A small good deed

Every now and then I’m given an opportunity to do a purely unselfish good deed to help a needy person. It usually works this way: I observe a particular situation and see someone in need. A “suggestion” pops into my head to go and do something to help that person. For once, I act on the suggestion, which usually means that I end up reaching out and doing something that I usually would never do without God’s grace.

I have to confess, however, that I get far more “suggestions” to be charitable in that way than I tend to act on. Thomas Merton once said that by entering the monastery he knew he would get 100,000 opportunities to be charitable and that he’d probably follow through on a handful of them. Such is my case as well.

The last time I did a good deed, I walked away feeling joyful and grateful. I wasn’t tempted to take pride in what I had done; no, on the contrary, I ended up giving thanks to God who had given me the opportunity in the first place and the grace to act on it.

Has this ever happened to you?

Do not judge, part two

The command of the Lord, “Do not judge” is so simple that it is problematic. He doesn’t put any restrictions on the command, and our dualistic minds want to set a box around it to limit it and to divide the world between good and evil folk. Immediately the objections pop up: “Yes, but . . . “  “But how about . . . “  “But aren’t we supposed to speak out about . . . “

And yet, Jesus says, “Do not judge.” Clear and simple. And Pope Francis has recently made the command more personal when he asked, “But who am I to judge?”

Another warning comes from the Lord: “The measure with which you measure others shall be measured back to you.” I’d like to paraphrase his statement like this: “The strictness with which you judge your neighbor will be set as the same strictness that will be used against you when you are judged.”

Now of course there are evils in the world which we often feel an obligation to condemn or to speak out against. But there is a distinction that needs to be made about a systemic evil in the world and the blame or culpability of the individual who may play a part, either consciously or unconsciously in that evil. And here the Church is clear and uncompromising. 

Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 1735: “Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors.”

In other words, no matter what you may see in the world as being “evil,” DO NOT JUDGE any individual in the tribunal of your own mind. As Pope Francis has said, “the confessional must not be a torture chamber.”*  Make sure that is true in the confessional of your own mind.

I’ll close this with something I have often preached. It comes from St. John of the Cross: “Tend your own garden and mind your own business.” Or even Jesus, “Let he who is without sin among you cast the first stone.”

* The Joy of the Gospel, article 44.

Do not judge

Many who think themselves to be religious often forget one of the Lord’s most important commandments: do not judge.  On the contrary, no matter what path we take, as we grow closer to God in a genuine way, compassion increases and judgment ceases. We develop a profound respect for the mystery of another person. We become more aware that we are hardly ever aware of the burdens another person may be carrying or the struggles they are enduring. We become less exclusionary, and as I mentioned a few days ago, in peace we “give permission” to others to be who they are.

There is a difference between knowing a lot about Christianity and BEING a Christian. Those who merely know are prone to use their knowledge as a weapon. Those who merely know think their knowledge gives them the right—or even the responsibility—to sit in judgment over others. Consider the Pharisees in Jesus’ time and how vehemently he condemns them, not only for their own hypocrisy but also for the pain and harm they do in the lives of good and decent ordinary folk.

I once saw someone wearing a t-shirt that said, “Lord Jesus, save me from your followers.” Don’t become that sort of Christian.

 “Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for US SINNERS now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

Hidden treasures

Last night I was looking something up in the book of the prophet Isaiah, when my eyes fell upon a verse that I hadn’t been looking for. But there it was, a great promise made by God to someone he had called to do a great and wonderful thing. The promise is this:

“I will give you treasures out of the darkness,

and riches that have been hidden away,

that you may know that I am the Lord,

the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.” (Isaiah 45:3)

Consider this promise, you who have been called by God who is leading you on a spiritual journey or quest. Not only is it a promise, but it is also an announcement of what has already happened to you.

In your quest, have you not discovered “treasures out of the darkness” (=things that you couldn’t see or understand previously)? Have you not been given “riches that have been hidden away” (=gifts and blessings that you weren’t even aware of until you began to take your journey seriously)?

