More on the saint in the midst of the holy - by Thomas Merton.
Some people seem to think that a saint cannot possibly take a natural interest in anything created. They imagine that any form of spontaneity or enjoyment is a sinful gratification of "fallen nature." that to be "supernatural" means obstructing all spontaneity with cliches and arbitrary references to God The purpose of these cliches is, so to speak, to hold everything at arms length, to frustrate spontaneous reactions, to exorcise feelings of guilt. Or perhaps to cultivate such feelings. One wonders sometimes if such morality is not after all a love of guilt! They suppose that the life of a saint can never be anything but a perpetual dual with guilt, and that a saint cannot even drink a glass of cold water without making an act of contrition for slaking his thirst, as if that were a mortal sin. As if for the saints every response to beauty, to goodness, to the pleasant, were an offense. As if the saint could never allow him/herself to be pleased with anything but his prayers and his interior acts of piety.
Being a saint is a joy. Being a saint is to be alive and in the midst of God's creation and able to jump and leap and dance and sing whenever...and where ever! Imagine a community of saints in which the saints were to hold everything and everyone at arms length. It would not be the community of saints called the church. We embrace one another...even if that doesn't mean a literal embrace. To draw away from others is to put our selves in the position of the powers of hell for by definition, hell is where we begin and continue to be separate from one another. We are a part of the beauty and diversity and awesome creativity of God's Reign. As we reflect on that position, we are able to honor all of creation and move toward all things without carrying the burden of guilt. Once we honor creation as we are absorbed in God's glory, we become a part of the gracious care of all and not the monitor of what can and cannot be. When we lock ourselves away and consider the life of the saint as "other-worldly" we take away from the saint the very thing given by God...life...to the fullest.
Connection: When you come in touch with a morality that if filled with guilt, it is a sure sign that those around you are not absorbed in the vision of God's Reign....it is mostly the vision of their own reign. When that happens, become more absorbed in the wonder of God's Reign.
Lord of Life, it is by your very breath that we are refreshed and renewed. There are so many times when we are in the middle of those who point finger and it is easy to point along with them. Keep our eyes on your glorious graciousness and open us up to the touch of your closeness. Amen.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Monday 19 May 2008
In his writing about the Holy, Merton addresses himself to the image of saint.
It is not true that the saints and the great contemplatives never loved created things, and had no understanding or appreciation of the world, with its sights and sounds and the people living in it. They loved everything and everyone.
Do you think that their love of God was compatible with a hatred for things that reflected God and spoke of God on every side?
You you say that they were supposed to be absorbed in God and they had no eyes to see anything but God. Do you think they walked around with faces like stones and did not listen to the voices of people speaking to them or understand the joys and sorrows of those who were around them.
It was because the saints were absorbed in God that they were truly capable of seeing and appreciating created things and it was because they loved God alone that they alone loved everybody.
So connected to God that everything is seen more clearly - wow! So connected to God that all that is of God can be see as it was created...not with the eyes of what we would want it to be for us. The saint (which are, remember, each and every one of the baptized) is given the eyes to see all thing through a lens of a love that creates all things and leave nothing behind, forgotten and forsaken. Being "absorbed in God" does not make for a distant relationship with everything around us every day. I would think that the great martyrs of the church were not ones who saw the Reign of God as something other than the creation in which they were a part. If a Bonhoeffer was absorbed in God in such a way that he did not see the brutality and lies around him, we must say he was not absorbed in God! Rather, it was as he was absorbed in his baptism that the everyday incidences of this day were seen more clearly and he was given to act within the realm of God's love that creates and does not destroy. Show me a contemplative who is not aware of all the details and nuances of an ordinary day in an urban setting and I would have to say that we would not be looking at a contemplative. Contemplation opens up life so that we do not miss being a part of God's Reign as the moments pass by. Therefore, justice, mercy, peacemaking, reconciliation, and amazing joy awaits one who enters into contemplation...and it will draw us into the fullness of this life.
