When we hear the expression, "the purpose driven life," I wonder what it stirs up for people? Perhaps it connotes a sense of living from the inside out, rather than being a victim of circumstances, or of constantly being in a reactive rather than proactive posture. It might suggest that a person is capable of setting their own agenda, articulating their own self-formulated values, or of someone who is self-possessed rather than being subject to the whims of the world.
When it comes to Jesus, it is fairly safe to say that he was a purpose driven person, and that the purpose he served was that of proclaiming and revealing the Kingdom of God. At the same time, even though the Kingdom seems to have been his animating purpose, when he describes it to others, he always explains it by use of analogy. What do you think he means?
Gospel
Lk 13:18-21
Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like?
To what can I compare it?
It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden.
When it was fully grown, it became a large bush
and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”
Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?
It is like yeast that a woman took
and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Woman Unbent
The gospel today strikes me as a powerful contrast with the Church's patriarchal position on the role of women. Jesus defies religious conventions by healing on the Sabbath, and beyond this, it is hard not to see the symbolic meaning of this gesture as he heals the bent woman.
Gospel
Lk 13:10-17
Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath.
And a woman was there who for eighteen years
had been crippled by a spirit;
she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect.
When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said,
“Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.”
He laid his hands on her,
and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.
But the leader of the synagogue,
indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath,
said to the crowd in reply,
“There are six days when work should be done.
Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.”
The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites!
Does not each one of you on the sabbath
untie his ox or his ass from the manger
and lead it out for watering?
This daughter of Abraham,
whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now,
ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day
from this bondage?”
When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated;
and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.
Irene Zimmerman, OFM writes a lovely and powerful poem inspired by this liberating and healing encounter:
Woman Un-Bent
That Sabbath day as always
she went to the synagogue
and took the place assigned her
right behind the grill where,
the elders had concurred,
she would block no one's view,
she would lean her heavy head,
and (though this was not said)
she'd give a good example to those who stood behind her.
That day, intent as always
on the Word (for eighteen years
she'd listened thus), she heard
Authority when Jesus spoke.
Though long stripped
of forwardness,
she came forward, nonetheless,
when Jesus summoned her.
"Woman, you are free
of your infirmity," he said.
The leader of the synagogue
worked himself into a sweat
as he tried to bend the Sabbath
and the woman back in place.
But she stood up straight and let
God's glory touch her face.
Gospel
Lk 13:10-17
Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath.
And a woman was there who for eighteen years
had been crippled by a spirit;
she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect.
When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said,
“Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.”
He laid his hands on her,
and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.
But the leader of the synagogue,
indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath,
said to the crowd in reply,
“There are six days when work should be done.
Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.”
The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites!
Does not each one of you on the sabbath
untie his ox or his ass from the manger
and lead it out for watering?
This daughter of Abraham,
whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now,
ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day
from this bondage?”
When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated;
and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.
Irene Zimmerman, OFM writes a lovely and powerful poem inspired by this liberating and healing encounter:
Woman Un-Bent
That Sabbath day as always
she went to the synagogue
and took the place assigned her
right behind the grill where,
the elders had concurred,
she would block no one's view,
she would lean her heavy head,
and (though this was not said)
she'd give a good example to those who stood behind her.
That day, intent as always
on the Word (for eighteen years
she'd listened thus), she heard
Authority when Jesus spoke.
Though long stripped
of forwardness,
she came forward, nonetheless,
when Jesus summoned her.
"Woman, you are free
of your infirmity," he said.
The leader of the synagogue
worked himself into a sweat
as he tried to bend the Sabbath
and the woman back in place.
But she stood up straight and let
God's glory touch her face.
Sayings of St. Ignatius of Loyola
"The one who sets about making others better is wasting his/her time unless that person begins with his/herself."
Sunday, October 25, 2009
A new way of seeing...
I've been reflecting the whole day on the Gospel from today's liturgy...
Gospel
Mk 10:46-52
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more,
"Son of David, have pity on me."
Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
"Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you."
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?"
The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."
Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.
------
As with every Gospel passage, there are so many ways to interpret a given passage, and when we pray over a certain text, there is often a way that our current lived reality affects what we see and how we see it. This morning, I was meditating on the theme of sight... What is it that I need to see more clearly? Where are my blind-spots? Do I feel the same irrepressible desire to be healed and to follow Jesus? Do I have to faith that the blind man had?
In truth, my prayer foundered a bit in abstraction. Focused on myself, these questions didn't get much traction or yield much insight. But later in the day, I was driving back from an art exhibit downtown and saw a man by the side of the road, holding a sign saying that he was homeless and needed help. Hmmm... I could not help but make the association with Bartimaeus sitting on the curb calling for help.
