Is this the Fast that (You Think) I Want?

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It’s Lent. This is a time to reflect on our life, our relationships, our choices, to see how well they align with what is truly good, loving, life-giving for ourselves and for those we interact with – directly and indirectly. The Church has long presented Lent as a type of retreat in preparation to live the High Holy Days of the Christian faith. 

The traditional disciplines associated with Lent – prayer, fasting, almsgiving – are borrowed from our Jewish ancestors. Prayer, as opening our deepest selves to God, and almsgiving, as sharing our resources with those who have greater need, are pretty straightforward. As long as we aren’t doing these actions to enhance our image, or to impress anyone!

Fasting is another matter. Originally, fasting among the Israelites was reserved for the time of mourning following the death of someone near and dear. Over the course of time, fasting became a way to publicly acknowledge that the people had done wrongs against God’s Law, and to demonstrate a desire to change. Even later, fasting was used to “prove” to God that people were sorrowful for wrongs that they had committed.

In the time of Jesus, the Pharisees had taken fasting in another direction. They made fasting a sign of personal devotion, an ascetical practice – a means to show God how serious they were about doing the right thing. Too often, fasting was used to impress others with one’s holiness in some visible way. Jesus warned his followers against any such public displays of religious practice. Personal prayer, fasting, almsgiving were between you and God. Their fruits would show in how you treated God’s gift of creation, your neighbor and your self.

Fasting, and any or all such disciplines, are never about making oneself holy. That’s impossible! We can’t make ourselves holy. Holiness is living as God desires us to live. There is no recipe to guarantee sanctity. What makes us pleasing to God, according to the holy ones, is how we use our gifts with others, for others. 

The prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 58:5-7) cries out against any type of fasting that is a self-inflicted display that results in pain, hunger, weakness, illness, but doesn’t open oneself: to act on behalf of the needs of others, to do the necessary work of building up, restoring, healing, reestablishing justice. We are to fast from anything and everything that closes us in on our own self-perfection project, from whatever shuts us off from the cries of our world. Such fasting empties us of ego, and frees us to work for God’s project.

 

Surprise! God is at Work.

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As this Christmas season begins to wind down, and in a few weeks we move into Lent, it comes to mind how very differently God chooses to behave or respond. The Scottish Jesuit priest, Gerard W. Hughes, wrote a book several years back entitled God of Surprises. Basically, we humans can’t begin to guess what God decides to do, or why. Our job is to be open to gracious surprises, very often totally unexpected.

What does this have to do with Christmas? Who possibly could have predicted the mystery of God’s immersive self-revelation in and through an infant – helpless and totally dependent? And not one born to privilege or in luxury, but to a “nobody” Jewish woman betrothed to a carpenter a bit more than 2,000 years ago in an insignificant country, dominated by the Roman Empire! Surprise!

And season of Lent draws us further and further into the mystery of Jesus, who after a brief ministry of healing and liberating people from maladies and from false notions, dies, powerless, helpless again, as a public criminal, cursed at and scorned, nailed to a cross. The end of a short, beautiful life of caring? Not quite! A relatively few hours later, witnesses report experiencing Jesus alive. Lives continue to be transformed through encounters with him. 

In our world today, enamored with the power of scientific knowledge, rife with skepticism concerning what cannot be tested and proven using science’s strict methodology, there seems to be little space left for a God who works wonders. Perhaps too many believers still hold to the notion that miracles are interventions of God that bypass, suspend or supersede the laws of nature. Not true. Miracles, as all actions of grace, only occur in harmony with nature and its laws. Jesus, the most surprising miracle of all, is conceived and born of a human woman at a moment in history. And, unlike the demigods of mythology, Jesus is fully human. It is God working with, in, and through him that is the Source of his power to spend his life in service of others.

