Catholic Social Teaching: Subsidiarity Lectio Divina

“I’m sad to report that in the past few years, ever since uncertainty became our insistent 21st century companion, leadership has taken a great leap backwards to the familiar territory of command and control.” —Margaret Wheatley 

1884 God has not willed to reserve to himself all exercise of power. He entrusts to every creature the functions it is capable of performing, according to the capacities of its own nature. This mode of governance ought to be followed in social life. The way God acts in governing the world, which bears witness to such great regard for human freedom, should inspire the wisdom of those who govern human communities. They should behave as ministers of divine providence.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

“If we choose the path of greater impact, our primary agent of change is going to be the courageous non-profit and public sector leaders who are willing to learn, adapt, grow and change. I’m a huge believer that what happens – happens because people make things happen. Investing in good leaders and helping them become great ones is the single best investment we can make.”

“I’m also seeing what a difference courageous leaders can make when they become more intentional in defining their approaches, more rigorous in gauging their progress, and more willing to admit and learn from their mistakes, and improving; all with the unrelenting focus and passion to improve the lives of others. We need to supercharge these leaders, support them, nudge them, reward them, enlist them to spread the Gospel to their peers.”

“I want to lay down a challenge to everyone here…the challenge for all of us is to determine, with rigor, whether our hard work is adding up to the kind of opportunity that I had, the kind of opportunity many of you had, and the kind of opportunity that every parent wants for his or her child. Isn’t that what all of this is about; our future?” – Mario Morino

************************************************************************

One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. In this post I would like to thank Mario Morino for the teachings quoted in this post.

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and re-read the teaching and passages until the message is understood and the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. Ask yourself: What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me?

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words from the teaching caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read the teaching again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you. Have a conversation (prayer) with Christ.

“But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Matthew 6:6

Read the teaching one more time and through contemplation ask; what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from me today.

How might we raise awareness and become more mindful of our own selfishness and indifference toward the common good?

In what ways are we creating isolated and self-referential virtual circles, in which dialogue is not constructive?

Are we becoming neighbors to others by overcoming prejudices, personal interests, historic and cultural barriers.?

In what ways are we co-responsible in creating a society that is able to include, integrate and lift up those who have fallen or are suffering?

How can we, without exploiting human weaknesses or drawing out the worst in us, be directed toward generous encounters and to closeness with the least, and promoting proximity and the sense of human family ? 

God bless,

Catholic Social Teaching: Solidarity Lectio Divina

“Is it too strong to say that one who cannot find the other in God cannot love the other as he or she is? I think not “ -Mary Aquin O’Neil

1939 The principle of solidarity, also articulated in terms of “friendship” or “social charity,” is a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood.⁴⁵An error, “today abundantly widespread, is disregard for the law of human solidarity and charity, dictated and imposed both by our common origin and by the equality in rational nature of all men, whatever nation they belong to. This law is sealed by the sacrifice of redemption offered by Jesus Christ on the altar of the Cross to his heavenly Father, on behalf of sinful humanity.”⁴⁶

Catechism of the Catholic Church

“Borrowing O’Neil’s line of reasoning, is it too strong to say that if we cannot imagine God being black we cannot truly love black human beings as they are? I think not”

“If God’s inner nature is known in God’s becoming one with the oppressed, God’s countenance will resemble the likeness of those most oppressed in our society. For example, to encounter God in prayer may suggest God’s female face as ebony and wrinkled with age as she embraces her grandchildren orphaned by AIDS. What would it be like to contemplate the face of God as poor, black, and female?”

“This prayer suggests not only our gazing at God, but also this black grandmother-God gazing at us. I believe God’s gazing upon us, with the pain of the world in her eyes, holds the power of healing the blindness of white privilege. The imprint of this gaze upon us has the power to make white theologians black with God.” 

“John [of the Cross] describes a God deeply at work to radically transform the human heart. The imprint of divine love upon the human heart subverts our sustaining involvement in relations of dominance and subordination. In his writings John of the Cross describes how God’s passionate drawing of the human heart transforms desire and affectivity. For John, it is the imprint of this ‘dark’ God in human consciousness that subverts deeply rooted attachments and frees human beings for love.” – Laurie M. Cassidy ^{(Interrupting White Privilege: Catholic Theologians Break the Silence)}

************************************************************************

One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. In this post I would like to thank Laurie M. Cassidy for the teachings quoted in this post.

