The burn of self-admiration mentioned yesterday that is thought to be the "fire of the love of God" comes with a new twist.
S/he thinks his own pride is the Holy Ghost.
The sweet warmth of pleasure becomes the criterion of all her/his works. The relish s/he savors in acts that make her/him admirable in her/his own eyes, drives her/him to fast, or to pray or to hide in solitude, or to write many books, or to build churches and hospitals, or to start a thousand organizations. And when he gets what he wants he thinks his sense of satisfaction is the unction of the Holy Spirit.
And now the secret voice of pleasure sings in her/his heart: "I am not like other people."
It is amazing how we let ourselves be led by a power that is our own and yet we can easily call it the power of other...even the other of the Holy Spirit. I'm not saying that the Holy Spirit does not move us and shape us and send us. Rather, it is quite easy to see how one's own achievements can become all the "blessing" we need. When that is the case, we become our our distributor of the holy spirit and that is always a dangerous journey to take on. How many people have entered their great "spiritual journey" with the intention of becoming more holy because what they have associated with spirituality is really that journey of self-admiration that helps one feel wonderful about one's own path. And yet, I don't recall too many "biblical" characters who took on the journey of following Jesus as a way of becoming more spiritual or more holy or more well-known. Rather, they followed...they followed...like breathing in fresh air and living a fresh new life.
Connection: Follow and breathe.
Come, Holy Spirit. Come and lift us up so that we will see your gracious Reign and simply enter its life so that all we become within the ordinary of this day comes to blossom along the way of our Lord. Amen.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Wednesday 25 June 2008
Merton comments about the person who does many things and is in love with his/her own excellence.
The pleasure that is in her/his heart when s/he does difficult things and succeeds in doing them well, tells him secretly: "I am a saint." At the same time, others seem to recognize him as different from themselves. They admire him, or perhaps avoid him/her - a sweet homage of sinners! The pleasure burns into a devouring fire. The warmth of the fire feels like the love of God. It is fed by the same virtues that nourished the flame of charity. S/he burns with self-admiration that thinks: "It is the fire of the love of God."
Self admiration is a glowing light...but how quickly it can burn out and how impossible it is to keep it burning forever. I find that this self "glow" is what becomes the foundation of the way religious people become quite contrary to the love they profess. Such "glowing" and "on fire" folk can become so condemning of what is not like them that they will not allow anyone who doe not experience life like them to be a part of the gathering of saints. Therefore, I would submit that when we let ourselves become such glowing lights, we are really living in a corner of the hell of our own making.
Connection: The warmth of the love of God does not depend on what we are able to do today. So...enjoy the warmth and come to life within its glow.
Inspiring Spirit, you brighten this day as you touch us with the gentle reminder of God's unbounded love for us. We blossom within your embrace. Amen.
The pleasure that is in her/his heart when s/he does difficult things and succeeds in doing them well, tells him secretly: "I am a saint." At the same time, others seem to recognize him as different from themselves. They admire him, or perhaps avoid him/her - a sweet homage of sinners! The pleasure burns into a devouring fire. The warmth of the fire feels like the love of God. It is fed by the same virtues that nourished the flame of charity. S/he burns with self-admiration that thinks: "It is the fire of the love of God."
Self admiration is a glowing light...but how quickly it can burn out and how impossible it is to keep it burning forever. I find that this self "glow" is what becomes the foundation of the way religious people become quite contrary to the love they profess. Such "glowing" and "on fire" folk can become so condemning of what is not like them that they will not allow anyone who doe not experience life like them to be a part of the gathering of saints. Therefore, I would submit that when we let ourselves become such glowing lights, we are really living in a corner of the hell of our own making.
Connection: The warmth of the love of God does not depend on what we are able to do today. So...enjoy the warmth and come to life within its glow.
Inspiring Spirit, you brighten this day as you touch us with the gentle reminder of God's unbounded love for us. We blossom within your embrace. Amen.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Tuesday 24 June 2008
Today we will pick up with the concluding questions from yesterday's quote by Merton.