Connection: Try to notice one of the many ways God's gift of life is going on as we meander through the events of this day. In seeing those gifts, we are given opportunities to enter into them.
Blessed God, help us to become absorbed in You alone. For when that takes place, all that we come upon in this day will shine with your presence. Amen.
It is not true that the saints and the great contemplatives never loved created things, and had no understanding or appreciation of the world, with its sights and sounds and the people living in it. They loved everything and everyone.
Do you think that their love of God was compatible with a hatred for things that reflected God and spoke of God on every side?
You you say that they were supposed to be absorbed in God and they had no eyes to see anything but God. Do you think they walked around with faces like stones and did not listen to the voices of people speaking to them or understand the joys and sorrows of those who were around them.
It was because the saints were absorbed in God that they were truly capable of seeing and appreciating created things and it was because they loved God alone that they alone loved everybody.
So connected to God that everything is seen more clearly - wow! So connected to God that all that is of God can be see as it was created...not with the eyes of what we would want it to be for us. The saint (which are, remember, each and every one of the baptized) is given the eyes to see all thing through a lens of a love that creates all things and leave nothing behind, forgotten and forsaken. Being "absorbed in God" does not make for a distant relationship with everything around us every day. I would think that the great martyrs of the church were not ones who saw the Reign of God as something other than the creation in which they were a part. If a Bonhoeffer was absorbed in God in such a way that he did not see the brutality and lies around him, we must say he was not absorbed in God! Rather, it was as he was absorbed in his baptism that the everyday incidences of this day were seen more clearly and he was given to act within the realm of God's love that creates and does not destroy. Show me a contemplative who is not aware of all the details and nuances of an ordinary day in an urban setting and I would have to say that we would not be looking at a contemplative. Contemplation opens up life so that we do not miss being a part of God's Reign as the moments pass by. Therefore, justice, mercy, peacemaking, reconciliation, and amazing joy awaits one who enters into contemplation...and it will draw us into the fullness of this life.
Connection: Try to notice one of the many ways God's gift of life is going on as we meander through the events of this day. In seeing those gifts, we are given opportunities to enter into them.
Blessed God, help us to become absorbed in You alone. For when that takes place, all that we come upon in this day will shine with your presence. Amen.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Friday 16 May 2008
Today we continue from Merton's chapter "Everything that Is, Is Holy" in "New Seeds of Contemplation."
Those who try to escape from this situation (using things to worship ourselves - as idols) by treating the good things of God as if they were evils are only confirming themselves in a terrible illusion. They are like Adam blaming Eve and Eve blaming the serpent in Eden. "Woman has tempted me. Wine has tempted me. Food has tempted me. Woman is pernicious, wine is poison, food is death. I must hate and revile them. By hating them I will please God..." These are the thoughts and attitudes of a baby, of a savage and of an idolater who seeks by magic incantations and spells to protect his egotistic self and placate the insatiable little god in his own heart. To take such an idol for God is the worst kind of self-deception. It turns a person into a fanatic, no longer capable of sustained contact with the truth, no longer capable of genuine love.
In trying to believe in their ego as something "holy" these fanatics look upon everything else as unholy.
It is there in the last line that I thought how important this work is. I mean this for all of us. How easy it is to set up a world of "holy" and "unholy." Merton calls it correctly...this is how fanatics look at the world and what is the meaning of holy. The blame game never ends. We are always looking at ways to point our fingers. I think that is one of the reasons we jump into some of our wars. We live in fear. We live with the understanding that what we have and who we are is the way all things must be. Therefore, all else is to be questioned if not completely judged as evil. So when a person want to enter into dialogue and talk through options and look at plans of reconciliation and possible new ways to see old relationships, those people are called names - reviled - and we are warned about eh potential of being destroyed by such actions. Alas, fear is put in motion and we begin to label some things "holy" to us and others as "unholy" to us. It is a shame. And yet, we must all remember that we each have that capacity to be fanatics about this or that. We all seek to protect what is ours over and against the other.
Connection: Holy is the Lord God. Holy is all that God creates. Now, how do we consider that throughout the day and in the presence of people and things we would like to make into unholy objects in our lives?