But don’t just go by my words. Search the promise yourself. What might be these treasures and riches? Just be careful not to think of them in a worldly way. Rather, understand them as coming from the Spirit who, we discovered, has been poured into our hearts.

God bless you this day. 

The Spirit's Suggestion

Yesterday we meditated on God’s wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit, which has been poured into our hearts. (Romans 5:5). Today I’d like to consider the process that takes place within us when we forget that we have access to the Spirit, or when we think or act in ways that are clearly not of the Holy Spirit.

We mention these things in the Confiteor: “I have gravely sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do.”

Let’s look at a simple example, something which most of us are prone to do quite regularly. My sin: One of my brother monks irks me, and whenever I see him, I find something to criticize about him. Stupid things, petty things, etc. Now actually isn’t HE who irks me, it is I who IRK myself by my unwillingness to think charitably about him.

Here is an instance where I am not accessing the Holy Spirit within me. But then, the Holy Spirit takes the initiative, and raises a gentle suggestion in my mind: “Let’s give him permission to be who he is. Let’s include all parts of him, and his actions, and his words, and his style, within this permission. Let’s accept the fact that he is a significant part of our life, as he is, and that he has the Holy Spirit within him as well. Let’s expand our world enough to include him. AS.HE.IS.”

And I am at peace. And he begins to look beautiful to me.

The Holy Spirit is within you

God has done so much more for us than we are able to grasp, or accept, or to savor. Consider this: “The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).

This is so great that it may be difficult for us to wrap our minds around it: We ALREADY have the Holy Spirit within us even if we’ve never been aware of it. But once we realize that we have been given this incredible gift—without doing anything to earn it—then, questions arise: How often do we access it? How often do we surrender to it? How often do we you seek its guidance in every detail of our lives? How have we managed to survive without continual daily recourse to something so much greater than we are in ourselves alone?

Sit with this for a while, today. Don’t try to think it to death. Simply breathe and allow yourself to be with it.  Begin to savor it. And then, when you are able, make up your own prayer to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will guide you as you do this.

More next time.

Your patron saint

Today is the feast of St. Bartholomew, also known as Nathanael, the who Jesus said, “is a true Israelite in whom there is no guile.” I can’t help thinking of my friend Nathanael, who has clearly inherited the graces given to his patron, because he is a true Christian, in whom there is no guile.

Sometimes we are given to share in the special graces given to our patron. Is that true for you?

At other times, we can look to our patron for inspiration and prayer. I know that when I was about to become a novice monk, my then Abbot Joseph asked me to consider taking the name “Bede” and I objected that I was so much unlike him. “Perhaps, he replied, but St. Bede has what you want.” And that has been proven true.

Sometimes we might pray to our patrons to ask God to give us the types of graces that characterized their time on earth. Could this possibly be true for you as well?

Steps 1, 2 and 3

All across the world, countless thousands of people have found freedom from alcoholism and from other addictions by working what are known as the “12-steps.”  We don’t need to be alcoholics, however, to benefit from thinking in terms of the first 3 of those steps. Not only can they be applied to any kind of addiction; they also can be applied to any weakness or habit or sinful way of thinking that often gets the better of us as we strive for growth and freedom in Christ. This isn’t the exact wording of the steps—I’ve paraphrased them for our purposes here.

The first step: I admit I am powerless over >>>>>>>>   and because of it, my life is unmanageable.  What gets the better of you time and time again despite all your efforts to be free of it?

The second step. I believe that God has the power to restore me to balance and good sense. (The actual word used here is “sanity.”

The third step is a profound act of surrender, in faith and humility: I turn my life over to Your care, Lord.   All of it, not just parts of it. In all  things, I resolve to look to God and ask to know his will for me---at every turn. In every situation, most especially in those situations I would prefer to keep hidden from him, even though I know that nothing is hidden from him. I open those places for his gaze and for his healing touch.

Try the other side

Do you remember the time when Peter and his companions had spent the whole night fishing and yet had caught nothing? And then Jesus told them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat, and they caught so many fish that they had trouble hauling in the nets.