 It is Jesus’ intimate and unimpeded relationship with Abba-God that allows miracles to happen around him.  Where there is faith, deep trust and confidence that this is what Jesus, and Abba-God with, in, and through him, really want, awesome, gracious things unfold. Jesus lived the conviction that Abba-God desires all and only what is truly good and life-giving for all, no exceptions. Jesus preached that God wants universal fullness of life and enduring peace, and proclaimed that his ministry was a launching of a new, unimagined Reign of possibilities that could only come about through trust in God and cooperation with others – even (especially?) those we might consider to be the most unlikely partners. Why not? God is at work.

 

Apocalypse Now?

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The liturgical calendar, with the start of the season of Advent, has recently turned a page into a new year. Over the previous weeks the daily scripture readings took on a different character. There were passages from both the Hebrew and Christian Testaments filled with strange, dark imagery, heavenly beings or Jesus speaking of what is about to take place: terrible beasts and / or horrific destruction. These writings are known as apocalyptic literature.

The word Apocalypse is from two Greek words meaning to uncover or to reveal. This literature was developed and used among the Israelites between the second century BC and the second century AD. This was a particularly difficult period in the history of the people of Israel. They had been conquered, exiled, and passed from one pagan ruler to another. Most of these rulers were hostile to the people and faith of Israel. Apocalyptic literature grew out of the decline of the classic prophetic voices. It used highly graphic symbolism to speak a message of warning and of consolation.

While most apocalyptic writings spoke of the end of times and the culmination of the world as we know it, the symbols were tied to present people, trends and events. And these writings always delivered a message of hope. Whatever is happening now will not last, God will prevail.

Some people today are raising the alarm that we are now living in apocalyptic times, and there seem to be reasons for thinking that this is so. We have what Pope Francis named as World War III erupting in various places around the globe. Some nations continue to develop and stockpile horrendous weapons that are already capable of destroying our beloved planet multiple times over. Those that are still in the planning stage are unimaginable. 

Climate change is already inundating low-lying islands and devouring coastlines. Technology races ahead with little or no human restraints or guardrails. A politics of fear is turning large groups of people to mass hatred of the stranger. A very few individuals control and dominate the lives and wellbeing of vast numbers of people. But all of this does not add up to an apocalypse as the Bible envisioned it. There is the widespread misery and terrible destruction, but without hope.

Hope may seem elusive or ephemeral to those who live with their eyes open. Hope is never found in the concrete reality, but this reality may actually direct attention to the only source of hope – God. There are hope-filled signs around us. When good things happen, when anyone chooses to act out of kindness or compassion, when people live out what we see portrayed in those “feel-good” movies or books (and people do act in these wonderful, generous and caring ways), these serve as a compass pointing toward the true north – that is God. Look for hope this season, especially in the little, the surprising, and the unexpected.

 

Mammon

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We, human beings, seem to be wired to direct our lives toward an all-encompassing reality. We hunger and thirst for more. Nothing less than an ultimate concern that engages our totality will satisfy us, but there are plenty of sidetracks and shortcuts that we can follow and get lost in. We then settle for what is less than fulfilling, even though it may thoroughly distract us, and render the illusion of being the secret, essential element (or elements) that make us whole.

And, some people learn at a very early age that people around them are unreliable. After all, every one of us is broken, wounded, limited. So, they may try to substitute their own gifts and talents, instincts, intelligence or survival strategies in place of those they looked to for help, who have failed them in some way. This is like building on defective concrete. It looks like a strong foundation, but it’s only a matter of time before it cracks, crumbles, fails. Then there’s a choice: pretend that one’s life is solid, stable, thriving, or realize the truth and reach out to God – the only reliable basis on which to build a life. 

In the Gospel of Luke (Luke 16:9-13), Jesus warns against giving our lives over to anything other than God. This is easier said than done. God can seem distant, at times unresponsive. Being pure spirit, God isn’t as tangible as the concrete things that make up our world. We might cry out to God in times of need. All we may get in return is silence, or the echo of our own desperation. Where is God when we need God? may be a question that haunts us. Do we choose to stake our lives on Abba-God, Whom we can never comprehend, or on whatever “wealth” we’ve been given or attained?

