Lent IV: A Prayer For The Light Of Christ

LORD God Almighty, creator and sustainer of all that is, we your human creatures ask for the light of your truth. Let your truth, LORD, illuminate our minds, expose our defections to each of us singly in the depths of our hearts, and intensify our love for You, who are indeed all good and worthy of undying love.

Father of all that is, we believe that in Jesus Christ, we see and experience your truth and your goodness. You give us Christ as our most sure way to return to You. You give us Christ as your Truth dwelling in our minds, and as the cause of our love and joy. You give us Christ with his teaching and His love to inspire us to live well, to expose our shortcomings, to reconcile us to You.

In Christ Jesus we glimpse your utter goodness--a most generous love for each of your creatures, bringing each and all to perfection. In Christ we behold a beauty beyond and within all that is beautiful, and you give us a joy beyond words.

Therefore, LORD God, we thank you and praise your goodness, we choose to listen to Christ for our personal guidance and correction, we delight in your beauty, we celebrate as a people together your Oneness drawing all into Yourself. By your searching Spirit, keep us faithful to Christ’s penetrating words, turn us away from all that would harm us or others, and help us to help one another for our lasting good.

To You, all holy One, be our true love and devotion, now and into the age of ages--into that timeless time that is not time, but Eternity. In You alone, LORD, each finds our true home, now and forever. Thank You, LORD. Amen.

Lent III: The Cleansing Of The Temple

How bold should we be? How bold are we? Do we love truth more than our worldly positions? Do we act for justice--as we understand justice or right--or do we “play it safe,” “go along to get along,” be “good little boys and girls,” and say what those in authority wants us to say? Are we men and women of conviction, who risk ourselves through speech and action, or are we “game-players?” We know the kind of persons those in authority all-too-often praise: “Yes men,” people who do not “rock the boat,” or dare to “think outside the box.” Social systems are more or less rigidly fixed, and those who lead them and represent them usually do not want their system challenged.

In the cleansing of the Temple, one may see, among other things, the radical side of Jesus Christ. Clearly, Jesus did not “play it safe,” but engaged the “powers that be” in a provocative, very bold, even revolutionary action when he “cleansed the Temple” of “money-changers.” Jesus was, in more ways than we probably grasp, radical in its literal meaning of “going to the roots.” In this one public action, Jesus in effect overturned the most sacred, established, power-institution of his culture: the Temple in Jerusalem, and what it stood for. Jesus was visibly demonstrating that God is the God of all human beings, not of a religious cult or sacred tradition. In this one action, Jesus sided with faith over religious belief, with obedience to the Holy Spirit over religious traditionalism, with the true and living God over a mummified “God of the fathers.”

In preaching the cleansing of the Temple, one can emphasize many themes: The nature and purpose of true worship; the staleness of religions that place outward observance above spiritual life; the universality of the God of all creation; the truth that “Christ is the end of the Law” in the sense explored by the Apostle Paul; the need for a continuing cleansing of all religious institutions, including the Catholic Church; the even greater and more pressing need for ongoing conversion to the Gospel of Christ; the preference for truth and justice to merely traditional beliefs and ways.

Given our hearing of this Gospel story today, what shall we emphasize in our preaching and action? No doubt the formulations will vary in our four homilies this week-end, but my hope is that each of us hears the call to seek the inner cleaning of the Holy Spirit, and that we seek to share in the renewal of the Church through truthfulness, honesty, right priorities, deeds of justice tempered by mercy. Pretending to be religious and “holy” must be rejected for being transparent and honest with one another. Above all, each of us must seek again and again to become living temples of the Holy Spirit.

Lent II: Our Journey's End Without End

One charged with preaching Christ must ask: Is the interpretation I offer in the pulpit both true to Christ and the best that I can do? Or, am I simply repeating what I have said in other years when these Mass readings have been appointed to be read? Am I falling back on thoughts that occurred to me years ago? Have I ceased reading the Gospels and the Scriptures with a searching, open mind? Have I perhaps grown spiritually lazy, and just repeat the old, stale thoughts of yesteryear? More broadly: Do I really pray, or am I going through the motions? And you, are you listening?

