Friday, March 24,
2017
I like to read texts from other
religious traditions. What I find very often is that these texts speak of
spiritual truths that are common to all the world’s religions. There is a name
for this; these bits of wisdom are known as Perennial Wisdom. A second
thing that happens when I read these texts is that they are related to the
wisdom of our own spiritual tradition and often shed new light for me upon
Biblical texts, especially the Gospels, which I sometimes take for granted because
they are so familiar to me.
Today I offer you a Sufi text by
the 13rd century Sufi Master known as Ibn ‘Arabi, often called “the great.”
This text is particularly appropriate for us as we make our way through our
Lenten journeys.
“This world is a place of
preparation where one is given many lessons and passes many texts. Choose less
over more in it. Be satisfied with what you have, even if it is less than what
others have. (Note: Saint Benedict
teaches the same thing in his Rule.) In fact, prefer to have less.
“This world is not bad—on the
contrary, it is the field of the hereafter. What you plant here, you will reap
there. This world is the way to eternal bliss and so is good—worthy to be
cherished and to be praised.
“What is bad is what you do with
the world when you become blind to truth and totally consumed by your desires,
lusts, and ambition for it. Our master the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon
him), in whom wisdom was as clear as crystal, as asked, ‘What is worldliness?’
He answered, ‘Everything that makes you heedless and causes you to forget your
Lord.’ Therefore the goods of this world are not harmful in themselves, but
only when you let them render you forgetful, disobedient and unaware of the
Lord.”
And from today’s Gospel: you shall love the Lord your God will all your
heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark
12:29)
God bless you! Have a nice
weekend. See you on Monday.
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