The word in this passage that is translated as “money” or as “dishonest wealth” is mammon. The Jewish rabbis speak of mammon almost as if it acts as a false god in our life, an idol. Mammon encompasses all possessions that a person comes to rely on – whether these be things, money, property, status, skill, good looks, fame, education, charm, health, job/career, relationships, intelligence, organizational position, youth, religious activities/devotions… All these are very good in themselves, but become detrimental when they come between us and God. They take over God’s place in our life.

Unless the One Beyond All Else is at the center of what we are about, if we ever stop, listen, and look deeply into our life we will find only emptiness. Disillusionment and dissatisfaction is a terrible and necessary discovery! According to Jesus (Luke 16:13), we have a fundamental choice: “No one can serve two masters. It’s either Abba-God or mammon.” To which master are we attached? (The New Testament word is enslaved.) Would we rather serve a master that desires all and only what is truly good for us, or a master that will use us and dispose of us as soon as we no longer serve its purpose, or advance its agenda?

 

It’s the Wrong Question

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A main theme in the Gospel of Luke is Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. This narrative stretches from chapter 9, verse 51 to chapter 19, verse 28. Luke frames the mission of Jesus with the necessity for him to proclaim the gospel message at the very heart of his people – in their capitol city. Jesus feels deeply the urgency that Israel hears and responds to the challenge: “Change your attitude, your mindset, and our habitual understanding of how God operates. Face the consequences of not acting now to promote the establishment of the Reign of God before it’s too late. The path you are on can only lead to massive destruction and misery for many.”

As Jesus goes along from village to town along the route to Jerusalem, he continues to do all he can to help his hearers to understand what God’s Reign could mean for them. It’s near. It’s dynamic. Though it may seem tiny, it has power within to transform humanity, and history itself, one person at a time.

As he makes his way, someone comes up to Jesus (Luke 13:23) and asks, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” This is the wrong question. The questioner implies that he /she is concerned with the odds of salvation. “Will I be saved? Will I be one of the few upon whom God smiles and takes pity?” Will my loved ones be saved? 

In the Book of Revelation (The Apocalypse), Chapters 7 and 14 mention the number 144,00 as the total of those sealed from among the faithful followers of Jesus of Israelite origin. A remnant of twelve thousand are designated from each of the so-called Twelve Tribes of Israel (12x12x1,000). Some people, who believe the Bible must be read literally, understand that from all humans who have ever lived, only 144,000 will be saved. The number twelve is one of several symbolic numbers in the Bible. It stands for fullness or completeness.

But, also in Chapter 7 (Apocalypse 7:9), it states that a huge crowd, too many to count from every country: from all tribes, peoples, and languages are robed in white and stand before Jesus, the Lamb. In other words, we have no way of guessing who, or how many, will be saved. There will be more than we can imagine, and there will be surprises. Salvation is God’s work, and God doesn’t think or act the way we do.

False prophets abound, preaching salvation for the elite, the entitled, the few. There is a secret recipe, a well-guarded formula, that gives guaranteed access to God’s gated palace of the saved. Those others, the dregs, the left-behind, will suffer, and rightly so. That’s no concern of ours!  So they believe.

Salvation is God’s business, and God is concerned with all people and all creation. God desires everyone to be healed and liberated, and this happens in the solidarity of community. Salvation is a group project. The more of us growing together in love the better. Isolated, we are lost and unprotected.   

The inquirer in Luke 13:23 has not been listening or paying attention to what Jesus has been teaching. The Reign of God is about bringing salvation near to others through un-self-centered love. How many is the wrong question. How can I help God’s Reign to come? is preferable.

Everyday Saints

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On the eve of the Feast of All Saints (All Hallows’ Eve = Halloween), it seems good to consider who are recognized as saints and why. Also to go deeper into what holiness is – a quality often associated with saintly people.

The formal process the Catholic Church uses to decide who is a saint has evolved over time. Originally saints were simply proclaimed by popular acclamation. People recognized that this or that person had lived a very good, faithful life. Now the process is much more complex, and fraught with potential problems. There’s a whole office at the Vatican dedicated to identifying who is a saint. But it takes years, with investigations that may or may not be biased, and those proposing people as saintly spend very much money to see the process through. 