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and re-read the teaching and passages until the message is understood and the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. Ask yourself: What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me?

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words from the teaching caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read the teaching again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you. Have a conversation (prayer) with Christ.

“But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Matthew 6:6

Read the teaching one more time and through contemplation ask; what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from me today.

How might we journey with God to experience life in solidarity with the oppressed?

In such a journey how can we realize solidarity as integral to our lifework and salvation?

How might we take seriously the unproductiveness of human will in overcoming social sin?

How can we open ourselves to the need for grace in the struggles to overcome the destructive blindness to our attachments, thus become free to love? 

God bless,

Catholic Social Teaching: Human Dignity Lectio Divina

“In my experience, the most powerful argument against violence has been grounded in the notion that, when I do violence to another human being, I also do violence to myself, because my life is bound up with this other life. “

1931 Respect for the human person proceeds by way of respect for the principle that “everyone should look upon his neighbor (without any exception) as ‘another self,’ above all bearing in mind his life and the means necessary for living it with dignity.”³⁷ No legislation could by itself do away with the fears, prejudices, and attitudes of pride and selfishness which obstruct the establishment of truly fraternal societies. Such behavior will cease only through the charity that finds in every man a “neighbor,” a brother.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

“Most people who are formed within the individualist tradition really understand themselves as bounded creatures who are radically separate from other lives. That model of the individual is comic, in a way, but also lethal. Acknowledging dependency as a condition of who any of us happens to be is difficult enough. If we were to rethink ourselves as social creatures who are fundamentally dependent upon one another—and there’s no shame, no humiliation, no ‘feminization’ in that—I think that we would treat each other differently, because our very conception of self would not be defined by individual self-interest.”

“If you’re part of a group that engages in violence and feels that the bonds of your connection to one another are fortified through that violence, that presumes that the group you’re targeting is destroyable and dispensable, and who you are is only negatively related to who they are. That’s also a way of saying that certain lives are more valuable than others.”

“Many people are excited by this kind of exercise of power, its unchecked quality, and they want in their own lives to free up their aggressive speech and action without any checks: no shame, no legal repercussions. They have this leader who models that freedom. Many people thrill to see embodied in their government leader a will to destruction that is uninhibited, invoking a kind of moral sadism as its perverse justification.” 

“In my experience, the most powerful argument against violence has been grounded in the notion that, when I do violence to another human being, I also do violence to myself, because my life is bound up with this other life.” – Judith Butler

************************************************************************

One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. In this post I would like to thank Judith Butler for the teachings quoted in this post.

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and re-read the teaching and passages until the message is understood and the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. Ask yourself: What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me?

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words from the teaching caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read the teaching again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you. Have a conversation (prayer) with Christ.

Read the teaching one more time and through contemplation ask; what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from me today.

What do we owe those with whom we inhabit the earth? And what do we owe the earth, as well?

And why do we owe people or other living creatures that concern?

Why do we owe them regard for life or a commitment to a nonviolent relationship?

What would it mean to live in a world of radical equality? 

God bless,

Resistance: Lectio Divina Contemplation

“’Speaking of resistance, we must also resist the temptation to demonize the other.’ We are in this together and must come out as one nation in one world.” – Eido Bruce Espe

“I think it’s important that we use our skills to influence positive change.” – Jayna Zweimann

One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. In this post I would like to thank Richard Rohr (homily given August 4, 2019) and Rev. Dr. Roger Ray (sermon given August 4, 2019) for the passages we will read in this post.

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and understand the passages below twice so that the the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me.

Read and understand the passages twice so that the details become familiar.

