I am presently teaching European jail chaplains in Romania, the poorest country in Europe. Seeking some guidance and consolation amidst the historic and present suffering of these people, I had an afternoon of prayer and took to reading T.S.Eliot’s FOUR QUARTETS. In “East Coker” he says that “our only health is the disease” and that “to be restored our sickness must grow worse” and even “the whole world is our hospital”. It gives me some strange direction amidst this tragic communist experiment, the state of politics in the USA, and the daily Vatican meltdown as it continues to try to regain some control and authority by condemning things in every direction.
We are clearly in a very strategic period of history where people are grabbing for power because they do not know how to heal, restore, or bring life. You would think the Pope and bishops should know better, yet they only need to look to this part of the world to see what imposed and authoritarian change accomplishes–which is nothing and worse than nothing. The push back, the alienation, the cynicism lasts for centuries, as I see here in a former Communist state. I am afraid, as T.S.Eliot says “our sickness must grow worse” to see how sick we are, and “our only health is in the disease” itself–to bring the poison to the surface so none can deny it. The Roman Church and the US Congress are both showing a very sad misuse of their power, which is no longer a power for good or for the common good. The Catholic church has become its own worst enemy and does not need atheists or agnostics to undo its mission. Like St. Peter himself, it is denying and destroying its own message. The sadness I see here in Romania is the sadness of power totally misused in the name of “reform”. I am afraid it is a prophecy for the future of the Roman Catholic Church.
Richard Rohr: Unpacking Paradoxes
contemplation in action, as I try to live it…
I reluctantly hit the “like” button. This is an important post and speaks truth on many levels – tragic though. It does seem that we are in the midst of some Shakespearean tragedy that just keeps getting worse before it it better. Is this part of dying culturally/politically/religiously (not necessarily spiritually)? Must there be death before resurrection? Must the forms/organizations created by humanity fail before the spirits of humanity can be set free?
death and a few days in hell…and surely all that man creates must fail, is destined in its creation to end. in the meantime i consider my attachments and pry open my fists.
I think you are asking the right questions. Read Phyllis Tickle’s “The Great Emergence” See introduction at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY83MF2HZcU
I feel that the Catholic church will kill itstelf off and a new church will emerge. Let’s hope and pray that it’s a decent one. It is very sad. The men who want to play dress up and march around with gold wands will have their church for themselves and the rest of us or whoever is left, will have a church of our own making. Let’s make it a good one, a Christ-like one please. PLEASE.
How sad but true your statements are, Father Richard. One need only read The Case for Democracy by Natan Sharansky to understand exactly why the organizations you mentioned are doing what they are doing to hold onto power and control. Keep up the drumbeat on the non-dualistic, mystic-rooted messages you preach so well. There is a large and growing wave of people who think like you. One way to look at the current struggles for control are the last birth pangs that are always necessary before new life.
For me, the issue is how to get at and address the underlying fear, because I see so much of what is described here as arising out of buried fear. My response is want to pray for them in some way, and when I’m not sure how to do that directly, I try to do the spiritual equivalent of giving them a gift card — I ask that God and the universe help them in whatever way serves their greater good and the greater good at large (and I try to get myself out of the way, including as potential enabler or potential object of maladaptive ways they may use to try to assuage their fears). I think we each do what we can, and I think it takes many of us over much time making what contribution we can (I know I want to see more progress more quickly than is probably realistic to expect — kind of like my namesake Moses, I want to experience the Promised Land myself in my lifetime, but I don’t think that’s going to happen — but running my leg of my race as best I can is something I can do).
Dear Fr. Richard,
Reading your post, I can feel the deep pain that you are feeling, the pain that you are seeing all around you, and then, for you to recognize that “our sickness must grow worse” still. I am seeing and feeling the pain with you – and I smile, because we are not alone. And so I pray….
When I was teaching US History at the college level for thirty-five years, I used to point out to the students that all great empires, be it Greek, Roman, Spanish, British, or, alas, the US, ultimately fell or would fall because they rotted from within; greed, arrogance, fear-mongering, injustice, lack of integrity, lack of concern for the poor, the weak, the marginalized, unconscious assumption of superiority and the egregious stupidity of failed leaders…all part of “the disease” from which our Church and our country seem to suffer at this time. God bless Father Richard for again being a voice, crying in the wilderness. His courageous and prophetic statement points us in the right direction; we must be willing to choose the Life of the Gospels or “our sickness” will be fatal.