What is this story trying to teach us? Perhaps that the solution to life’s challenges and life’s riddles was usually not where they were always looking but was on the other side of the boat. Have you found this to be true? You keep trying the same thing over and over again when suddenly you hear the voice of the man on the shore telling you to turn away from your usual solution and find the miracle in another direction? 

Don't bargain with God

The first reading at Mass today (Judges 11:29-39) really irked me. Jephthah was a fierce warrior and at one point he made a vow to God that if he were successful at battle, he would sacrifice (=kill) the first person who comes out of his house to greet him when he gets home. Killing, killing and then more killing. And why make such a foolhardy vow? Why just not put everything in God’s hands in the first place and then do your best? I don’t know about you but that’s the way I pray.

Anyway, Jephthah’s vow comes back to torment him. The first person out of the house is his beloved (and only) daughter who greets him with singing and dancing. So what does Jephthah do? HE BLAMES HER for the results of his own folly. “Alas, daughter, you have struck me down and brought calamity upon me.” Typical. Blame someone else for the disaster he brought up his own head. Some might also note that it’s usually the woman that gets blamed for everything.

Nonetheless, there are three lessons to be learned here:

1) Don’t bargain with God, especially when you pull other people into the bargain as well.”

2) Violence begets violence.

3) When you make a stupid or arrogant mistake, take responsibility for it yourself and stop looking for other to blame.

And do you know what? We never even learn the girl’s name. She is nothing more than a pawn in the story. She also comes out as the one decent and loving character in the whole miserable tale. Check it out.

Lord, to Whom Shall We Go?

I came across an insightful  new hymn the other day which I have found helpful for meditation.  The title of the hymn is “To Whom, Lord, Shall We Go”

Due to copyright restrictions, I can’t reprint the entire text here, but I can offer you a few excerpts that may inspire you:

• ·         Can hungering hearts be fed and satisfied, except by you, the living Bread?
• 
  
• ·         Though far from you we stray, will searching find a path more sure than you?

• ·         Can any voice be heard that speaks a promise more secure than yours?
• 
  
• ·         When darkest is the night where can we turn to see the dawn except to you the true Light?

If you want to see the complete hymn free of charge you can do so by going to www.onelicense.net . 

Seeing God in everything

The ancient mystics strove to “see,” “sense,” or “feel” the presence and blessing of God in everything that exists. I used three verbs because there really is no one adequate word to express fully what is meant by this overwhelmingly beautiful relationship between an individual soul and something that God has created.

Julian of Norwich had a vision recorded in her “Revelations of Divine Love.” She beheld in her hand a tiny hazelnut and as she contemplated it, she came to grasp how God had created it, how he loved it, and how he sustained it in being.

The same is true for us as well. God created each of us, God loves us all, and it is God who sustains us in being. That is also true of our neighbor. That is also true of any individual person whom we in our arrogance assume that God does not love, or that God will not sustain them in being. We have to be careful there.

Consider one tiny thing today in this light. Then consider everything in the universe the same way. And, most especially, consider someone who you might think has forfeited the love of God. Strive to “see,” “sense,” or “feel” God’s love even with those or in those situations which you consider to be ungodly.

It’s time to expand our vision. Then our thinking will be more in line with what was taught in the early years of the Church. (See The Roots of Christian Mysticism by Olivier Clement).

A humble monk

Fr. X died many years ago. Requiescat in pace. Gone quietly. Humbly. Peacefully. As he lived. Always polite. Always a pleasant greeting. And for the 17 yeas that I have known him, I have never once heard him speak an unkind word. I have never once heard him complain about anything. I have never once heard him have a laugh at someone else’s expense.

                These are qualities of character that are won through a lifetime of hard work, a lifetime of dealing with things always silently, always humbly, always looking to see the good buried in what can often be a most distressing package. Basically, these are the qualities earned through a lifetime of practicing Saint Benedict’s Fourth Step of Humility, that “under difficult, unfavorable, or even unjust conditions, the monk’s heart quietly embraces suffering and endures it without weakening or seeking escape.” St. Benedict also wisely notes elsewhere that “few of us have strength for this,” and consoles us with the admonition “never to lose hope in God’s mercy.”