[Colossians 3:9-11] “What Paul is talking about in this reading is what Thomas Merton and I, and many others, call the true self versus the false self. He says you have taken off, he calls it here, the old self. We have to ask ourselves have we taken it off? If our obsession is still richer, fancier, sexier, louder, better, ‘I’ve got the best, I’m right, my country is the only true country.’ When every other country has a flag too. You do know that, don’t you? I don’t think a lot of Americans do. ‘We’re the best. We’re the best.’ Well, ask another country. Does anybody else believe that? ‘Well, it’s the truth!’ For some reason God gave us the truth, and not anybody else. ‘Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity,’ and unless you state this clearinghouse of what’s real and unreal we have the world we have today. And it just makes me wonder, what have preachers been preaching about that we have so much stupidity, and hatred, and fear in America, and all indications are just as much among Christians as anybody else. Look at all the gender fights we have today. All issues of gender apply to the false self. If we knew about the true self we wouldn’t judge. ‘Well, she transgender, he’s Gay.’ Who cares! Their true self, hidden with Christ in God, is the self that matters. Everything else is accidental. Everything else is passing. Christ is all, in all.”

“I have a bumpersticker on my car thats a variation of the – grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change – because I don’t believe that anymore. Grant me the serenity to change the things I cannot accept. I cannot accept 30,000 gun deaths a year. That is unacceptable, and we need to talk about it, and talk about it, until we can change it. But past that, we need to address handguns that are used in most domestic violence, most homicides, and almost all suicides. Handguns are used to shoot people. They were invented to shoot people. That is what they are for. You only need a handgun to shoot people. Do I have to tell you that you shouldn’t shoot people? But, in all of these matters the number one causative agent is the relative indifference and the short attention span of the American public. The best known practices that have brought down gun deaths all over the world must be enacted in America. Stop delivering sermons about magic and superstition and wishful thinking. For God’s sake stop giving sermons that are history lessons, about way back when on a continent far far away. That crap is a distraction from what is actually facing an American civilization that is currently on fire. Don’t ever deliver another sermon about the Hebrew translation, or the Greek root, of some word in the bible when what is happening here an now is costing tens of thousands of lives. If pastors would only speak openly and honestly about gun ownership and the sacred nature of life itself, we could get gun laws passed. If all you have is a pulpit, then you damn well better use your pulpit. Anything else makes you complicit.”

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read the passages again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you. Have a conversation (prayer) with Christ.

Read the passages one more time and through contemplation ask; what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from me today.

[ECC 1:2] “Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!”

[Col. 3:9-11] “Stop lying to one another,
since you have taken off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self,
which is being renewed, for knowledge,
in the image of its creator.
Here there is not Greek and Jew,
circumcision and uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, slave, free;
but Christ is all and in all.”

God bless,

Contemplation: Lectio Divina Ethiopian Eunuch

One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. In this post I would like to thank Art Dewey who wrote- Inventing the Passion: How the Death of Jesus Was Remembered

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and understand the passages below twice so that the the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me.

Stop here and read the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-39) twice at least. Read it as many times as necessary to become familiar with the story. Then return here and read the quote from Art Dewey below. Art will provide some context for contemplation.

Art explained that; “If, in fact, you were to ask an ancient person about the truth they would say look for a pattern and within the pattern you perceive an insight. Truth for them is not a fact. It is an insight. In doing that you become wise. Ancient history is written in order to provide patterns for people to live by, and get insight out of them.”

“A story pattern had been constructed by Jewish scribes. They had been dealing with the whole problem of Antiochus IV Epiphanes who was doing nasty things to Jews to give in to his “so-called” benefits. He renamed the God of Israel to Zeus. They couldn’t perform many of their traditional rites. He wanted to have pigs sacrificed in the Temple. The Maccabees went into revolt. Because people refused, especially the pious people, Antiochus had people killed. They literally got it in the neck for refusing to dishonor tradition. That raised a big question, at least to the scribes. These people who were keeping the covenant did so because they believed that God had promised them that if they kept the covenant God would be with them. God would protect them. Where was God? So the question of theodicy immediately arose, and the scribes came up with two responses.”

“The first response was the notion of resurrection. Resurrection was a response to innocent suffering and basically it was, in apocalyptic terms, that God would eventually send this heavenly figure to bring justice, right the wrongs and the innocent would be caused to stand again. That’s resurrection. They would stand again.”

“The second response was to tell the tale of the suffering innocent one. In this tale an innocent person goes through an ordeal, is put on trial, condemned, and sometimes is killed. Sometimes is vindicated before he/she is killed, or vindicated after he’s killed. Within the literature of inter-testamental Judaism around 160 BCE this material begins to emerge. What the writer is really doing is not telling us what really happened but this is the way you tell the story about an innocent righteous one. It is an insight to what the death of Jesus could possibly mean.”

