Be willing to change your mind

The story of the healing of Naaman the Syrian is one of my favorites. You can read it in 2 Kings 5:1-15 or perhaps you heard it at Mass today.

There are several pivotal points in the story where one of the characters has to overcome doubts and lack of faith and take a course of action that (s)he never would have taken on his/her own.

I’ll give a quick synopsis, but it would be most helpful if you read the story along with my commentary.

·         The slave girl had to overcome her fear and speak up about a possible cure in Samaria

·         Naaman had to agree to go, and the King of Aram had to give him permission to go.

·         The King of Israel had to overcome his dismay and listen to the prophet Elijah rather than giving in to despair or believe his own suspicion that the entire situation was set up as a provocation for war.

·         Then the King of Israel had to agree to send the leper to Elijah.

·         The Naaman went to Elijah but had to overcome his anger and dismay about (1) that the prophet didn’t even come out of his house to greet him and (b) that the prophet told him to do something that didn’t make any sense at all (to wash seven times in the Jordan).

·         Finally, Naaman had to listen to his servants and go and do what the prophet had told him to do.

God often works through unexpected and contradictory means to an end. He challenges our fear, our doubts and our lack of faith. There often seems to be something we have to overcome in order to walk the path He has indicated for us, and in some cases this means that we have  to swallow our pride and do so.

SO: Watch out for situations like that. Silence your mind’s objections. Open up a bit and be willing to make a change. And sometimes the things that don’t seem to make any sense to us make a great deal of sense if we can consider them in the light of our developing faith. Finally, listen to the people who love you. Sometimes their advice and encouragement are pointing you in the right direction.

God bless you. 

Healing the past

Spiritual growth can sometimes be the cause of great but worthwhile pain. The other day a friend was telling me how he remembered something he had done years ago before his spiritual awakening, and how he had never realized until now just how terrible a thing it had been and how it has caused pain for others. His new realization really hurt.

I recalled similar experiences I have had where the insight of the present opened my eyes to see with horror just how serious the sins of the past had been, but how at the time I was oblivious to the wrong I was doing.

Again, a painful experience—but at the same time a healing experience, because it gives new depth of meaning to the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. The pain of the realization is actually a gift of grace from the Lord. Healing is often painful.

What more could I say about this to my friend, I wondered. Well, at Lauds this morning I received an answer as we prayed a passage from Isaiah 38. I’m not sure where this particular translation came from, but it is the one we have in our office books and it was just what I needed and so another gift of grace from the Lord. Here’s the passage:

For you, Lord, my heart will live,

You gave me back my spirit;

You cured me, kept me alive,

Changed my sickness into health.

And you have held back my life

From the pit of doom.

You have cast far from your sight

Every one of my sins. (Isaiah 38: 16-17)

There is a final verse of the passage which has particular meaning for monks:

O Lord, come to our rescue

And we shall sing psalms

All the days of our life

In the house of the Lord.

I thank God that he has set me in a place where this verse is a daily reality.

God bless you.

Repairing what is broken

The final verse of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel finishes our series of meditations.

O come, Desire of nations, bind

In one the hearts of humankind;

O bid our sad divisions cease,

And be for us our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to you

O [Israel]

This verse was on my mind last night during Vespers, particularly when we prayed the last petition for the evening: Conqueror of the barriers of hatred and discord, reunite at the banquet of eternal life all who have died as victims of war. ---and I added, and terrorism.

The petition shed light on something I had not considered: at the end of time, ALL who have died will be reunited at the banquet table. Enemy combatants will one day reach out hands to one another; there will be unity at last.

Consider that, if you will: we, too, will be united with those we may have seen as enemies on this side of the grave. We will be united with those we disagree with, with those we have found it difficult to like, with those we may have hurt as well as those who may have hurt us.  Somehow, the Prince of Peace will dissolve those barriers. The petition calls him ”Conqueror of the barriers of hatred and discord.”

Perhaps we may need him to send that powerful grace to us here and now, for we cannot wait until the time we may pass over from death to eternal life.

Are there divisions in your life? Discord? Contentiousness? Emnity? Bitterness over what has happened in the past? Aversions to some? Ask him to send the grace to dissolve these barriers for us, even if it may take a lifetime for the process to be completed. Try this exercise: focus your attention on one single person; pray for that person; picture the Prince of Peace dissolving what has been broken and uniting heart to heart in a sublime moment of healing.

Remember this: Emmanuel shall come to you, bringing all the things you have prayed for as we have made our way through this wonderful hymn.

Blessed Advent to you.

The next Reflection will be on Sunday, December 13.