Blessed are you, Holy God. You have made us in your image and you have created all things and announced that they were good. Turn us from our need to divide your loving work into categories that help us forget the blessedness of all things. Amen.
Those who try to escape from this situation (using things to worship ourselves - as idols) by treating the good things of God as if they were evils are only confirming themselves in a terrible illusion. They are like Adam blaming Eve and Eve blaming the serpent in Eden. "Woman has tempted me. Wine has tempted me. Food has tempted me. Woman is pernicious, wine is poison, food is death. I must hate and revile them. By hating them I will please God..." These are the thoughts and attitudes of a baby, of a savage and of an idolater who seeks by magic incantations and spells to protect his egotistic self and placate the insatiable little god in his own heart. To take such an idol for God is the worst kind of self-deception. It turns a person into a fanatic, no longer capable of sustained contact with the truth, no longer capable of genuine love.
In trying to believe in their ego as something "holy" these fanatics look upon everything else as unholy.
It is there in the last line that I thought how important this work is. I mean this for all of us. How easy it is to set up a world of "holy" and "unholy." Merton calls it correctly...this is how fanatics look at the world and what is the meaning of holy. The blame game never ends. We are always looking at ways to point our fingers. I think that is one of the reasons we jump into some of our wars. We live in fear. We live with the understanding that what we have and who we are is the way all things must be. Therefore, all else is to be questioned if not completely judged as evil. So when a person want to enter into dialogue and talk through options and look at plans of reconciliation and possible new ways to see old relationships, those people are called names - reviled - and we are warned about eh potential of being destroyed by such actions. Alas, fear is put in motion and we begin to label some things "holy" to us and others as "unholy" to us. It is a shame. And yet, we must all remember that we each have that capacity to be fanatics about this or that. We all seek to protect what is ours over and against the other.
Connection: Holy is the Lord God. Holy is all that God creates. Now, how do we consider that throughout the day and in the presence of people and things we would like to make into unholy objects in our lives?
Blessed are you, Holy God. You have made us in your image and you have created all things and announced that they were good. Turn us from our need to divide your loving work into categories that help us forget the blessedness of all things. Amen.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Thursday 15 May 2008
Today will continue with yesterday's piece and what comes after it. Again, Thomas Merton.
Detachment from things does not mean setting up a contradiction between "things" and "God" as if God were another "thing" and as if God's creatures were God's rivals. We do not detach ourselves from things in order to attach ourselves to God, but rather we become detached from ourselves in order to see and use all things in and for God.
This is an entirely new perspective which many sincerely moral and ascetic minds fail utterly to see. There is no evil in anything created by God, nor can anything of God's become an obstacle to our union with God. The obstacle is in our "self," that is to say in the tenacious need to maintain our separate, external, egotistic will. It is when we refer all things to this outward and false "self" that we alienate ourselves from reality and from God. It is then the false self that is our god, and we love everything for the sake of this self. We use all things, so to speak, for the worship of this idol which is our imaginary self. In so doing we pervert and corrupt things, or rather we turn our relationship to them into a corrupt and sinful relationship. We do not thereby make them evil, but we use them to increase our attachment to our illusory self.
My first reflection was on the disaster in Myanmar. It is violently tragic. Nature can and does explode at time. That is part of creation. It is not evil. It is not God acting against certain people who are not behaving in the way we think God would expect (like Jerry Falwell's accusation that Katrina hit New Orleans because of Gays). In Myanmar, what becomes "evil" is the unwillingness for people in power to open doors so that other people can help. Rulers and leaders and...all of us...do this to a degree. We are self-serving even if serving ourselves or our goals or our agenda will cause trauma and pain and suffer for others. "We turn our relationships to them (things) into a corrupt and sinful relationship." That is that 'turned-in-on-self' reality that is sin. We use things...people...whatever..."to increase our attachment to our illusory self." I think that is well said by Merton. If we can keep this in mind, we begin to enter a place of honesty that doesn't live on blame but rather on taking responsibility for how the world comes tumbling down around us. At that point, there are things we can do to re-center our living and find ongoing ways of being truthful and honor the things within creation.