Today’s story of the Transfiguration of Jesus is a case in point. Typically I emphasize that by having the faithful hear the story of the Transfiguration on the Second Sunday of each Lent, the Church is displaying to the eyes of faith our spiritual goal. One must know the goal as one sets out on a journey, or one may wander in the wilderness indefinitely. Through seeing Christ transfigured, we are glimpsing what we shall be. As disciples of Christ, our goal is not vague or unknown, but displayed to our minds: To become filled with divine Presence, as Christ was seen to be by his three disciples who witnessed the Transfiguration. We must “keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” to persevere in the journey, and win through to the prize that God has in store for each of us: complete and eternal union with God in Christ. This divine-human union is what we call “eternal life.” That is the typical interpretation I offer on the Second Sunday of Lent.

Surely one could say more about the Transfiguration--such as the fact that Christ eclipses both the Law (symbolized by Moses) and the prophets (embodied in Elijah). God’s plan of rescuing humanity from its self-destructive, evil impulses culminates in the gift of Christ to humankind, so that all of us may reach the goal of life in God.

What are we missing when we follow this interpretation? Consider the context: Jesus is transfigured immediately following his prediction of his Passion and his call for disciples to die to themselves to find true life. Is our attention not being drawn to the pre-condition for our transfiguring union with God: namely, self-sacrifice, our willingness to embrace the crosses God gives us in our life, and to give ourselves back to God in the daily decisions we make? Is this the main point the Church wants to present to our minds? That without dying to ourselves, you and I “will not see the Kingdom of God”? Unless we imitate Christ and truly and fully give ourselves back to God---even embracing death--we will not see our journey’s true end.

Lent I: The Struggle Against Evil

The explicit theme of the First Sunday of Lent each year is our struggle against sin and evil, and to this end we hear the Gospel story of Christ in the wilderness, undergoing trials by the evil one. Whereas Matthew and Luke report brief dialogues between Jesus and Satan, Mark simply states that “the Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness, and he was tempted by Satan.”

In each Gospel, the point is made: Christ overcomes evil. To the extent that we are in Christ, in union with the Holy One of God, we resist and overcome evil. To the extent that we depart from God and from Christ’s Spirit in us, we are ravaged by the forces of evil in one form or another. In Christ we find life, peace, joy; in yielding to forces of evil, we experience inner death, unhappiness, a loss of peace, loss of purpose, mindless wandering in the wilderness of sin.

All life is either conversion or diversion, either a turning the gaze of the mind and the heart’s love towards God, or a futile effort to escape from God, to ignore God, or simply to immerse oneself in this passing world and its “joys.” Truly God seeks us, but we must respond. God is merciful and forgiving, but either we respond to His mercy and resist sin, or we refuse His strengthening gifts and wallow a while in the pit. Although God’s mercy is freely given, we must make the effort to accept it and to live it, or our hearts become increasingly self-enclosed through lives of self-seeking.

Hell is complete self-enclosure: No communion with God, neighbor, creation, one’s better self. A man’s hell is of his own making: turning one’s back on truth, one chooses again and again what may look good--power, pleasure, money, fame--rather than the true good and beauty that is God.

When St. Augustine came to his senses, and turned to the living God, he lamented the lost years apart from God, the true Good. In his Confessions he wrote (paraphrasing): “Late have I loved you, Beauty ever ancient, ever new; late have I loved you. Behold, you were within, but I was outside, seeking there for you, and rushing headlong on the beautiful things you have made. You were within me, but I was not with you. They held me back far from you--those things which would not be at all, were they not in You. To me You called, shouted, broke through my deafness. You flared, blazed, banished my blindness. You lavished your fragrance, I gasped, and now I pant for You. I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst for You. For You touched me, and now I burn for your peace.”