Deceased founders of religious orders and movements have the backing of their members, both through prayer and finances. Others seem to go to the head of the line because someone very high in the church has a strong preference that they become saints to serve as models for what that official considers to be holy today. The point is, it’s not always personal holiness that determines who enters the ranks of  acknowledged sainthood, and human motivation can, and does, factor in.

Léon Bloy, a French novelist, has this quote in one of his works: “The only real sadness, the only true failure, the only great tragedy in life is not to become a saint.” This certainly sounds as if Bloy imagined that sanctity and sainthood were within reach, not some impossible ideal meant only for a few, elite spiritual champions. Life lived in relationship with God, and focused outward toward those around us, offers the possibility of becoming saintly. All who live their lives with a bigger purpose and awareness of the needs of others have the necessary elements for sainthood.

Way back in 1949, a German priest and pastoral theologian, Josef Goldbrunner, wrote a little book entitled, Holiness is Wholeness. These two words share the same linguistic roots. Holiness, then, is not about doing all kinds of “holy activities” – practices that can be counted, calculated, or quantified by numbers or by time.  Holiness is realized by us becoming wholly who God desires us to be. This happens in a very natural way through being loved and by loving.

What is wholeness? It can be described as living wholeheartedly, growing into who we have been fashioned to be by the circumstances of our lives. A whole, therefore holy, person is interiorly free, responsible (able to respond rather than to react), aware of reality, and loving. Of course, God is behind all this, inspiring and inviting us to become more and more fully who God sees us, knows us, to be. 

The model for Christians is Jesus. He lived and grew, as we do. Jesus made choices that little by little led him to becoming so open to God that God was able to do great good through him. His entire life was a revelation of God with us, and among us. Jesus lived wholly. He didn’t allow himself to get sidetracked on other paths, or with less essential interpretations of the Law. Jesus kept his focus on God and kept discerning God’s desire for him on each step of his earthly journey. 

Sure, we don’t always get it right. But we can, and need to, become saints – people led by the Spirit of God to grow day by day in love, through love. Holiness is never about striving to achieve perfection. Perfection is a both impossible for us, and a temptation – an unachievable ideal that distracts us from loving God, others, and ourselves.

God only wants us to be who we are, as best we can right now. With all the voices (inner and outer) judging and persuading us, it takes heroic effort to simply be attentive to growing moment by moment in love. And love is the hallmark of holiness, and of all saints, well-known or hidden.

When a Spiritual Practice Loses its Way

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A majority of people have some kind of practice that feeds, strengthens, heals or comforts them interiorly as they try to navigate the often stormy waters of life. These practices may vary greatly, but the persons engaged in them find them beneficial. They find peace, a sense of centeredness, inner freedom or clarity. Not everyone would name their practice “spiritual,” and others might find the practices that some people take on a form of superstition. The goal of spiritual practice is to become freer, more fully alive, more loving, and for Christians, to put on the mind and heart of Jesus – living in whatever way we can as Jesus did.

For the one who intentionally seeks to grow and to deepen spiritually, who desires a felt experience or connection with the One who is greater, there are many paths and many disciplines that can be fruitful. God is infinitely creative, so the spiritual journey of each one will have a unique quality to it. Trying to mimic or copy another’s spiritual practice often leads to a dead-end. There is no user’s manual or recipe card to guide us to get a spiritual practice right. 

This is where we might run into problems. When our practice becomes our focus, we can lose our way. The practice, whether of prayer, mindfulness, charity, self-denial or some other penance, can become a substitute for opening ourselves more fully to God. We invest so much time and energy in practicing and attempting to do the spiritual practice or practices correctly that this effort consumes us. When we feel we haven’t done it perfectly, we might either become discouraged, or we might just engage ourselves even more intensely. Neither of these options leads us to peace or to growth in our relationships with God and others. All of these, probably well-meaning attempts, distract us and can turn us in on ourselves.

