our grasp whenever we stop limiting God through our comparisons and judgments and instead focus on being aware of and present to the God who is already with us wherever we are, whoever we are with, and whatever we are doing.

The Unforeseen Effects of Good Zeal

Yesterday at a Serra Club appreciation dinner for sisters in Northeast Kansas, Archbishop Naumann commented that in the morning he had presided at mass in a parish in Axtell that had an extraordinary choir. When he asked how the choir came to be, he was told it began with Sr. Rita Claire Judge, who taught 3rd and 4th in the school several decades ago and transmitted her love of music to the children and the parish. The community came to value the beauty of the music and the prayerfulness it lent to their worship, so they passed on their commitment to the choir from generation to generation.

This story illustrates that when we are faithful to our work and share our enthusiasm—or, as St. Benedict would say, our zeal—with others, it will bear fruit. Love is contagious. Although we cannot foresee the form or direction it will take, we can trust that it will strengthen the body of Christ and speak of God’s goodness.

Aesop said, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Similarly, sharing our enthusiasm for the beauty of the life we have been given will plant seeds that will generate yet more life for the world.

A Witness to God's Goodness and Mercy

This week I learned that Dennis, an inmate at Lansing Correctional Facility who had been part of the Catholic Scripture study/faith sharing group, died of cancer. After receiving his cancer diagnosis about two years ago, at Dennis’ request, one of our volunteers helped him prepare to receive the sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, First Communion, and Confirmation. When they discussed why Dennis wanted to do this, his reply was simple; he said, “I want to do something right in my life, and this is it.”

What can we do in life that is more right than receiving the sacraments? Each sacrament is an affirmation of our relationship with the God who created us, forgives us, feeds us, and calls us to serve others. I find it deeply touching that Dennis recognized the grace God offered him and was able to accept it despite the mess he had made of his life in the past.

The last job Dennis held in the prison was in the bake house. He found new purpose in feeding others as a baker, just as he had been fed by Christ and by the support of the volunteers and inmates in the Catholic Callout group. When we do right by developing a relationship with God, suddenly many other aspects of life start going right as well.

Before he died, Dennis ended up blessing the lives of others through his witness to God’s goodness and mercy. He embodied the words of Psalm 136: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.”

Living In "And" Times

Making the sign of the cross is a standard element of Catholic prayer, but after 50+ years of participating in this ritual, it only recently occurred to me that the key word we say is not Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, but “and”! Every time we make the sign of the cross, we acknowledge that God dwells within a relationship of the Father AND the Son AND the Holy Spirit, AND we are invited to become one with them! If the essence of God is to be in relationship, then we are called to do the same, not just with God, but with all the people we encounter each day. After all, if God is connected to them and we are connected to God, then we are all connected to each other.

Being in relationship with others does not happen accidentally but requires intention. We need to choose to be open to those who cross our path each day. Rituals can help us be intentional about being in relationship, whether it is simply making the sign of the cross or participating in the sacraments.

Last night I had the privilege of participating in a ritual with the sisters of St. Mechtild Hall, who welcomed me and Sister Barbara Conroy to their living group. We came together to share a meal, bless our new rooms, and create a flower arrangement to represent our new life together. As part of our ritual, we prayed, “O God, may you who exist in a perpetual, loving relationship with the Son and Spirit guide us in our lives together. May we treat each other with respect, kindness, and patience and truly live as people of peace. May the spirit of pardon and forgiveness reside with us, and may mirth and laughter, playfulness and prayer, compassion and love be permanent guests in our home.”

Appropriately, we ended our ritual in the name of the Father AND the Son AND the Holy Spirit, who are always inviting us to a deeper relationship with them and all those in the body of Christ.

Making a Bigger Table

The following poem was inspired by the Jesuit priest and scientist Teilhard de Chardin, who sometimes did not have what he needed to offer mass while working in a remote area of China. Instead, he envisioned the entire universe as an altar, because the whole universe is in process of becoming unified in Christ, and he offered a spiritual Mass on the World. The poem was also influenced by Fr. Richard Rohr, who noted regarding Jesus’ dining habits that he was “always breaking the rules and making a bigger table.”

Alteration

I have prayed at altars

made out of a manger,

fine white marble,

a lunchroom folding table,

a box covered by a scarf,

and a long, flat limestone rock

pocked with insect fossils,

though I suspect that if God

were to send the angel

Gabriel to us in a dream

with design specifications

for the ideal altar, each

side of the structure

would feature grooves

to permit the addition

of an infinite number

of leaves so everyone

could have a place

at the table.

The Practically Perfect State of Change

Unlike Mary Poppins, most of us are not capable of being “practically perfect in every way”—or are we?

I recently gained a new insight into perfection from Karen Casey and Martha Vanceburg, who wrote, “…perfection…is not a frozen, changeless state, but…a part of our perpetual becoming.” This understanding makes perfect sense, because one thing we definitively know about God is that God embodies change, for God is always creating something new. Perhaps, then, our definition of perfection has been wrong all along: What if, Instead of being something static that can’t be improved upon, perfection is actually a state of willingness to embrace the constant change that is part of life and death? If that is the case, then “Being perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” means accepting and even reveling in the changes that come with loving, forgiving, creating, and dying to self.

Facing change sometimes seems daunting, but our bodies know very well how to do it—every second an untold number of our cells are dying and new ones are being generated. Although we aren’t aware of it, within a period of seven years or so, every cell in our body has been replaced. To be human, and to fulfill God’s purpose, is to change. And no matter what that change looks like, accepting it leads us to a state of perfection—you might even say, “being practically perfect in every way.”