Connection: How can we today...fight off that illusory self that is always trying to gain control? This may be a part of the battle.
Lord, you forgive us so that we can move beyond be self-consuming. We are always looking for ways to be the ruler of our world and yet you continue to dethrone us and send us off along your way of new life. We give you thanks. Amen.
Detachment from things does not mean setting up a contradiction between "things" and "God" as if God were another "thing" and as if God's creatures were God's rivals. We do not detach ourselves from things in order to attach ourselves to God, but rather we become detached from ourselves in order to see and use all things in and for God.
This is an entirely new perspective which many sincerely moral and ascetic minds fail utterly to see. There is no evil in anything created by God, nor can anything of God's become an obstacle to our union with God. The obstacle is in our "self," that is to say in the tenacious need to maintain our separate, external, egotistic will. It is when we refer all things to this outward and false "self" that we alienate ourselves from reality and from God. It is then the false self that is our god, and we love everything for the sake of this self. We use all things, so to speak, for the worship of this idol which is our imaginary self. In so doing we pervert and corrupt things, or rather we turn our relationship to them into a corrupt and sinful relationship. We do not thereby make them evil, but we use them to increase our attachment to our illusory self.
My first reflection was on the disaster in Myanmar. It is violently tragic. Nature can and does explode at time. That is part of creation. It is not evil. It is not God acting against certain people who are not behaving in the way we think God would expect (like Jerry Falwell's accusation that Katrina hit New Orleans because of Gays). In Myanmar, what becomes "evil" is the unwillingness for people in power to open doors so that other people can help. Rulers and leaders and...all of us...do this to a degree. We are self-serving even if serving ourselves or our goals or our agenda will cause trauma and pain and suffer for others. "We turn our relationships to them (things) into a corrupt and sinful relationship." That is that 'turned-in-on-self' reality that is sin. We use things...people...whatever..."to increase our attachment to our illusory self." I think that is well said by Merton. If we can keep this in mind, we begin to enter a place of honesty that doesn't live on blame but rather on taking responsibility for how the world comes tumbling down around us. At that point, there are things we can do to re-center our living and find ongoing ways of being truthful and honor the things within creation.
Connection: How can we today...fight off that illusory self that is always trying to gain control? This may be a part of the battle.
Lord, you forgive us so that we can move beyond be self-consuming. We are always looking for ways to be the ruler of our world and yet you continue to dethrone us and send us off along your way of new life. We give you thanks. Amen.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Wednesday 14 May 2008
What is detachment in the midst of the holy!?! Thomas Merton
Detachment from things does not mean setting up a contradiction between "things" and "God" as if God were another "thing" and as if God's creatures were God's rivals. We do not detach ourselves from things in order to attach ourselves to God, but rather we become detached from ourselves in order to see and use all things in and for God.
When we stop being the center of our universe we are able to re-view all things. When we are able to re-view all things without making ourselves the center of all things, we gain the beauty and purpose of the world because we are beginning to see things as they are and not merely through the lens of "my universe." Often I used Luther's expression for sin (turned-in-on-self) to draw a picture of this need to be detached from ourselves. It is as we are free from trying to save ourselves or make something of ourselves that we are given the whole world...life in its fullest - and it is a gift. This is a daily exercise. We are so willing to turn our focus and energy of life toward that which we think will bring all things to us. And yet, when this is the case, we are letting go of the image of God that invites us to consider the welfare of all. Detachment from ourselves is a way to focus and see more clearly God's Reign as it enter this day.
Connection: Knowing that we don't do this "detachment thing" very well, it is another reason to have others who share the vision of God's Reign and are willing to help us wrestle with that which is before us so that we might let go of some things and hold onto that which is the life of God's Reign.
Take us home, O God, to the vision of your Reign. Take us home today and walk with us as we begin to live as though we are truly within your embrace and the blessed assurance that abundant life comes as we become attached to you promises and let go of our need to control our world. Amen.
