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?