Thursday, October 31, 2013

All Hallows

Happy Halloween!

I suppose I just wanted to say that because this time of year, and it was no different this year, we often hear a good deal of ridiculous talk from various Christian leaders across the evangelical-catholic spectrum, who are way too concerned about the "evils" of Halloween. Let the kids have fun. Let the adults have fun too! Who doesn't like an excuse to eat a few pieces of candy?

But when you really delve into where Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, comes from you learn that, sure it has pagan roots (so does the Christmas tree, the Easter egg and a whole lot of other things we have convinced ourselves are Christian), but it is deeply embedded into a Christian way of understanding the mystery of death, which, for us, is deeply connected with the mystery of life. The living and the dead live in an on-going community called the Communion of Saints. All Hallows Eve is essentially the vigil of that feast we call All Saints and is a way of commemorating the waiting that is the hallmark of the Christian faith.

Sure the way Halloween is celebrated in the secular world does not reflect much of this, but neither does the way the secular world celebrate Christmas reflect the religious nature of the holiday - and no one is calling for the banning of Christmas. Enjoy those few pieces of candy, admire the really creative costumes you might see, and thank God that God keeps us in communion with all the living and the dead in the unity of Christ. It is a great gift that celebrates all of life in its various manifestations. Happy All Hallows.



Monday, October 28, 2013

St. Jude

Today, in the Western Church, we celebrate the feast of St. Jude (and St. Simon). Jude was one of the Apostles and has, in popular devotion, become known as the patron of hopeless and desperate causes. I grew up with images of St. Jude like the one I have posted and the thing I was always focused on was the flame on top of his head. I remember thinking "wow, he must be praying so hard for all those hopeless cases that his head just burst into flame."

I eventually learned that the flame was a symbol of the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, and as that seems like a little more of a theological basis for the image, I've decided to go with that as the explanation.

But sometimes, a little child's understanding of what they see, has a greater truth to it. Go into any church that has a statue or image of St. Jude (usually these are Roman Catholic churches) and, after the Virgin Mary, the most candles are lit for the prayers of St. Jude. I often visited a church in New York City, which was then close to my work, in which I would find lines of people waiting to light candles for their hopeless cases. I can remember many times just sitting there praying for each person in that line, wondering who or what in their life was so hopeless.

Life can be so difficult for people in so many different ways, disease, addictions, abandonment a but a few of the examples. And it can be so difficult for peoples, caught in the grip of dire poverty, endless war, outrageous oppression. And that's why a devotion to St. Jude and his aid in hopeless situations is so very human and so very faithful. We know that Jesus told us "if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." (Mt 17:21). But when we look at some of the hopelessness in our own lives, or in the lives of those we love, or in the world, sometimes we just need our friends, including our saint friends, like St. Jude, to help us remember our faith. Remember, you do not have to have faith the size of the mountain to move that mountain - just the size of a mustard seed. St. Jude is there to help.

So, today, let us pray for all the hopeless cases in our lives - people and situations that seem beyond redemption, remembering that no person is beyond redemption. And let us pray for all those places in our world, where there is endless violence and despair, and remember that these situations are not beyond the help of God's tender compassion. Let us hope and hope and  hope. And then let us hope some more.

St. Jude pray for us.

Peace be upon you.








Saturday, October 26, 2013

God's Mercy Endures Forever

You are welcome here my sister, my brother!

In our monastic breviary (the book that contains all the psalms, canticles, and prayers that we say at every Office), we pray Psalm 136 at Saturday Vespers in Week II (we have a two week cycle). And on almost every Saturday, not just those of Week II, I find myself thinking about Psalm 136 all day. In fact, I think about on many days of the week, because I simultaneously love it and fear it.

I love it because the overriding theme of this psalm is that God's mercy endures forever (in our breviary and in the Book of Common Prayer the word "mercy" is the translation used, while in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the phrase "steadfast love" is the translation used). Knowing how much not only I, but all of God's people need mercy, I really respond to this. Some of the verses are so full of the loving, non-violent and creative ways that God has demonstrated God's mercy toward the people it makes my soul sing with gratitude for all the mercy that God has shown to me and to us all.

My fear comes from the verses that want to attribute great violence by God committed on behalf of the Chosen People. That just does not sit well with me. It is so easy to look back on history, and attribute a victory to God having been on "our" side, and a loss to God having abandoned "us", whoever the "us" is. People all over the world, and throughout history, have been attributing horrific violence to God or to their gods and have justified all kinds of atrocities in this way.