Who can escape the secret desire to breathe a different atmosphere from the rest of people?
Who can do good things without seeking to taste in them some sweet distinction from the common run of sinners in this world?
This sickness is most dangerous when it succeeds in looking like humility. When a proud person thinks s/he is humble her/his case is hopeless.
Isn't humility an attribute that others place on individuals? It seems as though such a self-designation would only add to the "different atmosphere" one attempts to have from others. It becomes a way of rising above or beyond others...humbly speaking that is.
Connection: The individual is one who is as much as s/he is...nothing more. In the fullness of that being, it may appear to others as being one who is humble and yet, full of life.
Lord of Many Gifts, you bless each of us and you invite us to enter into your Reign and let our gifts unfold as we become a part of the fullness of your creation. Praise to you. Amen.
Who can escape the secret desire to breathe a different atmosphere from the rest of people?
Who can do good things without seeking to taste in them some sweet distinction from the common run of sinners in this world?
This sickness is most dangerous when it succeeds in looking like humility. When a proud person thinks s/he is humble her/his case is hopeless.
Isn't humility an attribute that others place on individuals? It seems as though such a self-designation would only add to the "different atmosphere" one attempts to have from others. It becomes a way of rising above or beyond others...humbly speaking that is.
Connection: The individual is one who is as much as s/he is...nothing more. In the fullness of that being, it may appear to others as being one who is humble and yet, full of life.
Lord of Many Gifts, you bless each of us and you invite us to enter into your Reign and let our gifts unfold as we become a part of the fullness of your creation. Praise to you. Amen.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Monday 23 June 2008
Thomas Merton again from "Unity and Division" in "New Seeds of Contemplation.
And now I am thinking of the disease which is spiritual pride. I am thinking of the peculiar unreality that gets into the hearts of the saints and eats their sanctity aways before it is mature. There is something of this worm in the hearts of all religious people. As soon as they have done something which they know to be good in the eyes of God, they tend to take its reality to themselves and to make it their own. They tend to destroy their virtues by claiming them for themselves and clothing their own private illusion of themselves with values that belong to God.
Who can escape the secret desire to breathe a different atmosphere from the rest of people?
Who can do good things without seeking to taste in them some sweet distinction from the common run of sinners in this world?
It is a worm. Working without being notices...just winding itself away through the very center of who we are so that our center becomes rotten. We can be so filled with the notion of being and doing good and being considered holy that it becomes the power of separation from others. In other words, the designation of being holy becomes the root of our sin when holy is just another award given to something we have done rather than who we are in and through all times. I found these last two questions to be worth a bit of silence contemplation. I will return to these tomorrow.
Connection: Outsiders call people in the church hypocrites and judgmental and pompous. Well, when we take what is God's and put it on ourselves, we often use that as ways to separate ourselves from the rest. Religious folk have to be aware of this temptation on a moment to moment basis.
Blessed Lord, heal us. With you word of grace and mercy and hope remind us of the gift of life that you hand to us to and then invite us to become. Amen.
And now I am thinking of the disease which is spiritual pride. I am thinking of the peculiar unreality that gets into the hearts of the saints and eats their sanctity aways before it is mature. There is something of this worm in the hearts of all religious people. As soon as they have done something which they know to be good in the eyes of God, they tend to take its reality to themselves and to make it their own. They tend to destroy their virtues by claiming them for themselves and clothing their own private illusion of themselves with values that belong to God.
Who can escape the secret desire to breathe a different atmosphere from the rest of people?
Who can do good things without seeking to taste in them some sweet distinction from the common run of sinners in this world?
It is a worm. Working without being notices...just winding itself away through the very center of who we are so that our center becomes rotten. We can be so filled with the notion of being and doing good and being considered holy that it becomes the power of separation from others. In other words, the designation of being holy becomes the root of our sin when holy is just another award given to something we have done rather than who we are in and through all times. I found these last two questions to be worth a bit of silence contemplation. I will return to these tomorrow.
