The Holy Spirit working out solutions to problems

Friday-Saturday, September 2-3, 2016

Events that have transpired around me here at the Abbey and College have reminded me of the wondrous weaving of the tapestry of life that is part of the Lord’s care for us in our lives. An example follows. Rather than giving you a factual account of something that has happened, I will attempt to sketch it out in very general terms that perhaps may be applied (in part) to your own life. And so here is the outline of something very wonderful that has recently happened around here. I would like to call this a “providential pattern.”

·         A need develops that begs for resolution.

·         God prepares a person to meet that need over the course of his/her lifetime without the person ever realizing what was about to take place.

·         At the very last minute which becomes the perfect moment, He arranges for the person and the need to intersect.

·         In the story of the person’s life, this intersection takes place at the perfect time. Even just a few months ago, the person could not have imagined that such an intersection would be feasible, possible, or even desirable. But suddenly, over the course of just a few days, the Holy Spirit inspires the person to consider the appropriateness and desirablilty of an opportunity to open a new chapter in his/her life.

·         Once the meeting of person and need has taken place, many other details crop up that help to support, encourage and facilitate the work that has to be done to meet the original need.

As I am writing this outline, it becomes apparent to me that this work of the Holy Spirit in one little corner of the world here in 2016 has happened again and again in my life and in the life of other people who have shared their stories with me over the years. But, most of all, it becomes apparent to me that this “sketch” of incidents is reflected in the life of Our Blessed Mother as described in the Angelus:

The Angel of God appeared unto Mary

and she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord,

be it done unto me according to your will.

And the Word became flesh

and dwelt among us.

This Sunday, we celebrate the canonization of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, our beloved Mother Teresa. Perhaps we might discern that the same providential pattern was played out in her life as well.

Think on these things, will you?

God bless you!

Leave it all behind, even if only for a minute

Thursday of the 22^nd Week in Ordinary Time

from the Gospel: Luke 5:1-11

                Verse 11: They left everything and followed Him.

We can’t do that, can we? Just up and leave everything: fishing nets, homes, family, friends, career, hobbies, interests, concerns, fears, hopes, preoccupations, obsessions, weaknesses of body, soul and spirit, habits, thoughts, emotions, medical conditions, mistakes, regrets, resentments, grudges, finances, knick knacks, furnishings, computers, cell phones, accomplishments and sources of pride, psychological conditions and impediments, toiletries, personal libraries . . . . .

But there are some things on that list that we could leave behind for a time, perhaps, especially if we work to empty ourselves out during a time of contemplative prayer.

I like to think of contemplative prayer or anything else it may be called: meditation, centering prayer, prayer of silence, prayer of presence, mindfulness and the like, I like to think of these things as a time of escape, a time of deliverance, a time of freedom, where we place ourselves in the presence of the Lord and hear His silent call deep within our hearts and souls: follow me.

During such times, we don’t need to think about what that might mean, to follow Him, because that is precisely what we seek to silence as we simply follow our breathing and perhaps recite a mantra or the Jesus Prayer, or a simple prayer word, or we gaze upon the light of a single candle and lose our attention there.

I once heard it described this way: you are swimming in the ocean and the waves grow intense and come crashing in on you from all directions, and you are in danger of being torn apart by the power of what assails you, so you dive deep down into the ocean, down beneath the waves where the waters are silent and peaceful, and then you swim out the other side of the turbulence and you are safe at last.

Can you close your eyes and do that, even if for only a minute, even if for only half a minute? During that time, God speaks to your soul in words that you cannot hear; the Spirit within you cries out to the Father and calls Him “Daddy” (Abba), and you don’t need to hear, all you need to do is taste the silence and the time of freedom.

Very often when we leave “all” behind and rest in the Lord, we find that we emerge with solutions and answers to the things that we need to tend to in our busy lives; often we find the words to speak that we couldn’t have spoken before; often we find ourselves looking at the world around us in a different way; often we find ourselves loving without any required conditions placed on the recipients of our love.

Can you do it now for just a few seconds (or longer if you are able)? When you emerge from it, my friends, your life has a richness that all the things you have chased after could never give you.

God bless you.

A gift freely given, not earned

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Tuesday of the 22^nd Week in Ordinary Time

From the first reading:

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given by God.

This is a difficult passage to unpack, and in order to grasp even a bit of it, I have had to ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in my reflection today. So, in a sense, I am “thinking aloud” as I write to you this day. As always, I advise you to take to heart anything which you find meaningful, and just leave the rest behind.

There is one reality which is so wonderful and so exalted that we have trouble fully accepting it, and it is this: That we have already been given God’s Spirit. It is within us, and it is by means of this Spirit that we are able to contemplate matters which worldly people cannot understand and probably regard as inexplicable nonsense.