On Praying The Psalms, Part II: A Few Thoughts On Spiritual Reading

The Christian spiritual traditions extending back to the first centuries after Christ practice, as far as I can tell, three main forms of prayer: Liturgy, centering on hearing the Scriptures and on the Eucharistic Presence of Christ; spiritual reading, especially using the Scriptures of Israel and the Church (our Bible), as well as the writings of the Christian Fathers; and thirdly, often present under and with these two forms, contemplative prayer: simple mindfulness of the Presence of God here and now.

In this brief essay I center on the practice of spiritual reading, or what in Latin has been known as “lectio divina.” The literal meaning of lectio divina is “divine reading,” and that phrase is highly rich in meaning, as we shall briefly consider. In the previous essay we encouraged the faith to develop the habit of praying the Psalms, the collection of Israel’s prayers that for nearly twenty centuries now has been "the prayer book of the Church” as well as a prayer treasury of Israel. By no means do we wish to exclude the reading of the Law of Moses, the prophets, other Old Testament writings, the Gospels, or the letters of the Apostle Paul, and so on. But for prayer in common and alone, the Psalms provide a source that is at once highly diverse (with ample food for all tastes and needs), often profound, sometimes challenging one’s faith and understanding of Christ, and truly nourishing to the soul that is attentive while it prays the Psalms.

Being attentive while reading is essential in spiritual reading, or “divine reading.” The human mind must be attentive to the words on the page, or the reading is not spiritual-intellectual, but just “going through the motions,” moving eyes mindlessly over black ink spots on the page. Such “reading” is empty and a waste of time. When one does spiritual reading, he or she is attentive, seeking wisdom, longing for the Presence of God, and trusting that the LORD God is present in and with the praying mind. Justly is this spiritual exercise known as “divine reading,” for when the human mind truly engages in this kind of reading, the one reading is aware that the Divine Mind, the I AM, is present in and with the human mind as one reads. Such reading is prayer indeed, for the human seeker becomes aware of the hidden Presence of the One sought--the Presence of God--in and through the activity of spiritual reading.

Let me try to develop this insight, for it is crucial for prayerful reading. When one reads the Psalms for the sake of growing in the love and knowledge of God, then it is the LORD Himself who is moving one to read, it is the LORD who nourishes the soul, it is the LORD who is both the one sought and the ever-present mover in the search. In divine reading, one is not primarily praying to God, although that is one aspect of this spiritual exercise, and perhaps what most beginners are more conscious of as they read. Beginners think that they are praying to God, and with this sense is often a conviction that it is right and just to pray to God. Without denying this dimension of divine reading, what makes it truly divine is that this prayerful reading is first and foremost the work of the Holy Spirit praying in one’s heart, and moving one to read the words on the page, and nourishing the mind and heart as one reads. In divine reading, the human-divine union is being actualized, so that the one praying could say, paraphrasing the Apostle Paul, “I am praying, yet not I, but the Spirit of Christ (or Christ) is praying in me.” Indeed, it is trust in the divine Presence as moving this activity that makes it genuine prayer, and it is an awareness of divine Presence as one reads prayerfully that makes it truly “divine reading,” lectio divina.

Divine reading is essentially an iconic activity. Just as one is aware that the living God is attending to the human being who stands before and venerates an Icon, so the person reading the Psalms as spiritual reading is aware that the God sought is the One present. One may “hear” the voice of God in and through the Psalms, or One may sense the divine Presence stirring in the unseen depths, in the “heart of hearts.” But perhaps especially in stillness, as the mind is absorbed in reading, one becomes aware of the living truth: “You Are,” or “You are here,” or in other words expressing the divine-human-union-in-distinction: One, yet two; together, yet distinct; You and I-in-You.

Thoughts On Praying The Psalms, Part I

In the homilies I delivered this past week-end (18-19 February), I emphasized the need for prayer and study to develop one’s spiritual life. In the context of discussing prayer, I encouraged parishioners to pray the psalms. After Mass a woman of faith said that she reads the psalms, but does not pray them. I wonder: Is there a difference? If you read the psalms to draw closer to God, you are praying, whether you know it or not. Prayer is the longing of the heart for communion with God, and seeing life in the perspective of the Divine source of all that is. When I read, I pray. And you?