“The courage of these anonymous Syrian Jesus followers who began to rethink, reimagine the death Jesus, and they used the suffering righteous story, a long well used Jewish story, to make sense of that. God does not forget those innocent victims.”

Now, read the words of Acts 8: 26-39 again.

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read Acts 8: 26-39 again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you.

Read Acts 8: 26-39 one more time and through contemplation ask; what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from you today.

“Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” When do you deny your neighbors, especially outsiders, access to the love of Christ?

Acts 8: 37 And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” What insights did you gain from the pattern of the story?

God bless,

Contemplation: Earth Lectio Divina

One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. I would like to thank Reverend Bill Wallace from Durham Street Methodist ChristChurch, New Zealand for the passages for our Lectio Divina in this post.

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and understand the passages below twice so that the the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me.

The following are the passages for our Earth Lectio Divina:

“All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Earth, our mother, who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.” “Since, Lord, I your priest have today neither bread nor wine, nor altar, I lift towards you in my hands the totality of the universe; and make of its immensity the matter of my sacrifice . . .” “God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.” “God is Spirit and only by the power of Spirit will people worship God as God really is”

Now, read the words again. In truth, read them as many times as necessary to become familiar with them.

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read the passages again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you.

Read the passages one more time and through contemplation ask what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from you today.

How am I immersed into the ecosystem?

In what ways do I remember that the Earth does not belong to me but I belong to it?

How can I make my life a gift to the Earth understanding that while we cannot exist without the Earth, the Earth can exist without us?

Thank you for your time today. I hope this was a blessing to your life.

God Bless,

Contemplation: Vulnerability

Dear reader, I borrowed vulnerability from Brené Brown. During my recent contemplation her vulnerability message has become important for my spiritual life. I urge everybody to understand vulnerability better.

Vulnerability is not a weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.

– Brené Brown, Rising Strong, p. 4

The opposite of vulnerability would be a protective shield that goes up if we are concerned we might get hurt. When I think about this shield I am reminded of Star Trek and the force-field that surrounds the vessel when there is a “Red Alert.”

I am also reminded of the words in the Deutero-Pauline epistle Ephesians:

Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one.
– Ephesians 6:14-16

There you have it; take your shield of faith to quench all the flaming darts. I would be remiss if I didn’t explain that I have been on both sides of this shield. To my shame I have  used this shield to tell others just how wrong they were, and I have struggled to be heard when others used this shield to tell me just how wrong I was. This utter lack of vulnerability impedes our salvation.

If you understand this passage in Ephesians as just defending one’s faith, you are not alone. We have seen the One Body of Christ fiercely divided, so much so that groups will do things to hurt us all if it helps advance their own religious agenda. I am sure this is nothing new but in my lifetime this “shield of faith” is a growing concern to living side-by-side with our neighbors. When does defending our faith become more important than vulnerability?

In my world of traditional Catholic experience there are those who are telling us that we don’t have to tolerate other faiths or even the faith expressed by the current Vatican. We are told that our traditionalist Catholic faith must win and all others must lose.

Traditionalist Catholics, with this mindset, are opposed to even tolerating diversity. Their’s is the primary definition of the Catholic Church. Anyone who is critical of their beliefs is labeled an enemy of Catholicism (heretic).

Many Catholics are drawn to this mindset because it is attractive. It is seen as correcting past wrongs and taking Catholicism back for Catholics. However, only under the narrow definition of “Catholics” as rich, cisgender, and male dominant.

These are examples when defending faith is more important than vulnerability.

Now, I know what you are thinking. You are saying to me that I am a hypocrite. You are saying that I am not on the ultimate path because I have chosen.  You will say that I have labeled a group within the One Body of Christ and consider them (Catholic traditionalists) as “other.” You are saying that this is not vulnerability, but my own “shield of faith.”

The Holy Spirit has helped me to recognize my weaknesses. I am not perfect. This is a daily struggle and through my contemplative prayer I have recognized many of the criticisms that may be leveled against me. Feel free to add to the list. This blog allows comments.

Here is the vulnerability; I have been hurt by traditionalist Catholics. I desperately desire to find fault, lash out and inflict payback on the people who hurt me. I am human, after all.