Now, you might be thinking that because I made that connection, or simply because I have an empathetic concern as a Christian, or as a fellow human being, that I pulled over and went to this man's aid. But instead, I passed him, rationalizing that if I did stop to give the man money, that he would use it for drugs or alcohol. And indeed, for all the years I lived in New York City, I always made a point to offer people food, not cash, even if it meant that I spent much more than I would have if I had given a handout. It was a sort of principle I held on to, and as a result, many people declined the offer because they seemed uninterested in food. Others took me up on it and at times, this led to ongoing relationship with homeless men and women, such that we knew each others' names and basic story lines, and occasionally we shared a meal together.
But today, I realized that principle was based on an assumption about people and their motivations. It was based on a sort of cynical blanket judgment, that while it might have applied in certain situations, was by no means universally accurate. Assumptions have a way of affecting what and how we see... and today, I had my blinders taken off (at least that particular set!). Maybe principles work in a general way by definition, but if I am not mistaken, Jesus decided on a case by case basis how he would respond to each person... because he truly saw each person. I hope I might do the same.
Gospel
Mk 10:46-52
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more,
"Son of David, have pity on me."
Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
"Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you."
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?"
The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."
Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.
------
As with every Gospel passage, there are so many ways to interpret a given passage, and when we pray over a certain text, there is often a way that our current lived reality affects what we see and how we see it. This morning, I was meditating on the theme of sight... What is it that I need to see more clearly? Where are my blind-spots? Do I feel the same irrepressible desire to be healed and to follow Jesus? Do I have to faith that the blind man had?
In truth, my prayer foundered a bit in abstraction. Focused on myself, these questions didn't get much traction or yield much insight. But later in the day, I was driving back from an art exhibit downtown and saw a man by the side of the road, holding a sign saying that he was homeless and needed help. Hmmm... I could not help but make the association with Bartimaeus sitting on the curb calling for help.
Now, you might be thinking that because I made that connection, or simply because I have an empathetic concern as a Christian, or as a fellow human being, that I pulled over and went to this man's aid. But instead, I passed him, rationalizing that if I did stop to give the man money, that he would use it for drugs or alcohol. And indeed, for all the years I lived in New York City, I always made a point to offer people food, not cash, even if it meant that I spent much more than I would have if I had given a handout. It was a sort of principle I held on to, and as a result, many people declined the offer because they seemed uninterested in food. Others took me up on it and at times, this led to ongoing relationship with homeless men and women, such that we knew each others' names and basic story lines, and occasionally we shared a meal together.
But today, I realized that principle was based on an assumption about people and their motivations. It was based on a sort of cynical blanket judgment, that while it might have applied in certain situations, was by no means universally accurate. Assumptions have a way of affecting what and how we see... and today, I had my blinders taken off (at least that particular set!). Maybe principles work in a general way by definition, but if I am not mistaken, Jesus decided on a case by case basis how he would respond to each person... because he truly saw each person. I hope I might do the same.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Sayings from St. Ignatius of Loyola
"To the just man even the strokes of adverse fortune are of profit: while hurting they advantage him, like a dew of precious stones depriving the vine of its leaves to bestow on it a better treasure"
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Sayings from Ignatius of Loyola
"Let your first rule of action be to trust God as if success depended entirely on yourself and not on him; but use all your efforts as if God alone did everything, and yourself nothing."
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
What does it mean to awaken?
In the Gospel from today's mass, Jesus tells the disciples to stay awake:
Gospel
Lk 12:35-38
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.”
We might ask ourselves what he means? It seems to go without saying that Jesus is talking about more than being literally awake. He does not expect us to become insomniacs, but rather, to be awake and aware to his presence in all the ways that he becomes manifest to us, in particular, in the person who is poor, hungry, lonely, grieving, imprisoned, marginalized, etc. While we might have the sensitivity to perceive Jesus' presence in the other on a good day, the difficulty is when we are figuratively "asleep"-- consumed with our own agendas, in an impatient rush, fragmented by our anxieties. It takes practice to be be awake and pay attention despite all these tendencies, and this is how practices like the Ignatian Examen of Consciousness can be a help. By paying attention to our experience and reflecting on our day, we can gradually become more reflective IN ACTION... less prone to getting caught asleep.
IGNATIAN EXAMEN OF CONSCIOUSNESS
In this brief prayer period, I have an opportunity to take stock of my experience in relation to my relationships and my work. I am looking for signs of God’s presence, and a sense of where I need to focus some attention for the sake of my personal growth and my greater responsiveness to those in need. In order to do this, I set aside 15 minutes once or twice a day for this reflective prayer.