Connection: Outsiders call people in the church hypocrites and judgmental and pompous. Well, when we take what is God's and put it on ourselves, we often use that as ways to separate ourselves from the rest. Religious folk have to be aware of this temptation on a moment to moment basis.
Blessed Lord, heal us. With you word of grace and mercy and hope remind us of the gift of life that you hand to us to and then invite us to become. Amen.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Friday 20 June 2008
Merton is saying may hard things...sometimes truthfulness is the beginning of great healing.
The person who lives in division is living in death. S/he cannot find her/himself because s/he is lost; s/he has ceased to be a reality. The person s/he believes her/himself to be is a bad dream. And when s/he dies s/he will discover that s/he long ago ceased to exist because God, Who is infinite reality and in Whose sight is the being of everything that is, will say to her/him: "I know you not."
This can have the sound of a "judgment scene" from the scriptures. In someways it is. But I would submit that it is meant to be one that we hear now...not later...not at the end. The judgment does us no good later. The Spirit of God is constantly attempting to open up our eyes and our ears so that this day and the next and everyday we can be about the healing of the division that is the death of us. I don't ever see God saying "I don't know you" for God can always see the precious gift that is beloved from beginning to end. I see this remark to which Merton notes as more like: "Wow, what have you done to your self - my precious child."
Connection: Return to the Lord, Your God, for God is gracious and merciful and abounding in steadfast love...always....and always.
O Foundation of Life and Hope for the Ages, as we walk through this day help us to hear your voice that is able to create new things and heal all that is broken. Amen.
The person who lives in division is living in death. S/he cannot find her/himself because s/he is lost; s/he has ceased to be a reality. The person s/he believes her/himself to be is a bad dream. And when s/he dies s/he will discover that s/he long ago ceased to exist because God, Who is infinite reality and in Whose sight is the being of everything that is, will say to her/him: "I know you not."
This can have the sound of a "judgment scene" from the scriptures. In someways it is. But I would submit that it is meant to be one that we hear now...not later...not at the end. The judgment does us no good later. The Spirit of God is constantly attempting to open up our eyes and our ears so that this day and the next and everyday we can be about the healing of the division that is the death of us. I don't ever see God saying "I don't know you" for God can always see the precious gift that is beloved from beginning to end. I see this remark to which Merton notes as more like: "Wow, what have you done to your self - my precious child."
Connection: Return to the Lord, Your God, for God is gracious and merciful and abounding in steadfast love...always....and always.
O Foundation of Life and Hope for the Ages, as we walk through this day help us to hear your voice that is able to create new things and heal all that is broken. Amen.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Thursday 19 June 2008
Today we will continue with the piece from yesterday.
The person who lives in division is not a person but only an "individual."
I have what you have not. I am what you are not. I have taken what you have failed to take and I have seized what you could never get. Therefore you suffer and I am happy, you are despised and I am praised, you die and I live; you are nothing and I am something, and I am all the more something because you are nothing. And thus I spend my life admiring the distance between you and me; at time this even helps me to forget the other people who have what I have not and who have taken what I was too slow to take and who have seized what was beyond my reach, who are praised as I cannot be praised and who live on my death...
I wanted to comment about the three dots at the end of this paragraph. The separation and the division never ends. In all of these examples of becoming an individual separate from others, I never become the person that is beloved of God. And yet, it continues. The dots go on to point to more and more lies that we trust rather than trust the promise of our God whose love is the creative power for life even as all else becomes worn and broken and is proven to be false. There is one God and yet we have so many ways of bowing down and handing our lives over to so many gods who we believe will make us into more than anyone else can be. What a hell to live in such a way....and yet we all go there...again and again.
Connection: A strange question for this day might be to ask how we are like the people around us...even when there appears to be great differences. How are we so very much like others and yet able to be truly the person God has created.
Holy God, in all of creation none is like me and yet I am not me unless I am also able to see me in others and to see them in me. Such vision keeps us out of war and helps us to be a part of the peace you have promised from age to age. Amen.
The person who lives in division is not a person but only an "individual."