This does not make us any better than those who have not yet been given the gift of faith; to put it in worldly terms we are just more fortunate, we are lucky. We have done nothing to earn this tremendous gift of God; we are not worthier than others, because worthiness has nothing to do with it. It is, and we have trouble grasping this, it is a free gift, and we often have trouble comprehending just what that means. We do not lose the gift because of our sinfulness or laziness or lack of focus, or anything of that sort. It is always there, and all it takes is our attention to be in touch with it.

That is why it is so very important for us to discipline our minds through  meditation, so that we might clear out all of the noise and all of the distractions so that we can gain better access to that gift which is within us. I mentioned above that I had to ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in my reflection, but the truth of the matter is that the Holy Spirit always guides me, even when I forget to pray or when I am unconscious and distracted.

What does this Spirit tell us? Well, you have to answer that question for yourself. The Spirit knows all things, even the mind of God, because the Spirit is God. So when have you found yourself inspired with thoughts or actions which are beyond your usual capabilities or your power of thought? When have you suddenly grasped just how much God loves you in a way you haven’t grasped before? When have you been walking along and were suddenly grasped by the incredible beauty of what you see before you? When have you suddenly drawn upon a greater measure of peace, or love, or joy than you usually experience in your humdrum day-to-day existence? When have you had the impulse to put everything down and just be without having to earn or prove or do anything at all, even in the midst of a noisy environment? When have you suddenly connected with another person on a level far deeper than what you find in your regular acquaintances? When have you had the sense that your life is more filled with meaning than you ever give it credit for?

These, I believe, are all signs that the Spirit is working within us. These are signs that God’s love for us is so much greater than we think we deserve.

Think on these things, and may the Spirit of God that is within you speak to your heart, mind and soul this day. God bless you!

Though everything seems to be falling apart . . .

Monday, August 29, 2016

Psalm study today: Psalm 46

This psalm gives confidence to those who need it:

God is for us a refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in time of distress:

The first line of the psalm is a summary of a great part of the psalter. The word refuge appears about 40 times in the psalms; the word strength 57. This is a message which is continually driven home, particularly to those who are going through those trying phases of life which we all have.

The message is clear and I would express it this way: hide in God. I think of one of my favorite psalm verse which we frequently use during Morning Prayer: Hide me in the shadow of your wings till the storms of destruction pass by. When I pray this, I picture myself residing within the embrace of almighty God, being hugged, as it were. I remember one day in particular: it was during the summer and there was a lot of construction going on on campus. Outside our church windows, heavy equipment was making a terrible racket, so much so that we could hardly hear our own voices. We prayed that text and it became vivid for me. The sound of the bulldozers represented all the forces and tumult of a world under distress and attack, while we were safe and snug in our choir stalls. We were aware of what was raging outside, but it couldn’t get to us.

The psalm continues by reminding us that God is an ever-present help. Sometimes it is so easy to forget that He is with us, especially when we may be frightened or overwhelmed, or when it seems like our world is crashing down around our heads. The psalm expresses this tumult poetically:

though the earth should rock

though the mountains quake to the heart of the sea

though the waters rage and foam

though the mountains be shaken by its tumult

Can you relate to that? Have there been times when the rug has been pulled from under you and you didn’t know where to turn? Have there been times when you doubted you could survive? Times like this come in every life, and we have so many examples of this happening throughout the world these days.

Hold this psalm close to your heart. And if, by chance, you seek a time of quiet meditation, simply repeat to yourself the command given near the end of the psalm:

Be still and know that I am God

And may that God be with you and bless you, now and forever. Amen.

A new look at charity

Friday-Saturday, August 26-27

At Mass today we heard the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). As usual, this parable turns reality on its head and causes us to think in different ways than we’re normally used to.

The story is this: There are ten wise and ten foolish virgins who are awaiting the bridegroom. The wait, apparently, might take them through the night, so the wise ones, being well prepared, brought extra oil for their lamps; the foolish ones didn’t think to make any preparations and just brought their lamps with whatever oil they had in them. Finally, at midnight, someone announced the groom’s arriving. The foolish virgins needed more oil for their lamps and so asked the wise ones to share what they had.

Now at this point, one might think that it would be proper Christian charity for the wise ones to share their oil with the foolish ones. That is the expected result. But the wise ones refuse to share because if they did they wouldn’t have enough for their own lamps. “How selfish!” one might think.

But Jesus surprises his listeners and calls the “selfish” ones wise for not sharing. They tell the other ones to go out and buy more oil from the merchants. (I find this detail puzzling, because I wonder where they would find an oil-shop open at that time of night.) Anyway, the foolish ones miss the bridegroom’s arrival and once the door is shut he refuses to let them in.