Some practical suggestions to pray and appreciate the Psalms:

First, to pray the psalms, I suggest beginning with Psalm 1, and reading through the psaltery in order, at least for the first few readings. The order of the 150 psalms is not haphazard. Indeed, over the years I have come to see how the collection of psalms has been stitched together. For example, a key symbol introduced in one psalm (as being “blessed” in Psalm 1) is taken up in the next, and in subsequent psalms. Thoughts are presented in various contexts, but often elaborated or modified or even negated in subsequent psalms. Years ago I found a sequence of inter-related psalms that I named “the little wisdom psalter.” Keep your eyes open, and you shall see patterns: types of psalms, recurring symbols (words), different theological perspectives, substructures in the collection, and so on.

Second, I strongly suggest that you read the psalms with a pencil or pen in your hand. When a particular verse speaks to you, you may mark it, and return to it in following days--and even years later. If some thought seems especially illuminating or moving, you may even jot down a few words in the margin, and record the date in the psalm. Also, if some psalms really speak to you personally, I would star them, or mark them in a way that you may return more readily to them in the future. Then when you pray that psalm later, you are in continuity with thoughts and experiences of your past.

Third, grow in the habit of praying the psalms as part of your life. The psalms are indeed “the prayer book of the Church,” even though they were written in Hebrew as expressions of Israelite and Jewish faith. After all, we are branches on the tree grounded in the faith of Abraham, Moses, and the prophets. The psalms help to root us in the People of God and, indeed, with all of humankind existing through centuries.

Fourth, all sorts of translations of the Psalms are available. I have studied a number of them over the years. My favorites remain the Grail Psalter and the collection found in the RSV--the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. The Catholic New American Bible, original or revised editions, is also very good and readable. On occasion I study passages in the original Hebrew and the ancient Greek that influenced the first Christians (including the Apostle Paul), and the fruit of that study informs my preaching the Gospel of Christ. Please note: If beginning to read the Psalms seems difficult, know that they become much easier with practice and repeated effort. Good things in life usually require effort.

Fifth, I tentatively suggest a few of my own favorite psalms for you to consider, chosen from various types of psalms, as minds, personal tastes, and interests vary. The numbers I give are from the Hebrew Bible, with the common Catholic numbering in parentheses. For clarity, I quote the first line in case you are confused by the numbering, as I used to be.

    1 (1): “Blessed indeed is the man...”
    6 (6): “LORD, do not reprove me in your anger”
    8 (8): “How great is your Name, O LORD our God, through all the earth”

    16 (15): “Preserve me, God, I take refuge in You”
    19 (18): “The heavens proclaim the glory of God”
    22 (21): “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
    23 (22): “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want”
    27 (26): “The LORD is my light, and my salvation”

    32 (31): “Happy the man whose offense is forgiven”
    34 (33): “I will bless the LORD at all times”
    36 (35): “Sin speaks to the sinner in the depths of his heart”
    39 (38): “I said: I will be watchful of my ways”
    40 (39): “I waited, I waited for the LORD”

    42-43 (41-42): “Like the deer that yearns for flowing streams”
    48 (47): “The LORD is great and worthy to be praised in the city of our God”
    51 (50): “Have mercy on me, o God, in your kindness
    61 (60): “O God, hear my cry, listen to my prayer”
    63 (62): “O God, you are my God, for you I long”
    65 (64): “To you our praise is due in Zion, o God”

    73 (72): “How good God is to Israel, to those who are pure of heart”
    80 (79): “O Shepherd of Israel, hear us”
    81 (80): “Ring out our joy to God our strength”
    84 (83): “How lovely is your dwelling place, LORD, God of hosts”
    86 (85): “Turn your ear, O LORD, and give answer”
    88 (87): “LORD my God, I call for help by day”

    90 (89): “O LORD, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next” 
        (the only psalm attributed to “Moses, the man of God”)
    91 (90): “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High”
    92 (91): “It is good to give thanks to the LORD”
    95 (94): “Come, ring out our joy to the LORD”
    96 (95): “O, sing a new song to the LORD”