The Spirit of God, unencumbered by our fears and ego, can behave quite wildly. For some God’s Spirit can seem almost shy; for others God may appear very insistent – depending on our personalities. God treats each one as an individual and only desires what is truly good for each and for all. We are moved by God’s Spirit toward fullness of life.

As with every dimension of living spiritually, choosing, modifying and / or maintaining a spiritual practice is best supported by exercising the gift of discernment. We discern in order to learn how to see and to choose as God desires. Jesus is a model for a discerning life. He somehow managed to keep his attention and awareness on Abba-God, on God’s presence, and on Abba’s preferences for him throughout a busy and, at times, tumultuous ministry. The fruit of life directed through continual discernment is to develop a heart that is open, open to God, and with God, open to everyone, no exceptions. We come to see and to love inclusively.

With this discerning mindset we can better recognize which practice or practices are aiding us on our journey, whether it’s time to adapt how we are practicing, when it’s time to let go of, or to add a practice. Left to our own inclinations, there is the danger that our ego will impose itself  between us and God. Spiritual practices are gifts from God. They can  help us to learn, deepen and grow. As with everything, let God take the lead.

 

Reign of God – part 3

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Because the Reign of God is at the heart of Jesus’ message, it seems worthwhile to focus on this reality a bit more. Many, if not most, of the parables Jesus told are his wide-ranging attempt to describe the indescribable – of what does God’s reign consist, what is it’s dynamic, how might we recognize God’s reign at work among us. Jesus does this by making comparisons. “The Reign of God is like…”

Whether it’s seeds, or a wheat field sabotaged by an enemy, a treasure, a dragnet, a magnificent pearl or yeast, Jesus is sowing the idea that God’s reign, even as it may seem “too little,” has an internal energy, is worth everything we have, and requires our full cooperation. The Reign of God is unstoppable, and at the same time, it depends on us. We may imagine that we have lost something extremely precious, but if we go out of our way to look, it can be found. This may be costly to us personally, but our efforts will bear fruit in both little and big ways.

It isn’t too strong to say that Jesus was driven by the breaking in of God’s reign to our world. The broken, wounded state of humanity, and of all creation, which leaves a path of destruction, pain and suffering – like the track of a tornado – moved Jesus to both compassion and to a clear sense of urgency. His acts of healing and forgiveness were intended to enflame others to recognize God at work  and join his efforts.

Jesus understood that if we did not radically change our habitual individual and tribal self-centeredness the suffering and devastation would multiply. Only by seeing that we are all part of the same, single human family can we open ourselves to sharing what we have, including the beautiful gifts God has entrusted us with. God excludes no one from the divine love. We are called to do likewise. 

The time is now. The place is right where we are. Either we will open our world to God’s reign or we will surrender humanity and creation to forces of indifference, violence, violation, and arrogant ignorance. The Reign of God is quietly at work trying to mitigate, reverse, and replace evils with good.

The greatest threat to God’s reign is our apathy. Apathy can be expressed by a lack of energy to do what is in front of us to do. Or it can be the smothering of what God desires with our becoming very busy doing what we think or feel God would want, or what others tell us is the right thing to do. After all, we know! We become no longer able to feel connection, compassion, or to discern. This can lead to self-righteousness, judging, and replacing action on behalf of others with a whole array of pious acts.  

We can bring about, and build up the Reign of God by living as Jesus lived. He dedicated himself totally to love through acts of healing, liberating, forgiving, comforting, including and empowering others. God’s Spirit is waiting to enliven us and transform us. We only need to open our minds and hearts and spirits to God.

Reign of God – part 2

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 There can be some confusion about the “when” and the “where” of the Reign of God. The gospels indicate that, with the coming of Jesus, God’s Reign enters into human history. But it seems obvious, from the presence of so much that is contrary to God in our world, that the Reign of God is still incomplete. Scholars call this the “already / not yet” dimension of God’s Reign. 