Detachment from things does not mean setting up a contradiction between "things" and "God" as if God were another "thing" and as if God's creatures were God's rivals. We do not detach ourselves from things in order to attach ourselves to God, but rather we become detached from ourselves in order to see and use all things in and for God.
When we stop being the center of our universe we are able to re-view all things. When we are able to re-view all things without making ourselves the center of all things, we gain the beauty and purpose of the world because we are beginning to see things as they are and not merely through the lens of "my universe." Often I used Luther's expression for sin (turned-in-on-self) to draw a picture of this need to be detached from ourselves. It is as we are free from trying to save ourselves or make something of ourselves that we are given the whole world...life in its fullest - and it is a gift. This is a daily exercise. We are so willing to turn our focus and energy of life toward that which we think will bring all things to us. And yet, when this is the case, we are letting go of the image of God that invites us to consider the welfare of all. Detachment from ourselves is a way to focus and see more clearly God's Reign as it enter this day.
Connection: Knowing that we don't do this "detachment thing" very well, it is another reason to have others who share the vision of God's Reign and are willing to help us wrestle with that which is before us so that we might let go of some things and hold onto that which is the life of God's Reign.
Take us home, O God, to the vision of your Reign. Take us home today and walk with us as we begin to live as though we are truly within your embrace and the blessed assurance that abundant life comes as we become attached to you promises and let go of our need to control our world. Amen.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Tuesday 13 May 2008
We continue with how we enter the day as people who contemplate the Reign of God.
In any case, we should always seek to conform to the logos or truth of the duty before us, the work to be done, or our own God-given nature. Contemplative obedience and abandonment to the will of God can never mean a cultivated indifference to the natural values implanted by God in human life and work. Insensitivity must not be confused with detachment. The contemplative must certainly be detached, but s/he can never allow her/himself to become insensible to the true human values, whether in society, in other people or in one's self. If s/he does so, then her/his contemplations stands condemned as vitiated in its very root.
In contemplation, we move through the day with eyes wide open and hearts in tune with the Reign of God. Therefore, we are always sensitive to what the prevailing winds of the day are blowing by us. There is never any detachment for those who contemplate God's Reign and are aware of the ongoing presence of God moving through us and around us. When we are God's beloved...when we are the image of God, then all that runs contrary to this Reign of God grabs our attention and we are "by nature" drawn into the care and repair of all things. This gives us the ability to be sensitive to life that is beyond my "own little words and needs" because I am not my own little world. I am a part of the wholeness of God's Reign that is, even now, breaking in.
Connection: So...we listen...we watch...we act...we love...we remember...we begin again and again to take note of our place before God and before one another.
As your Reign comes upon us, O God, open up our eyes to see how it is coming...open our hands so we can greet it as it comes in the shape of others...open our lips with words of hopefulness and kindness...open our ears that we may hear others bring your Word before us...open our hearts that transformation may begin even as we take the next breath of our lives. Amen.
In any case, we should always seek to conform to the logos or truth of the duty before us, the work to be done, or our own God-given nature. Contemplative obedience and abandonment to the will of God can never mean a cultivated indifference to the natural values implanted by God in human life and work. Insensitivity must not be confused with detachment. The contemplative must certainly be detached, but s/he can never allow her/himself to become insensible to the true human values, whether in society, in other people or in one's self. If s/he does so, then her/his contemplations stands condemned as vitiated in its very root.
In contemplation, we move through the day with eyes wide open and hearts in tune with the Reign of God. Therefore, we are always sensitive to what the prevailing winds of the day are blowing by us. There is never any detachment for those who contemplate God's Reign and are aware of the ongoing presence of God moving through us and around us. When we are God's beloved...when we are the image of God, then all that runs contrary to this Reign of God grabs our attention and we are "by nature" drawn into the care and repair of all things. This gives us the ability to be sensitive to life that is beyond my "own little words and needs" because I am not my own little world. I am a part of the wholeness of God's Reign that is, even now, breaking in.