Meditation continued

Many people like to repeat a short prayer, or even a simple word or phrase, when they meditate. The idea is not to think about the words, but simply to repeat them as a way of directing the mind to one stable thing in an attempt to override other potential distractions. It is also good to repeat your word, phrase or prayer in rhythm with your breathing. Again, when you realize that your mind has wandered, simply gently repeat your word again and put you attention back on your breath. Here are a few phrases which I have found helpful:

·         I need you, Lord

·         help me today

·         I am deeply afflicted

·         guide me, Lord

·         thank you, Lord

·         O God come to my assistance

·         make me yours

Introduction to Meditation

You are not your thoughts. You are the thinker of your thoughts. Once you realize this, you are free, because rather than letting you thoughts own you, you can choose to allow them to move through you without carrying you with them.

Think of it this way: there is a set of train tracks going through your mind. A train enters your mind carrying a thought. If you are mindful (free), you can observe the thought on the train as it passes through your mind. If you are not mindful, the thought can pull you on to the train and take you away with it.

Introduction to meditation: Just sit calmly and observe your breathing. If a thought arises, acknowledge it and let it pass on. If a though carries you away and you realize it, you can quickly and gently return your attention to your breath and let things calm down again.

Who are you?

Who are you?

Who are you when you take off the masks you wear?

Who are you when you stop being who you think you have to be?

Who are you when you stop being who others  expect you to be?

Who is that YOU who is hiding behind the tree in a childhood game?

Who are you when you take off your costumes and remove your signs of honor?

Who are you when God says to you, “You are precious in my eyes and I love you”? (Isaiah 43:4)

Grace breaks in

As we grit out teeth and grapple once again with our usual struggles, one day God’s grace breaks in. We begin to realize that there is a different way of thinking, one which leads to meaning, and life, and hope and to a deeper relationship with our God. A life of freedom and of a peace which we could not know when we were stuck in our mistakes and in Satan’s lie that nothing can get better. That is a lie: With God’s grace all is possible. With God’s grace things can get better. After all, Jesus did not hang on the cross for us to be stuck forever in a hell of our own making.

Disappointment

When it seems that God has disappointed us, when it seems that our prayers are not being answered, He is still there caring for us, and what we need to do is look more closely at what has happened—especially when the circumstance is not of our own choosing or goes against our own “wisdom.” Then more than ever we need to calm our spirits and silence the petulant child within who pouts and gets angry because she hasn’t gotten her way. No. What we need to do is to take a deep breath and calm the spirit, and then look inside at what has happened—carefully and prayerfully—because the hand of God is within the disappointment.

A poem about the creative journey

That place beyond your usual places,

beyond what you already know

beyond your self-determined limitations

that place of chances and risks and frighteningly unknown terrain:

that place has something to teach you

that you might never learn

if you do not go there.

Are you ready?

“Thus Abraham went forth, not knowing where he was going.”  (Letter to the Hebrews)

. . . but God knew.

                . . . but God knows.

Losing and finding, part two

When I give without strings, when I serve without seeking praise or recompense, when I let God use me and delight in watching his power at work, when I decrease and see Him increase, when my focus is on his goodness rather than on my own iniquity, when I listen to the other and not to my own mind’s infernal chatter, it is then that I am most alive, most energetic, most truly myself.

When I live out the words, “He who loses himself for my sake will find it (i.e., will discover who he is)--then I have learned that the most real way of living is to live in the truth of the challenge.

Do I really live all these things fully and without compromise? Of course I don’t—because I am a sinner weakened by the effects of Original Sin and, like the prodigal son, I frequently squander my inheritance and lose sight of my homeland. But I am a sinner redeemed by Christ, and He has redeemed me, and continually finds ways-very creative ways at times-to draw me back despite all the deceits and snares of the enemy.

Losing and finding

From today’s Gospel: “. . . whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25)

The more I reflected on these words, the more I realized that this, too, is a call to journey: to journey away from something to arrive at something waiting for us, something that God has planned for us, something that he calls us to, when and if we are ready to lose what we already have or know.

