Be the Mirror

Elections often seem to make it even more difficult to love our neighbor. We ask ourselves, “How am I supposed to love someone who would vote for that idiot?” Elections reveal our deep divisions and feed our tendency to judge others. Yet, as Thomas Merton says, “Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy. “

We can love people when we don’t agree with their actions, views, and values. The key is to do what Fr. Ed Hays suggests in his book The Gospel of Gabriel: “Simply be the mirror in which others can see themselves as God sees them.” When we reflect God’s love for others back at them, they are more likely to feel secure, nurtured, and generous rather than fearful, egocentric, and avaricious. Jesus had a heightened awareness of God’s love for him, which allowed him to extend compassion to others; as it was for him, so it is for us. Helping people see God’s love for them is more likely to foster their better nature than judgment, condescension, and criticism.

Like so many of you, I long for justice and unity and the unleashing of our human potential in a world that seems to continually frustrate those aims. However, we are not helpless in this imperfect, maddening world in which we live. Fr. Daniel Berrigan said, “If you want to have hope, do hopeful things.” To be a mirror of God’s love is one of the most hopeful things we can do.

We Will All Be Changed

On the Feast of All Souls, I find it helpful to meditate on this verse from the Book of Wisdom: “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.”

It is natural to view this proclamation with skepticism. If God did not make death, why do we die?

We have difficulty resolving this dilemma because we do not see as God sees. What we view as death, God views as a passageway to a new form of life. As the Book of Wisdom goes on to say, “He fashioned all things that they might have being.” Note that the form of that being is not specified. It is likely that our being will not always be in human form; as it says in 1 John 3:2, “what we will be has not yet been revealed.” We, of course, prefer to maintain our current state of being because it is what we know, but that signals a lack of trust in God’s imagination and care for us.

St. Paul had some sense of this transition when he said, “Behold I tell you a mystery. …we will all be changed, in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet.” What happens to us when we die is a mystery, but we haven’t arrived at the doorway of death yet. Today, we have time to enjoy our current life as a human being on earth, with its delights, challenges, and memories of those who have gone before us. Ultimately the glory of God is that, whatever our state of being, we are fully alive.

Steadying Our Spirits

In one of the psalms we chanted at morning prayer today, we made this request of God: “steady my spirit.” Although we are living in turbulent times as we experience a contentious election, a pandemic, economic instability, and the effects of climate change, I believe God does help us steady our spirits in a variety of ways. Here are a few examples:

• Music can soothe us, center us, remind us of our creative potential, and show us that diverse people can gather together in peace. A beautiful Jewish chant that can help us remember that we are held in God’s love is available at this link: https://youtu.be/__l1fOEmofM

• The actions of other people that affirm human decency and compassion steady our spirits and remind us of the goodness that exists in the world. An example is Scott Warren, a member of the group “No More Deaths,” who was seen giving food and water to two undocumented migrants in an Arizona desert. Mr. Warren was arrested and charged with three felonies; he was later acquitted of all charges.

• Spending time outdoors is grounding because it reminds us that, like the earth, we go through cycles that always bring us back to new life. Each season has wisdom and beauty, as observed by the poet Wu-Men:

Ten thousand flowers in spring,

the moon in autumn,

a cool breeze in summer,

snow in winter.

If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things,

this is the best season of your life.

Perhaps the best way to steady our spirits is to not let our mind be clouded by unnecessary things. This election, this pandemic, this time of economic instability, even this this threat of climate change will eventually pass. When we occupy our minds with necessary things—how to be loving and creative and in tune with the earth—our spirits will be steady and we will generate peace for ourselves and others.

For The Use Of

Jonas Salk, medical researcher and developer of polio vaccine, was once asked by journalist Ed Murrow, “Who owns the patent on this vaccine?” Salk replied, “Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?”

Salk was one of those rare people who already live in the kingdom of heaven while they are on earth, because he understood that nothing “belonged” to him, even the fruit of his labor. People who are advanced in spiritual understanding know that everything—sun, water, air, earth, our very lives and what we achieve—is a gift that is not designed to be owned but to be shared for the benefit of all.

People who live in the kingdom of heaven do not worry that they themselves will be in want or won’t have enough of what they need when they share what they have, because they trust in God’s abundance. People who hoard and protect what they see as “theirs” believe that resources are scarce and they have to ensure they have “enough,” although somehow there never seems to be enough to satisfy their desire for security and distinction. In both the abundance and the scarcity mindset, as you give, so shall you receive. 