    102 (101): “O LORD, listen to my prayer”
    103 (102): “My soul, give thanks to the LORD”
    104 (103): “Bless the LORD, my soul”
    106 (105): “O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good”
    107 (106): “O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good

    112 (111): “Happy the man who fears the LORD”
    113-118 (112-117): “Praise, O servants of the LORD”
    (these psalms form the lesser Hallel for Passover)

    127 (126): “If the LORD does not build the house”
    130 (129): “Out of the depths I cry to you, o LORD”
    136 (135): “O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good”
    (the great Hallel for Passover)

    138 (137): “I thank you, LORD, with all my heart”
    139 (138): “O LORD, you search me and you know me” (hound of heaven)
    143 (142): “LORD, listen to my prayer”
    148-150: “Alleluia! Praise the LORD from the heavens”
    (3 psalms known as “Laudes,” “Praises,” in the Church tradition)

Spiritual Exercises For Lent 2012

For Parishioners of St. Mark’s, Holy Trinity, St. Mary’s, and St. Clements

In the realm of the spirit--the life of the soul--no one can afford to glide, slide, become indifferent, turn away. Either one is moving towards God, or one is moving away from God. You are either attending to the Divine, or you are turning away and becoming lost in passing things. In the realm of the spirit, there is no such thing as neutrality: one struggles against sin and evil, or one embraces true and enduring goods.

What is at stake is life: One can maintain physical life with proper nutrition, exercise, rest, but these things do not guarantee inner life, spiritual life, the life of the soul. One can have a healthy body, and be dying inside. Spiritual death shows up in sin, selfishness, excessive sorrow, unhappiness, a depressed spirit, lack of energy, loss of a sense of purpose, a belief that life is meaningless, nagging irritability, spiritual and mental laziness, and so on.

To gain and to maintain true life--the life of the human spirit--one must ever engage in two activities: putting to death in oneself all that is sinful, not of God; and seeking to love and to know God with all of one’s heart, mind, soul. Regarding putting to death whatever is sinful and evil in one’s character I have written elsewhere, and will develop those thoughts in due course. For the present we concentrate on the positive: What ought one do to gain and to maintain genuine spiritual life? What are fundamental and needed spiritual exercises to grow in God?

There are two kinds of activities necessary to develop one’s character and spiritual life. Both entail the development of virtues or excellences of soul. These virtues were well classified by the Greek philosophers as moral and intellectual-spiritual virtues. Moral virtues are essentially actions developing in particular ways the love of oneself (mind and body), and the love of one’s neighbors. Intellectual / spiritual virtues develop the life of the mind more directly, and the human being’s life in God. Both sets of virtues can be seen under Christ’s dual commandment: to love God, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself. For the present, I will concentrate our attention on love of God, with the understanding that love of God entails the right use of one’s mental and spiritual powers. The love of neighbor is given much attention in homilies and in one’s daily and practical life. In our culture generally, and all-too-often even in the churches, we neglect to guide our people on the path of loving God, and nourishing the Divine within the human soul.

Now we ask a concrete question: How can a human being develop the life of his mind, his spiritual life? The fundamental activity is simple, yet demanding: prayer and study. In other words, one must become mindful of the reality of God (prayer) and seek to understand oneself and the world in light of God (study).

As St. Bonaventure famously summarized our tradition, prayer is  essentially the lifting of the mind and heart to God. By prayer one attends to the unseen reality which we call “God.” One may ask God questions, ask for needs to be filled, or praise and thank God for Who He Is and what He does.

The kind of study that nourishes the life of the spirit places all that exists and happens in light of God. One studies to gain wisdom and understanding: to develop a right perspective on life, to see everything in God, and under divine Providence. All that is, all that happens, unfolds in God. Study aims to clarify this truth.

                                                                          ***
Enough of these generalizations for the present. In what activities ought our parishioners to engage in order to grow spiritually? I raise the question in response to Bishop Michael’s Lenten Letter to Priests, 2012, in which he exhorts and encourages priests of this diocese to engage in more spiritual activities, and he makes suggestions as to which forms are most likely to produce good results in his priests.