William Bridges expresses it nicely: “To become something else, you have to stop being what you are now; to start doing things a new way, you have to end the way you are doing them now; and to develop a new attitude or outlook, you have to let go of the old one you have now.” (from Transitions: making sense of the difficult changes in life, William Bridges, p. 80)

What is the Lord calling you to lose? To what is he inviting you? We most likely will not know the answer to the second question until we have the courage and the faith to negotiate the first.

The Human Journey, part three

I once took a Bible study course called “Blessed to be a blessing.” The origin of that phrase is found in the promises God made to Abram: “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” (Gen 12:2)

God will bless him, so that “he will be a blessing.” Here is the basic foundation of the human journey: We are continually blessed, sometimes in ways that we don’t even realize. Those blessings are not intended for us alone, but so that we may be a blessing for others. The blessings we have been given become responsibilities; we are not owners of the blessings, but rather, we are stewards.

You, my friends, have been “blessed to be a blessing.” Give thanks for your blessings, learn to cherish them, and continually pray for guidance to be able to use them for others. If you do that, your journey will be a source of great joys which aren’t available to those who are imprisoned by their own selfishness. 

The Human Journey, part two

So God called Abraham to move into the unknown. And Abraham, because of his great faith, stepped out, “not knowing where he was to go.” (Heb 11:8).

As for us, well, we like to know. We like to see the whole journey marked out for us before we take a step. And yet this insistence on knowing is not necessarily appropriate for a life lived in faith.

God usually doesn’t let us see the whole picture. I like the verse from Psalm 119 which says, “Your word is a lamp for my steps and a light for my feet.” (Ps 119:105)  Take it literally: imagine you are walking through a forest at night, guided by nothing but a small light. The light doesn’t allow you to see the whole picture; it simply points out, step by step, where you are to walk.

That is how God reveals his will to us in our own personal journeys. And if you get discouraged, or tired, or fearful, perhaps a little prayer to St. Abraham, asking for a bit more of his great faith, may be helpful.

The Human Journey, part one

There are times in all of our lives when we are called to make a journey from what-we-know to the unknown. These journeys always cause us to leave something behind and move into a future that we don’t know much about yet.

This journey is such a common part of human experience that it is mentioned near the very beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 12: “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘God from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’” There is more to this promise which we’ll take up tomorrow, but for the time being I call your attention to the following:

1. God is at the root of the journey, even if we don’t realize it while it is happening.

2. God promises to be with us every step of the way.

3. We don’t know where we are heading, but God does. In fact, God has already prepared what awaits us if we have the courage, the trust and the faith to answer the call.

4. Sometimes it feels like the journey has been forced upon us, that we are called to journey against our will. When this is the case, go back and review # 1, 2 and 3.

More about this tomorrow.

3 brief thoughts

1. Freedom of choice: We can make choices about how to deal with a particular incident not based on patterns of the past, but rather, based on possibilities of the present.

2. He will not give up on you: look at how much it cost him to ransom you.

3. Don’t ask God to fix Aunt Betty. As Him to bless Aunt Betty in the way He knows best. Then you get out of the way. Better yet, ask him to fix you.

A cup of coffee

One day an elderly street person was pushing his shopping cart past the open door of a Starbuck’s.  At the same time a young man came out of the Starbucks and saw him. He called out to him: “Brother! I’ve got an extra coffee here. Would you like it?” And he gave the man his cup of coffee and then happily walked off.

                Starbucks, even. We’ve come a long way from giving a quarter to a man on the street for a cup of coffee. A coffee from Starbucks costs more than a value meal at a fast-food restaurant.

                What an inspiring thing to witness. He called the man “Brother,” and suddenly I pictured all the poor helpless people of the world, not only homeless, but also mentally or emotionally deficient, people who cannot manage to care for themselves, all of them like the groups of school children I had seen earlier being marched (“Stay in line, now, boys and girls!”) around the Boston Common, and we are the counselors who are responsible for looking out for them.