When we suffer in any way we always ask why. Why is that? Lately I've been pondering this "why." I've often found myself screaming this question inside my head (to whom?), yet I could not understand why I wonder why. And what difference it would make if I were given an answer? Why do I seek to understand why unpleasant things happen to me?
There is something fundamental about our need to understand our circumstances, the reasons things are the way they are, and happen the way they happen. And this is much deeper than simple curiosity.
We human beings instinctively reject what is false, and embrace what is true. We are willing to conform ourselves to the truth when we see it. For example, when we see why a rule exists, we are usually more willing to follow it. When we don't see why, or perceive it as false, then we reject it as a spurious, arbitrary falsehood.
We often are willing to make great sacrifices for what it true, good and just.
So when we are suffering, we long for an explanation that, in its truth, gives suffering legitimacy. In that truth, we can accept what is happening to us, even embrace it. We can be at peace with our circumstances.
So that is why we ask why: it is a hope that there is a true reason that makes everything okay. The search for that truth leads us ultimately not to a particular truth, but to truth itself, truth in its essence. That is, Truth Himself: Christ Jesus.
Unlike a particular truth, essential Truth applies to all of our experiences and circumstances. It is sufficient, not just for this or that, but for all things, in all times. It makes all things bearable, all things good, "all things new."
Truth desires to enter into me, and I into Him. Be still, my soul, and let Him in. For in Him I can "bear all things."
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
In Actu
What does Mary do after her fiat? After receiving her God and Savior in her womb we see her immediately go off to serve. She departs for the house of Zechariah to help Elizabeth in her last few months of pregnancy.
Mary does this at a time in her own pregnancy (the first trimester) in which -- as every mother knows -- she herself would have been very tired. She might have sought assistance for herself during that time. But she chooses instead to give.
Having received Christ, she carries Him to her family, and remains there with them, serving them. This is what it means to be Christian -- to receive Christ, and to live Christ. That is, to receive Him, and make Him present to others by giving them His Love. And how is Love made tangible except by service?
We have the great privilege to do exactly as Mary did. At every mass, we receive Christ, after which we hear the commission "...go in peace, to love and serve the Lord."
Mary does this at a time in her own pregnancy (the first trimester) in which -- as every mother knows -- she herself would have been very tired. She might have sought assistance for herself during that time. But she chooses instead to give.
Having received Christ, she carries Him to her family, and remains there with them, serving them. This is what it means to be Christian -- to receive Christ, and to live Christ. That is, to receive Him, and make Him present to others by giving them His Love. And how is Love made tangible except by service?
We have the great privilege to do exactly as Mary did. At every mass, we receive Christ, after which we hear the commission "...go in peace, to love and serve the Lord."
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Fiat
"But [Mary] was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be (Luke 1:29)."
and "... [Mary] kept all these things in her heart (Luke 2:51)."
What do we see Mary doing amid trying times? Pondering the events, holding them in her heart. At the annunciation, and during her anxiety as she searched for her missing son. She ponders, and holds it in her heart. What does it mean to do this?
To hold something in your heart means first of all to accept it. To accept it in humble accord with God's will, even when it is something troubling.
To hold it in your heart is furthermore to bear it in reverence and awe of the Divine wisdom that has allowed it. It is humble trust in God, and the peace that flows from that trust.
In this way, Mary offers us an example of perfect humility and trust, the way in which we are to react to our own challenges in life.
So with each unexpected turn in our lives, even the little things throughout the day, let us, by God's grace, hold them in our hearts with acceptance, reverence and loving awe.
and "... [Mary] kept all these things in her heart (Luke 2:51)."
What do we see Mary doing amid trying times? Pondering the events, holding them in her heart. At the annunciation, and during her anxiety as she searched for her missing son. She ponders, and holds it in her heart. What does it mean to do this?
To hold something in your heart means first of all to accept it. To accept it in humble accord with God's will, even when it is something troubling.
To hold it in your heart is furthermore to bear it in reverence and awe of the Divine wisdom that has allowed it. It is humble trust in God, and the peace that flows from that trust.
In this way, Mary offers us an example of perfect humility and trust, the way in which we are to react to our own challenges in life.
So with each unexpected turn in our lives, even the little things throughout the day, let us, by God's grace, hold them in our hearts with acceptance, reverence and loving awe.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Illusory Present
When I suffer, it seems the suffering will never end. When I am happy, it seems I will always be so. The first is temptation to despair, the second is temptation to complacency.
Over and over I fall for these two lies, no doubt proposed by the father of lies. It is a constant battle to understand the present circumstances for what they are, and to put them in their proper context. May the Holy Spirit help us persevere in this battle.
Over and over I fall for these two lies, no doubt proposed by the father of lies. It is a constant battle to understand the present circumstances for what they are, and to put them in their proper context. May the Holy Spirit help us persevere in this battle.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Logos
What does it mean that the Son of God is the Word of God? What does it mean to be The Word? What is a word?
A word is meaningless in itself. A word is something that points to something else, it is a sign that evokes in the person encountering it the idea or person that it signifies.
Applied to the Logos, however, we see the perfect embodiment of a word. I'm pretty sure I once heard someone point out that we do not say "the words of God," we say "The Word of God." Only one word is needed because it is The Perfect Word. This single Word is something -- someone -- who not only points us to God the Father perfectly, who not merely calls to mind, or shows us God the Father, but who in fact unites us to God the Father.
A word is used to communicate. The Word, the Perfect Word, the Eternal, Incarnate, Perfect Word communicates so perfectly that is effective, bringing about an actuality rather than a potentiality. That is to say that it does not merely evoke an image of the Father in our mind, but it makes the Father Himself present in our souls! The Word is the means to union with the Triune God!
As profound and compelling as this realization is, I am reassured of the truth of it by the simple fact that it is stated nearly directly in the opening of the Gospel of John. How dense I have been never to have noticed it. This basic truth that most Christians understand has taken me so long to appreciate.
I wrote it down because I fear my perfidious memory will not retain it.
A word is meaningless in itself. A word is something that points to something else, it is a sign that evokes in the person encountering it the idea or person that it signifies.
Applied to the Logos, however, we see the perfect embodiment of a word. I'm pretty sure I once heard someone point out that we do not say "the words of God," we say "The Word of God." Only one word is needed because it is The Perfect Word. This single Word is something -- someone -- who not only points us to God the Father perfectly, who not merely calls to mind, or shows us God the Father, but who in fact unites us to God the Father.
A word is used to communicate. The Word, the Perfect Word, the Eternal, Incarnate, Perfect Word communicates so perfectly that is effective, bringing about an actuality rather than a potentiality. That is to say that it does not merely evoke an image of the Father in our mind, but it makes the Father Himself present in our souls! The Word is the means to union with the Triune God!
As profound and compelling as this realization is, I am reassured of the truth of it by the simple fact that it is stated nearly directly in the opening of the Gospel of John. How dense I have been never to have noticed it. This basic truth that most Christians understand has taken me so long to appreciate.
I wrote it down because I fear my perfidious memory will not retain it.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Falling
above, stillness
a soul found suspended
by grace,
precarious by affliction
below, the squall
a lie found bobbing
on the surface,
appealing by perversion
"just a taste,
you cannot resist"
inside, the din
a soul found suspended
by grace,
precarious by affliction
below, the squall
a lie found bobbing
on the surface,
appealing by perversion
"just a taste,
you cannot resist"
inside, the din
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