[emotions] …prick us, they cause discomfort or even pain. After a while, the mere anticipation of these feelings can trigger a sense of intolerable vulnerability: We know it is coming. For many of us, the first response is not to lean in to the discomfort and feel our way through, but to make it go away.

-Brené Brown, Rising Strong, p. 63

I will leave you with this; my first response is not to lean in to the discomfort. I require the Holy Spirit to help me to lean in. I continue to engage and love my traditionalist Catholic neighbor, even though I know discomfort is coming. This is vulnerability.

May the Holy Spirit give you the strength to remove your “shield of faith” and replace it with the vulnerability of faith.

Contemplative Prayer Handbook Creed

The Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) published a creed for rebuilding a foundation for contemplation. I included the text of the creed below.

The CAC recommends that we read this creed in the discipline of lectio divina.

“With the first reading, listen with your heart’s ear for a phrase or word that stands out for you.”

“During the second reading, reflect on what touches you, perhaps speaking that response aloud or writing in a journal.”

“After reading the passage a third time, respond with a prayer or expression of what you have experienced and what it calls you to.”

“Finally, rest in silence after a fourth reading.”

We believe in one Triune God. “There is one Body, one Spirit, one and the same hope . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God who is Father of all, over all, through all, and within all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).

We believe that we are, first of all, a people, God’s movement in history.

We believe that our individual lives and our personal growth are for the sake of the generations to come after and built on the faith and the bones of those who have gone ahead of us.

We believe that we must build on the positive, on what we love. Creative and life energies come from belief and from commitment. Critics must first be believers who have learned how to say an ultimate yes.

We agree to bear the burden and the grace of our past. We agree to honor what is, including even the broken things of life: ourselves, church, state, and all institutions. Their dark side is a necessary teacher.

We are committed to building a world of meaning and hope. We recognize the clear need for prophetic deconstruction of all idolatries that make the worship of God impossible. True rebuilding must follow this temporary but necessary un-building.

We believe in a personal universe where the divine image shines through all created things. It is therefore an “enchanted universe” where we can always live in reverence and even adoration before the good, the true, and the beautiful.

Along with St. Paul in Colossians (1:15-20), as Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ is the clearest image of the unseen God. In him all things cohere, all opposites are overcome. He is the head of the living body, the One in whom all things are reconciled and overcome.

Dear reader, when I followed the lectio divina discipline and contemplated this creed I could not help feeling that perhaps some dual thinking has crept in. Allow me to explain;

“Critics must first be believers who have learned how to say the ultimate yes.”

“Critics” and “Believers” are labels used to separate groups within the living body. This seems rather like dual thinking to me and through my contemplation and prayer I have come to the conclusion that this sentence should be removed. The creed is wonderful and useful for contemplative prayer with this modification.

God bless,

Contemplative Prayer Handbook Ten Bridesmaids

The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids

Matthew

25 ‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³ When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; ⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵ As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. ⁶ But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” ⁷ Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” ⁹ But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” ¹⁰ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. ¹¹ Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” ¹² But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” ¹³ Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

INTRODUCTION

This parable is a contemplative prayer primer. If you have ever wondered about the purpose and benefits of contemplative prayer this parable opens the door.

I am guessing that we just read this parable of the ten bridesmaids. It was printed here to allow us to read it together. Did it leave us with the impression that we have a lot more work to do to grow in our spiritual relationship with God? “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”

Read the parable once again. Sense the urgency of being ready and to know God.  What does it mean to be ready? What does it mean, to know God? Readiness and knowing God are different for every person. We must ask ourselves, honestly, did we see ourselves as one of the five foolish bridesmaids?

Contemplative prayer is an introspective discipline that we can each learn to guide our preparation and to move each of us closer to knowing God. Allow me to guide us through the parable, and offer insights.

BACKGROUND

I would like to explain just a little about reading parables. Years ago, maybe 1986, I saw novelist and storyteller Megan McKenna speak about parables. Megan made it very clear that if we read a parable and are feeling good afterward we did not understand the meaning intended by the Gospel writers.

There are many ways to see ourselves in a parable, which is what makes those stories rich in learning.

To help us better understand the concepts that run through the parable, let us establish a definition of heaven, of knowing, and light.

Some folks desire to have an authoritative voice to reference in matters of faith, such as heaven. Included is a quote and link from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.”

“Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ.”

In Hebrew and Greek the word for knowing includes understanding from experience, an intimate kind of knowledge involving the whole person, not just the mind. Parents warn their children that fire burns, but until a person experiences being burned by fire the knowledge is incomplete. Knowing = experiencing.

In Hebrew and Greek the word for light can be a reference to both natural light and spiritual light. This is very similar to English. It is understood that spiritual light expresses a wisdom or knowledge of God.

INSIGHT

Matthew begins the parable with the statement; “the kingdom of heaven will be like this.” Some would say that this was intended by the evangelist as an eschatological theme for judgment day. Regardless, this is a wedding banquet that we do not want to miss.

In Matthew’s retelling of this parable there is no actual banquet with actual bridesmaids referenced here. These events and characters are all allegorical. We are clearly intended to identify as a bridesmaid in this parable. God is the bridegroom.

All ten bridesmaids took lamps to dispel the darkness (light from the lamp represents wisdom / knowledge of God).

All ten bridesmaids fell asleep. This can be interpreted many ways. Lulled to sleep is an idiom that is a pertinent in this situation. We are filled with a false sense of security and we feel secure in our situation when we should not.

When the time came for the bridegroom to arrive all ten bridesmaids awoke and trimmed their lamps. Only five of the bridesmaids, however, were truly known by the bridegroom. Only those five had the intimate experience and knowledge of God. Only those five were allowed into the banquet.

The remaining five bridesmaids were told “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” These five bridesmaids desired to attend the banquet. All five asked to be allowed into the wedding banquet, but lacked the intimate kind of knowledge expected from the bridegroom.

We might say to ourselves, why did the five bridesmaids with the flasks of oil not spare some for the others? Each person must experience God for themselves. Intimate knowledge cannot be purchased and it cannot be given, it must be experienced by the person.

If we seek to enjoy the beautiful wedding banquet, that is heaven, we need to truly know God. We need to experience God, in the same way we experience the burn from fire. We need to know God so deeply that if we fall asleep we will have that flask of oil to keep our lamp lit when needed.

Can we say that we know God to that deep level? This is where contemplative prayer can help.

PRAYER

Contemplative prayer traces its roots back to early Christian monasticism and the Desert Fathers. The writings of mystics such as St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross pushed contemplative prayer along.

It is true that contemplative prayer was perceived as an extraordinary grace reserved to only a few for many years, but St. Gregory the Great explained that “contemplation expands and enlightens the soul with a love that is itself knowledge, for as man draws closer to God in loving union, he grows in the knowledge to reform his life.”

Each individual can learn the discipline of contemplation. This method of prayer seeks to cultivate the capacity to listen to God at ever deeper levels of inward attention. This brings us to a state of resting in the presence of God.

Contemplative prayer, remaining silently and openly in God’s presence, “rewires” our brains to think non-dually with compassion, kindness, and a lack of attachment to the ego’s preferences.

In contemplative prayer we move beyond language to experience God as Mystery. We let go of our need to judge, defend, or evaluate, plugging into the mind of Christ which welcomes paradox and knows its true identity in God.

During contemplation we come to know that there is no separation between sacred and secular. All is one with Divine Reality.

We must be willing to let go and die to our small selves, our false selves, in order to enter this new sacred space. This is our first step toward gaining that experiential knowledge of God.

RESOURCES

Lectio Divina

 

St. Francis de Sales

Salesians Rejoice.

Charlotte was Both

First, if you are not familiar with this saint whose memorial is Saturday the 24th…fix that! 

Bishop, evangelist, teacher, writer, spiritual director and friend.

Links to his works – start with the most familiar, Introduction to the Devout Life, and go on from there.  Don’t forget his correspondence with St. Jane de Chantal, either. 

From Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s General Audience presentation on Francis de Sales, back in 2011: 

In his harmonious youth, reflection on the thought of St Augustine and of St Thomas Aquinas led to a deep crisis. This prompted him to question his own eternal salvation and the predestination of God concerning himself; he suffered as a true spiritual drama the principal theological issues of his time. He prayed intensely but was so fiercely tormented by doubt that for a few weeks he could barely eat or sleep.

At the climax of his trial, he went to…

View original post 630 more words