I’ve been told that members of Mount St. Sholastica once were told not to write their name in books but to write “For the use of” and then their name. It’s a critical distinction, a reminder that this book is not mine but for my use at present, after which I will pass it on. Jonas Salk essentially stamped the vaccine he developed “for the use of” humanity. His generosity was returned a hundred-fold as all the children whose lives he saved gifted the world with their own productivity and contributions to life on earth and in the kingdom of heaven.

Servant Leadership and Humility

I sometimes watch the cooking show Chopped, in which four chefs prepare appetizers, entrees, and desserts in a competition for a cash prize. Some of the chefs have outsized egos, and I had to laugh when, after listening to a competitor talk about what a great cook he was, one of the other contestants said in response, “I like humble people.”

Being humble does not preclude being confident. In fact, humble people often are confident, but you wouldn’t know it because they aren’t braggarts and they don’t look down on others.

Image by Lawrence Lew, OP

Jesus was a great promoter of humility. For example, he advocated taking the lowest place at social functions, which would put one in the company of persons with the least power, wealth, and prestige. An outcome of this approach that I had never before considered was described by Barbara Reid, OP: “If such a person is then invited by the host to a higher position, he or she would be able to represent the perspectives of those at the other end of the table in the discussions and decisions that take place at the head.”

Humility is an asset, then, in being an advocate for others. That is a good thing to remember when we choose the candidates we will vote for in local, state, and federal elections. A humble candidate is well grounded and wants to be a servant leader of all people, not just those with wealth and status. When it comes to elected officials, I like humble people. Fortunately, I can usually find some to vote for.

Anchored in Love

Many people, myself included, are feeling anxious and unanchored these days as we are dealing with chaos on many fronts, particularly the spread of the COVID-19 virus with its attendant disruption in work, schooling, worship, and family/cultural rituals; the U.S. election; and massive wildfires and hurricanes.

From ancient times, people of faith have looked to God to be their anchor, as seen in the scriptures, which are full of imagery of God as rock, refuge and shield. For example, Psalm 18 says, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

At the same time, it appears that we have a God who, as theologian and scientist Teilhard de Chardin says, is at home with incompleteness, chaos, and complexity. God created humans with infinite capabilities for change and creativity, so during our human life span, we can never be said to be “complete.” We on earth often experience the chaos of storms, earthquakes, and war. Every being experiences complexity through  the makeup of our bodies and through our relationships. How can a God who is at home with incompleteness, chaos, and complexity be our anchor?

To be an anchor, refuge, or shield does not require wholeness, stability, and simplicity. Rather, it requires presence, patience, and dedication—in shorthand, “love.” It is because we know God is present to us, devoted to us, and patient with us that we can turn to God when we are feeling overwhelmed. “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Cor 13:7-8). God did all this for us through Jesus and continues to be our rock, our refuge, and our stronghold through the challenges and struggles of our days.

It is natural to be anxious and weary in times of great change and uncertainty. However, if God is comfortable with incompleteness, chaos, and complexity, we should have faith that all will be well when we ourselves face these aspects of life. We are safe in the hands of the One who loved us into being and will forever sustain us in love.

 

 

The Gift of Time

Is time something that belongs to us? We certainly seem to believe so. How often do we say things like “I gave her a hour of my time” or “Sunday afternoons are my time”?

We forget that time is not something we own—rather, it is part and parcel with the gift of life. St. Peter said, “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4: 10). The primary way we use the gift of time to serve one another is to “be hospitable to one another without complaining” (1 Peter 4: 9). When we give up “our” time to be hospitable—to graciously listen and be present to others—God’s varied grace has space to unfold. Who knows? We may even entertain angels unawares! (Hebrews 13:12).

Attending to our own needs for rest, prayer, exercise, and re-creation is also a way of being good stewards of God’s gift of time, because we are no good to anyone else when we are exhausted. Jesus himself modeled a balance of responding to the needs of others and slipping away for prayer and rest. Remembering that time is a gift and not our possession can help us make wise choices about our use of it.

A curious aspect of the gift of time is that we don’t know how much of it we have been given. Not knowing when “our time” will run out makes it all the more precious. As Eckhart Tolle says, “The Now is the most precious thing there is.”

All gifts of God are holy. May you wholly enjoy every moment that God gives you today!