 The point of view that "God is on our side" leads peoples and nations to commit awful violence against one another. This violence has plagued our world for a very long time and continues to do so. But I believe Jesus showed us another way - a way that begins from within and among the Chosen People but leads us to Christ's understanding of who the Chosen People are. That is, an understanding that opens salvation to all of humanity.

And so, as we are chanting Psalm 136 at Saturday Vespers, I often "write" in my head how I think it might be chanted in the context of a non-violent approach to Christianity that I believe Jesus taught and that God calls us to. Here, for the first time, I actually write it and offer it to you with the caveat that I don't regularly spend time re-writing Scripture. On the other hand, this comes up so often in response to this psalm that I love (for its evocation of God's mercy) and fear (for the horrors we sometimes commit ourselves, but attribute to God) so much - that it just seems appropriate at this time.

The first nine verses and the last verse are from the psalm itself. All the rest of the verses are my understanding of how God, in God's tender compassion, has shown us that God's mercy endures forever.

Psalm 136
A non-violent re-interpretation 

Give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good,    
 for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to the God of gods,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who only does great wonders,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who by wisdom made the heavens,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who spread out the earth upon the waters,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who created great lights,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

The sun to rule the day,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

The moon and the stars to govern the night,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who granted Abraham and Sarah a vision of the future,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led the people of Israel from slavery to freedom,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who inspired David and others to compose the psalms,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who gave Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all the Prophets a voice to cry out with,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago through the fiery furnace,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to God for Christ's holy incarnation,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to God for the Holy Cross,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to God for Christ's loving descent into hell,
for God's mercy endures for ever. 

Give thanks to God for Christ's triumphant resurrection,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to God for Christ's glorious ascension,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to God for the Coming of the Spirit,
for God's mercy endures for ever. 

Who called Mary to respond with a yes,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who called Joseph to be compassionate,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who called John the Baptist to cry out in the wilderness,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led monks and nuns to the desert,
for God's mercy endures forever.

Who inspired Martin of Tours to lay down his sword,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led Benedict to welcome all as Christ,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who inspired Francis to seek peace with Muslims,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who inspired Rumi to write poetry,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led Menno Simons to embrace pacifism,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to struggle for women's rights,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led Paul Jones to oppose all war,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who inspired Mahatma Gandi to teach us non-violence,
for God's mercy endures forever.

Who led Dorothy Day to care for the poor,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led Jonas Salk to cure polio,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who inspired Martin Luther King to give us the way to liberation,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led us to marry whom we love,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who is present to us in all our sisters and brothers,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who is present to us in all the creation,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to the God of heaven,
for God's mercy endures for ever. 


I could go on and on I suppose, but I will not. Perhaps you have ways that you would like to add how God's mercy has endured for ever in our history or in your life. May God continue to bless us in God's mercy, for God's love endures for ever.

Please feel free to add a couplet in the comments section of how you believe God's mercy endures forever.

Peace be upon you.















Thursday, October 24, 2013

Silence = Freedom

Sister, Brother: you are welcome here!

Today at the monastery we are in the third day of our "Contemplative Days". This is something we do five times a year and each one of them is three days long. These days are different from retreat - we do that twice a year, once together here at the monastery in early January, and then once separately at some other retreat house at whatever time of year works for the monk making the retreat. These are eight days long and no work or ministry goes on.

But the Contemplative Days are different. We do slow down a great deal. No formal ministry and no meetings. We are in total silence twenty-four hours a day, we are focused on the more contemplative aspect of our vocations: reading, silent prayer, etc. But we do engage in hospitality for no more than fifteen guests. They are also in silence and seem to revel in it as much as we do.

And what is that reveling all about? Well, ask any monk and he will probably give you his own take on the reveling, but for me, it is all about freedom and liberation. When St. Benedict wrote his Rule for monks he highly recommended silence. For example: "Monks should diligently cultivate silence at all times, but especially at night." (Rule of Benedict: 42:1). So that is what gives us the tradition of the Greater Silence, which begins after Compline (the last Office of the night) and continues until breakfast is finished. That gives us about twelve hours of silence per day. But at different times of the year we like to add to that silence as per the beginning of the verse I just quoted, so that we have it "at all times."

This admonition for silence that Benedict gave us is steeped in Scripture. In various places throughout the Rule, when referring to silence, Benedict is quoting the Psalms, Proverbs, and various sections of the New Testament as well. He knows that we need silence to avoid sin: "when words are many, transgression is not lacking..." (Prov 10:19), and as an example that God gives us when we do sin: "These things you have done and I have been silent..." (Ps 50:21). But most of all, Benedict sees the implications of silence found throughout Scripture as a way to cultivate inner peace.