A possible source of confusion about where God’s Reign is might come from the fact that the Reign of God has different designations in the gospels. The Gospels of Mark and of Luke, written for different Gentile-Christian communities, have Jesus proclaim the in-breaking of the Reign (Kingdom) of God. John’s gospel doesn’t even mention God’s Reign. Instead it points us to the “life without limits (to the full, eternal life, abundant life) that Jesus offers.” While the Gospel of Matthew, written for a Jewish-Christian community struggling to understand how to follow Jesus and the Law of God spelled out in the Torah, has Jesus proclaim the Reign (Kingdom) of Heaven. 

Over the centuries, the Israelites had developed a very strong reverence for the name of God. Pious children of Israel wouldn’t even think or dare to utter God’s most holy Name. God is so far above and beyond us that we cannot possibly capture God in a name or a title. God revealed the mysterious divine Name to Moses at the burning bush, “I AM”, “I am the One Who Alone IS”, “I am present and active among you”, “I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:14) The writer of Matthew’s gospel wouldn’t consider using God’s name in connection with the divine reign.

People considered heaven to be God’s throne, from which distant, un-scaleable height God rules. To refer to the Kingdom of Heaven can lead people to imagine that God only reigns somewhere beyond our broken world, after our lifetimes. Or after Jesus comes again, when everything will be renewed. But that’s not what Jesus said. “The Reign of God is here, now.” But there is work to do to build this reign, to bring it more fully among us.

Jesus wasn’t abandoned by Abba-God, and Jesus didn’t abandon us. The Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is alive and well, working 24/7/365 to inspire people everywhere toward goodness, wholeness, unity, wellbeing for all. This is Jesus’ gift to us. The transforming action of the Spirit is moving whoever is open and desires what is better for humanity, and for all creation. It’s up to us to embody this spirit of goodness to continue the process of giving birth to the Reign of God.

If we are like Moses, desiring to see the “promised land,” the fullness of the Reign of God, in our own lifetime, we will be frustrated, and may become bitter and cynical. God’s Reign is not our goal. God’s Reign is not a goal. The Reign of God is the action of God’s Spirit within and among us. Our part is to be faithful, open, receptive and responsive to whatever the Spirit of God moves us to say, to do, to be.

 

Reign of God – part 1

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This reflection is inspired by an insight from the New Testament scholar, Gerhard Lohfink. 

At the heart of Jesus’ preaching is the Reign of God. Jesus believed and understood that the Reign of God is happening here and now. The gospels report Jesus saying that this Reign of God is with us, among us, within us. But it’s up to us to hear and to respond to the invitation to step away from other kingdoms or empires or allegiances or incompatible involvements and to choose to embrace God’s Reign. Whether we are searching for something more or better, or we are just going about our daily activities, the Reign of God is here, waiting to be discovered and wholeheartedly welcomed.

God desires that we, all people, be well, whole, free, healed and happy. Jesus’ ministry embodied this. How totally opposite this is to many of the rulers, bosses, or leaders in our world! They want to use others to make their own lives better in some way, regardless of what this does to anyone else. Fear, greed, violence, lust govern them.

The human heart longs for fullness. Nothing less will ever be able to satisfy us. No matter how much we have, it can never bring us peace or joy or a sense of connection. God’s Reign promises the fulfillment we long for. But it comes at a steep price. We need to be ready to give ourselves completely to God’s project.

Why would we do this? Why would we invest our whole being in the Reign of God? Lohfink suggests that it’s because suddenly we find ourselves seized by an overwhelming sense of rightness, joy and belonging. Because our eyes are opened to a bigger picture of reality and our hearts are confirmed in our deepest desire, we can say, “Yes! This is what I truly want to be part of! This is who I am!” From that point on our lives have a clear focus and direction. 

And this life-engagement differs from person to person based on who we are – our history, our gifts, and our temperament. But all contribute to the transforming and transformative energy of the Reign of God. It’s not necessarily about doing big or extraordinary things. Everyone’s effort, within each person’s vocation, aids in bringing more of goodness into our world. Where God reigns, our hearts find home, and our lives make life better for all.