Grace to pray for: I seek to have the grace of praising God for the things I am grateful for, and I ask God for freedom from any fears and attachments that are obstacles to my growth in love and availability to others.
First, I spend some time quietly coming into awareness of God’s presence with me. I do this by becoming aware of the sensations in my body, of my breathing, and of the feelings I have at this moment. God is here with me and I continue with a humble confidence in God’s loving care for me.
Lights: What are the “lights” of my experience for which I feel gratitude to God? Where have I experienced consolation… growth in faith, hope, and love? Where was I charged up with energy, excitement, and life? When did I feel the quiet but unmistakable peace and joy of being in harmony with God? Is there someone who has helped me to experience Christ today? Am I aware of embodying the Spirit of Christ through my being, knowing, and doing?
Pray for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit: I know that God calls me into the fullness of life. In the light of God’s love for me, I can become more aware of my shadows and the ways that I might continue to grow in freedom from fear. I notice these shadows without judgment, but only that I might grow in self-knowledge and in compassion for others.
Shadows: Where have I experienced desolation, a sense of diminished faith, hope, or love? Where have I experienced discouragement or a sense of paralyzing sadness? Have there been times when I felt out of step with Jesus, in disharmony with God? Have there been times when I have felt resistance to serving the people who present their needs to me? Where have I experienced emotions like ingratitude, envy, or a tendency to judge? Am I aware of habits or patterns that call for transformation through some personal attention and the work of grace?
Resolution: Where do I need to grow in grace? What can I do, practically speaking, to cooperate with God in this area of growth?
Conclusion: Spend a few moments conversing with Jesus as you would a close friend, sharing your experience of the prayer time. Be careful to listen to his response before closing with the Our Father.
Adapted from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola by David McCallum, S.J.
Gospel
Lk 12:35-38
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.”
We might ask ourselves what he means? It seems to go without saying that Jesus is talking about more than being literally awake. He does not expect us to become insomniacs, but rather, to be awake and aware to his presence in all the ways that he becomes manifest to us, in particular, in the person who is poor, hungry, lonely, grieving, imprisoned, marginalized, etc. While we might have the sensitivity to perceive Jesus' presence in the other on a good day, the difficulty is when we are figuratively "asleep"-- consumed with our own agendas, in an impatient rush, fragmented by our anxieties. It takes practice to be be awake and pay attention despite all these tendencies, and this is how practices like the Ignatian Examen of Consciousness can be a help. By paying attention to our experience and reflecting on our day, we can gradually become more reflective IN ACTION... less prone to getting caught asleep.
IGNATIAN EXAMEN OF CONSCIOUSNESS
In this brief prayer period, I have an opportunity to take stock of my experience in relation to my relationships and my work. I am looking for signs of God’s presence, and a sense of where I need to focus some attention for the sake of my personal growth and my greater responsiveness to those in need. In order to do this, I set aside 15 minutes once or twice a day for this reflective prayer.
Grace to pray for: I seek to have the grace of praising God for the things I am grateful for, and I ask God for freedom from any fears and attachments that are obstacles to my growth in love and availability to others.
First, I spend some time quietly coming into awareness of God’s presence with me. I do this by becoming aware of the sensations in my body, of my breathing, and of the feelings I have at this moment. God is here with me and I continue with a humble confidence in God’s loving care for me.
Lights: What are the “lights” of my experience for which I feel gratitude to God? Where have I experienced consolation… growth in faith, hope, and love? Where was I charged up with energy, excitement, and life? When did I feel the quiet but unmistakable peace and joy of being in harmony with God? Is there someone who has helped me to experience Christ today? Am I aware of embodying the Spirit of Christ through my being, knowing, and doing?
Pray for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit: I know that God calls me into the fullness of life. In the light of God’s love for me, I can become more aware of my shadows and the ways that I might continue to grow in freedom from fear. I notice these shadows without judgment, but only that I might grow in self-knowledge and in compassion for others.
Shadows: Where have I experienced desolation, a sense of diminished faith, hope, or love? Where have I experienced discouragement or a sense of paralyzing sadness? Have there been times when I felt out of step with Jesus, in disharmony with God? Have there been times when I have felt resistance to serving the people who present their needs to me? Where have I experienced emotions like ingratitude, envy, or a tendency to judge? Am I aware of habits or patterns that call for transformation through some personal attention and the work of grace?
Resolution: Where do I need to grow in grace? What can I do, practically speaking, to cooperate with God in this area of growth?
Conclusion: Spend a few moments conversing with Jesus as you would a close friend, sharing your experience of the prayer time. Be careful to listen to his response before closing with the Our Father.
Adapted from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola by David McCallum, S.J.
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