So what do you make of this?

Jesus uses this example as a call for us to “Stay awake!” because we don’t know the hour of His visitation. But I would like to suggest that there are even more lessons to be learned from the parable. Yes, wisdom requires us to be prepared at all times, and I would suggest that it means we should always be open to a visitation from the Lord, when we least expect it, and that visitation might be in forms and ways that we couldn’t predict.

Another possible lesson is—and I dare to say this--that there might be a limit to charity. Sometimes we have to take care of ourselves, especially in matters regarding our spiritual preparation for the coming of the Lord. I like to think of the safety instructions people are given at the beginning of a flight: if the oxygen masks drop down, it is essential that we put our own on first, and this message goes especially to parents of small children, whose impulse would be to reach out to the children first. Put your own mask on first and then you will be able to help others. That is the wise way of behaving.

What do you think wisdom is requiring you to do, or how might it be inspiring you to think. My explanation might not be useful to you today; what matters is the sense you make of the whole matter, and what ways the parable might inspire you to think differently. That is the  main point.

God bless you!

Expressions of suffering and hope

Thursday, August 25

Psalm study today. We are up to Psalm 41, but I’m going to take Psalms 41-44 as a group because each of these psalms are prayed by a person who is in dire straits, who has been attacked by enemies, who has been falsely accused, and who has come almost to the point of despair, thinking that God has abandoned him.

All my foes whisper together against me;

they devise evil plots against me. (41:8)

. . . even my friend, in whom I trusted,

who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me (41:10)

·         Could it be Christ who is praying these words, as Judas leaves the table of the Last Supper to go and betray him? Find Jesus in these psalms if you read them; Find people all over the world who could well be praying these verses; and certainly, find yourself either in the present or in some situations which you have had to endure in the past—and survived (don’t forget that!)

My tears have become my bread,

by day, by night,

as they say to me all the day long,

“Where is your God?” (42:4)

I will say to God, my rock,

‘Why have you forgotten me’ (42:10a)

·         Did not Jesus utter these words before his death on the cross?

Give me justice, O God, and plead my cause

against a nation that is faithless.

From the deceitful and the cunning

rescue me, O God. (43:1)

Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep?

Arise! Do not reject us forever.

Why do you hide your face,

and forget our oppression and misery (44:24-25)

·         Can you hear in these words the cries of the refugees living without hope in so many places in the world today?

·         Psalm 44 actually begins by recalling all the wonderful things God has done for them in the past, and then goes on to lament the face that in their present difficulties, He seems to be absent.

And finally, in all of these psalms there are expressions of hope and remembrances of the goodness and kindness of God shown towards them in good times. The very last verses of Psalm 44 are an outcry to God to come back and care for the defeated nation once again. Let them be our cry of hope also:

Stand up and come to our help!

Redeem us with your merciful love!

And may the God of mercy and love visit you today and bless you in the midst of whatever difficulties you may be enduring!

The "picture=showers"

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

In the Gospel for today’s Mass (Tuesday of the 21^st week in ordinary time: Matthew 23:23-26) Jesus takes the scribes and Pharisees to task and calls them “hypocrites.” I happen to know a bit of Hungarian, and the word for hyprocrite in Hungarian is képmutató which literally means “picture shower,” or someone who shows an image that isn’t really the true one.

I think we all do that at times, sometimes unconsciously and sometimes perhaps out of necessity, as to when we have to hide our true feelings in order to protect ourselves from someone else.

Jesus lays the charge on the Pharisees and scribes because their “false-picture showing” has taken on  a professional dimension and a religious dimension. They are so saturated in their false posturing that they can’t even recognize the fact that they are living a lie. Read the Gospel passage and see what I mean. They manufacture laws and rules to suit their own purposes, and then lay them on everyone else’s backs.

Jesus makes it quite clear that the most important aspects of the Law are the ones they shamelessly neglect, and this is something that we all have to pay close attention to: the most important aspects of the Law are those which deal with judgment and mercy and fidelity. Everything else should flow from these things. Pope Francis has been trying to teach us that ever since he became Pope, and there are some in the Church including high-ranking church leaders who resist what he is saying or, like the Pharisees, have become so immersed in their own agendas that they fail to grasp the fact that he is challenging them to clean up their acts, just as Jesus challenges the Pharisees in his own time.

Yes, Phariseeism has been rampant in religion ever since the time of Jesus and is still an issue today.

Might we sometimes play the Pharisee ourselves? I think that we can and do. Let us heed Jesus’ demand that we “cleanse the inside of the cup so that the outside also may be clean.” And remember that the command is to cleanse our own cups, not everyone else’s. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.

God bless you.