Understanding that individual needs and abilities vary, I tentatively make the following suggestions to be considered by parishioners:

   First and foremost, each parishioner ought to seek to attend Mass each Saturday-Sunday. We offer four week-end Liturgies in these faith communities. When present, one ought to try to be truly present in mind by praying and being attentive.

   Second, during Lent, I encourage each parishioner to attend at least one weekday Mass each week. We provide Masses on Monday, Tuesday morning, Tuesday evening, and Friday. In Great Falls one can find Masses offered daily in a number of Catholic churches.

  Third, I encourage each parishioner to spend at least 15 minutes a day in prayer: praying the psalms; or reciting the Rosary; or quietly praying from the heart; or in another way that one finds suitable, and to which one will be faithful.

  Fourth, some form of study of the things of God is necessary for spiritual growth. The adult faith class is intended to aid parishioners in their spiritual lives as we study the Gospel of John together. For our young people, CCD is offered, and children are urged to attend. Otherwise, I strongly encourage each person to spend at least an hour a week nourishing their knowledge of the things of God. Good books are readily available. You may ask me for suggestions. Spiritual growth requires mental activity.

  Fifth, each person is encouraged to reflect on his or her sins, and to avail themselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and attend our common penance services (as on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday this Lent, with the burning of sins).

  Sixth, each person ought to spend some time each week in silence, seeking God’s Presence, listening to His silent word, and adoring the LORD in the heart. There is no substitute for time spent alone with the Alone.

  Seventh, plan now to attend all of the main Liturgies during Holy Week: Passion (Palm) Sunday; Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday; the Good Friday service; and either the Easter Vigil (Holy Saturday evening) or an Easter day Mass. These are the High Holy Days of Christian faith. Why would you not attend them?

Lent: The Struggle With Evil

Until a human being has become fully one in God, all that is not-God is problematic in his or her life. No one grows more like God without struggling against evil. The great deterrences to union with God come not from without, but from within: all that is called “sin” in our faith tradition. Sin is essentially the orientation of the soul, of the human person, away from God, and an immersion in illusions--what appears good, but is not.

Evil results from sin. What does one experience in presence of evil? One feels pulled towards a seemingly infinite void of non-reality, into an abyss which has no end, no limit, no escape. In simplest words, one “feels bad,” and may feel a chilling cold, in the presence of the vortex of evil. Although evil is masked by what exists, it is felt as an undertow into a realm from which the traveler does not return. A person with sense or common goodness instinctively wants to flee from the experience of this void. One knows it because one feels it: Evil destroys. At times one can experience a kind of magical pull from evil, as though it casts a spell on a person, and lures him from his better senses and grounding in reality towards a bottomless and lightless pit. Evil has nothing to give, but it may promise joy, knowledge, even life.

Evil lies and deceives. Evil hides under the appearance of good. Men who habitually yield to evil become dark in spirit, lifeless, deceitful, hateful, destructive, and powerfully envious of those who do good. Those who dabble in evil hate the good they believe they cannot attain. In Christ’s words in John ch. 3: “Those who do evil hate the light, and refuse to come to the light, lest their evil deeds be exposed; but those who do good come to the light, that it may be clearly seen that their deeds are wrought in God.”

Evil shows up in the will to power, the desire to dominate others that may masquerade as “service” or even as “love,” but in reality is self-seeking, controlling, manipulating, dominating. At its worst, evil as will-to-power attempts to silence truth, to deceive people, to present itself as good, and ultimately to destroy whatever is most truly good, true, beautiful, and one. Why? Because evil essentially is nothing but the negation of whatever is good and true. Evil can only negate, destroy, deceive, for evil has nothing of goodness or truth to give. Evil takes without giving, kills without bringing life.

Blessed the man or woman who can discern evil from good, who takes inspiration and direction from the light that comes from the divine Light, and not from the deceitful, swirling power of sheer evil. Happy the soul arising by love into goodness, by self-control into divine and true joy. That soul will live forever in God.