Connection: So...we listen...we watch...we act...we love...we remember...we begin again and again to take note of our place before God and before one another.
As your Reign comes upon us, O God, open up our eyes to see how it is coming...open our hands so we can greet it as it comes in the shape of others...open our lips with words of hopefulness and kindness...open our ears that we may hear others bring your Word before us...open our hearts that transformation may begin even as we take the next breath of our lives. Amen.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Monday 12 May 2008
Here is a good piece to consider as we begin the week - again, Thomas Merton.
Unnatural, frantic, anxious work, work done under pressure of greed or fear or any other inordinate passion, cannot properly speaking be dedicated to God, because God never wills such work directly. God may permit that through no fault of our own we may have to work madly and distractedly, due to our sins, and to the sins of the society in which we live. In that case we must tolerate it and make the best of what we cannot avoid. But let us not be blind to the distinction between sound, healthy work and unnatural toil.
We have many personal reasons for being frantic and anxious. Each of us are called to consider what is motivating us and moving and pushing us. That is part of who we are as followers of Jesus who are to be living in the Reign of God. This is not always an easy thing to consider. On the other hand, I was caught by the note that we "work madly and distractedly...due to...the sins of the society in which we live." The complete broken focus of the community creates instability and fear and dis-ease. When we do not see to the health care of all people - without exception, for example, and make it something a person must earn, generations of people go sick and must be whipped into that "frantic and anxious" cycle of life. Too often, people are attempting to enter a life of privilege so that they are not left out of the benefits that really need to be the bedrock of just society for all. That attempt to rise means we step on others or simply ignore them on our way to secure ourselves. When we are children of God, we are given eyes to see the whole story...the truth...and in that time of contemplation, we become people who act not frantically and anxiously....but with justice and mercy and loving kindness. The quality of life is quite different when we look at what is moving us.
Connection: Yes, the day may turn out to be a bit frantic and filled with anxiety. Therefore we are invited, again, to rest in the promises of our God. That may mean we pick ourselves up and become active in new ways...and it may mean that we really do simply rest for awhile.
God of New Life, we long for days when your mercy and justice become the face of your community of saints. For in those days, the wind of your Spirit will be blowing us in new directions and we will begin to see all things through the lens of your coming Reign. Amen.
Unnatural, frantic, anxious work, work done under pressure of greed or fear or any other inordinate passion, cannot properly speaking be dedicated to God, because God never wills such work directly. God may permit that through no fault of our own we may have to work madly and distractedly, due to our sins, and to the sins of the society in which we live. In that case we must tolerate it and make the best of what we cannot avoid. But let us not be blind to the distinction between sound, healthy work and unnatural toil.
We have many personal reasons for being frantic and anxious. Each of us are called to consider what is motivating us and moving and pushing us. That is part of who we are as followers of Jesus who are to be living in the Reign of God. This is not always an easy thing to consider. On the other hand, I was caught by the note that we "work madly and distractedly...due to...the sins of the society in which we live." The complete broken focus of the community creates instability and fear and dis-ease. When we do not see to the health care of all people - without exception, for example, and make it something a person must earn, generations of people go sick and must be whipped into that "frantic and anxious" cycle of life. Too often, people are attempting to enter a life of privilege so that they are not left out of the benefits that really need to be the bedrock of just society for all. That attempt to rise means we step on others or simply ignore them on our way to secure ourselves. When we are children of God, we are given eyes to see the whole story...the truth...and in that time of contemplation, we become people who act not frantically and anxiously....but with justice and mercy and loving kindness. The quality of life is quite different when we look at what is moving us.
Connection: Yes, the day may turn out to be a bit frantic and filled with anxiety. Therefore we are invited, again, to rest in the promises of our God. That may mean we pick ourselves up and become active in new ways...and it may mean that we really do simply rest for awhile.
God of New Life, we long for days when your mercy and justice become the face of your community of saints. For in those days, the wind of your Spirit will be blowing us in new directions and we will begin to see all things through the lens of your coming Reign. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)