I have what you have not. I am what you are not. I have taken what you have failed to take and I have seized what you could never get. Therefore you suffer and I am happy, you are despised and I am praised, you die and I live; you are nothing and I am something, and I am all the more something because you are nothing. And thus I spend my life admiring the distance between you and me; at time this even helps me to forget the other people who have what I have not and who have taken what I was too slow to take and who have seized what was beyond my reach, who are praised as I cannot be praised and who live on my death...
I wanted to comment about the three dots at the end of this paragraph. The separation and the division never ends. In all of these examples of becoming an individual separate from others, I never become the person that is beloved of God. And yet, it continues. The dots go on to point to more and more lies that we trust rather than trust the promise of our God whose love is the creative power for life even as all else becomes worn and broken and is proven to be false. There is one God and yet we have so many ways of bowing down and handing our lives over to so many gods who we believe will make us into more than anyone else can be. What a hell to live in such a way....and yet we all go there...again and again.
Connection: A strange question for this day might be to ask how we are like the people around us...even when there appears to be great differences. How are we so very much like others and yet able to be truly the person God has created.
Holy God, in all of creation none is like me and yet I am not me unless I am also able to see me in others and to see them in me. Such vision keeps us out of war and helps us to be a part of the peace you have promised from age to age. Amen.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Wednesday 18 June 2008
More from the chapter "Union and Division" by Thomas Merton.
The person who lives in division is not a person but only an "individual."
I have what you have not. I am what you are not. I have taken what you have failed to take and I have seized what you could never get. Therefore you suffer and I am happy, you are despised and I am praised, you die and I live; you are nothing and I am something, and I am all the more something because you are nothing. And thus I spend my life admiring the distance between you and me; at time this even helps me to forget the other people who have what I have not and who have taken what I was too slow to take and who have seized what was beyond my reach, who are praised as I cannot be praised and who live on my death...
This may take a few days to unpack. Let me begin with that opening line. It does not take much to become an individual. The parting of my hair can do that. The way I walk can do that. The place I choose to live can do that. But this does not make a person. I am not just another body walking down the street. I am not simply different from you because of my look or certain designated aspects of what is the status of the day. I am completely fresh and new and beloved by the Creator of all things and that is without having to first make myself worthy in your presence or the presence of anyone else. In fact, as we each entertain the wonder of becoming our person...we become that person in the presence of others...not as separate...but as one whole creative and living power of life called humanity...the whole.
Connection: What can help close the gap in some of the divisions we have built into our lives?
Gracious Lord, there are so many ways we are invited to let down our hair and rest in the truthfulness of your love for us. When we rest there, we find life we may not have expected and it is quite beautiful and empowering. We give you thanks. Amen.
The person who lives in division is not a person but only an "individual."
I have what you have not. I am what you are not. I have taken what you have failed to take and I have seized what you could never get. Therefore you suffer and I am happy, you are despised and I am praised, you die and I live; you are nothing and I am something, and I am all the more something because you are nothing. And thus I spend my life admiring the distance between you and me; at time this even helps me to forget the other people who have what I have not and who have taken what I was too slow to take and who have seized what was beyond my reach, who are praised as I cannot be praised and who live on my death...
This may take a few days to unpack. Let me begin with that opening line. It does not take much to become an individual. The parting of my hair can do that. The way I walk can do that. The place I choose to live can do that. But this does not make a person. I am not just another body walking down the street. I am not simply different from you because of my look or certain designated aspects of what is the status of the day. I am completely fresh and new and beloved by the Creator of all things and that is without having to first make myself worthy in your presence or the presence of anyone else. In fact, as we each entertain the wonder of becoming our person...we become that person in the presence of others...not as separate...but as one whole creative and living power of life called humanity...the whole.
Connection: What can help close the gap in some of the divisions we have built into our lives?
Gracious Lord, there are so many ways we are invited to let down our hair and rest in the truthfulness of your love for us. When we rest there, we find life we may not have expected and it is quite beautiful and empowering. We give you thanks. Amen.
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