Just think about how noisy our world is as compared to Benedict's, who lived from c. 480 - c. 550. And yet, even back then, in the waning days of the Roman Empire, Benedict was quite clear that silence was essential. He had only people's chattering to deal with. We have that, plus televisions, cell phones, computers, radios, all kinds of devices that make noise (either aural or visual), incessant advertising everywhere we go, very loud music and televisions playing at the same time in every public place. We need a break.

We know we need that break and God knows it. Thus, the reveling in silence. This silence allows us to, first of all, get back in touch with ourselves, to say nothing of God. When I first came to the monastery, I thought I was coming to "search for God" and indeed I was. But it did not take long for me to discover that in order to search for God, we must first find ourselves. Silence is a big help in that area.

All that noise that we make, that others make, or that is the white noise under-girding our lives, is often just a way to help us lose ourselves. We are so often frightened of what is really in our hearts or on our minds that we just want to drown it out with noise, lots of noise. But the first thing we have to do, if we wish to search for God, is to know who it is that is doing the searching - with all our weakness, fear, anger, sin, strength, hope, joy, and love - all of who we are are. Because in some ways, coming home to ourselves, is coming home to God. This is the contemplative life in action, if you will. In order to go more deeply into ourselves, we must spend some time in silence. Liberation, freedom, is being open to coming home to ourself, whatever that self is. God loves us and the more we know our self, the more we can let God love our whole self. That is freedom.

Now I know, having lived "in the world" for a long time before I came to the monastery, that finding even five minutes of silence can be nearly impossible for many people. Family life, work, ministry, commuting, errands, do not lend themselves to silence. But here is my plea to each of you, because in God's tender compassion, God has communicated in so many ways that we are worth it: find a way to take five minutes for yourself in total silence. I have an old friend who when she had kids at home used to do this in the bathroom and she said it changed her life. Five minutes in the bathroom, attic, basement, backyard, front steps, a walk around the block, wherever - five minutes of total silence in which you simply come home to yourself. Try it and keep on trying it and I'll develop next steps in future entries. Try it, because of...

How great our God is.
Give thanks
Peace be upon you

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

The Tender Compassion of our God

Welcome to my new blog! Hospitality is a key theme for Benedictines and this blog is another way to reach out to God's people and welcome them. I hope that you will come back often. I suppose I am feeling a need to write again. which comes up periodically in my life and it has been a while since this last surfaced, but that desire (call?) seems to have come back strongly. A blog seemed a good way to respond. 

The title for this blog, "The Tender Compassion of our God" is taken from the Benedictus [Luke 1:68-79], which we pray every morning in Matins. The Benedictus is the prayer/hope of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, as given to us by the Gospel of Luke and is one of my favorite prayers. It is, along with Mary's Magnificat [Luke1:46-55], which we pray every evening at Vespers, one of the great prayers of liberation found in the Gospels. 

That theme of liberation is a great one for me. It has been present in my own spiritual journey from the time I was a teenager, when I was being taught in my high school religion classes by some great Sisters of Mercy back in the 70's. From my perspective, the liberation that Christ offers on both an individual and a communal level has, as its starting place, the tender compassion of God. Without that tender compassion, we just find ourselves lost and in deep trouble. 

The Incarnation is a lesson in that tender compassion: God so passionately loving humanity, that God almost had to send his Son to become part of it. The infancy narratives, especially in Luke, with its two major prayers - the Benedictus and the Magnificat - are the great songs of liberation celebrating the hope and expectation of God's people that God, does indeed, have great and tender compassion for God's people. 

Our faith journey is one of joy in that liberation. That is not to say that we don't have pain and suffering in our lives or in our communities or in our world. We certainly do. And, in fact, that will be some of what I will muse on in future blog entries. But the point of the Incarnation is that the great liberation of the tender compassion of our God has been offered to us, and is ours for the taking. 

Though we often lead lives so filled with busyness and noise, we, hopefully, journey along a path that leads us to a more contemplative life which is a living into that liberation. That contemplative journey is a way of prayer, a way of non-violence, a way of loving our neighbor, a way of forgiving our enemy, a way of hoping for the "dawn from on high to break upon us." That contemplative life is not just for monks, but for all God's people, though it is certainly lived out differently one person to another. I hope to be exploring more of these themes in future blog entries as aspects of the contemplative life. 

What a great God we have. Let us live in gratitude. Peace be upon you.