Thankfully, THE church is not only larger than Roman Catholicism but larger than Christianity, even. The sickness described applies to its institutional aspects, which, because of our radical finitude, while not otherwise theologically essential, have been practically indispensable in this temporal realm (I’m struggling to avoid using the cliche’ “necessary evil”). The form of church polity is an accidental, not an essential, and this hierarchy, in my view, has not only outlived its usefulness but is more of an obfuscation of the sense of the faithful than an amplification, which is to say that it has been, in a word, unfaithful. The voice of the faithful will emerge from the rocks and stones, if necessary.
Pastorally, some form of institution will likely remain necessary but it will less likely be hierarchical and will more likely be more open-sourced and peer-to-peer (P2P). And this should suffice to keep alive the voice of self-critical protest in the church’s vital prophetic tradition. For all practical purposes, talking substance over form, a de facto CBNR (catholic but not Roman) cohort has emerged vis a vis Emergent Christianity, re-sourcing our mystical core as John XXIII’s prayer for aggiornamento has been answered by the Spirit, albeit not in the way many would’ve expected! Sadly and ironically, Rome is harvesting the seeds of self-destruction that it has planted, itself, while trying to weed out fruit-bearing crops, which will be fine in the long-run as they grow elsewhere!
Well said. Yet again the unpredictable Spirit has suprised us, this time in the form of Emergent Christianity.
“Today, evil is pervasive in the human world; and it is no longer possible to delineate where good and evil separate.
Here, the importance of speech comes
to the centre.
Good and evil will use the same language – as is already happening. Navigating through this mixture will require an inner
sense of truth for how one speaks rather than for the content of what is spoken.
This inner sense of truth in speaking concerns a living connection
with the Christ as Logos
– the divine Word made human –
living within the heart of each individual.
The path of initiation into the Christ as Logos has nothing to do with institutionalised religion.
The Church, as an institution, can no longer serve as an adequate outer guide into the inner mysteries of human evolution…
because it too,
of necessity, is pervaded by evil.
This is not to say that the Church is evil;
only that it is no longer possible to say that some things
are evil and
others are good…”
Robert Sardello.
How right this analysis is!! The institutional part of the Roman Catholic Church, the “magisterium” is self-destructing. However, my faith in the Incarnation, in “Christogenesis,” the “coming to birth of the Cosmic Christ” and the ultimate Communion of this Christ with God (I Corinthians 15:28) is unshakable.
Sr. Maureen,
You have it absolutely right. We cannot count on human institutions to be the ground of our being. In spite of the great burden of our existential guilt, we must continue to say “yes” to God’s self-communication with us. This is a great challenge that is not for the feint of heart. We must rely on faith and grace.
Dear Richard,
Thank you for your courage and wisdom during these challenging times. I concur with your thoughts and share with you a piece from the review of our brother Michael Crosby’s latest book. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” a remark often attributed to Peter Drucker, keeps coming to mind for me when thinking about Repair My House. In my experience, the current culture of Catholicism does eat the strategy of Jesus for breakfast. Michael gives the reader tools for cultural transformation within Catholicism that allows the strategy of the Trinity to emerge in all its intended beauty on earth as it is in heaven. I invite you to give it a reflective read.
Oh, wow, Richard! I pray that you be filled with the Holy Spirit to continue your work with those who sorely need you in Romania and all the world. Do not lose trust even though we’re hovering near our darkest hour of the ages.
How sad but so true. Despair, division and scapegoating reigns in the world but also alas in me.Oh for the faith the size of a mustard seed. Lord help me not to lose faith in you.
Richard,
Your courage to speak the truth is astounding! I always read your posts in the silence of my heart and respond there as well. No more silence on my part! We all must speak out in love and concern for what is happening all around, particularly in the Roman Church. The Eucharist is a cherished part of my being and I will never abandon it. But, I will join you in prayer and action and rely on faith and grace to carry us forward on this journey to wholeness with the Cosmic Christ.
What a dark and rocky road we now travel. Yet with God at my side I shall not be afraid.
Father Richard- Blessings to you in every way that you need. Your words speak to me of recovery… from all angles… how painful it is to watch what we love and hold dear slowly killing itself/themselves through self will and self seeking power and going to any lengths to protect their addictive supply. How painful it is to experience the generations left in the wake of such destruction and dysfunction. How bad does it have to get before “bottoms are hit” for indeed they must and will be hit. It will get worse till then… maybe even to death. But recovery/resurrection says, there is hope even in that. Truth can be spoken. Spiritual choices can be made. Fear can be healed and replaced by faith. Light will conquer death and lies. Spiritual answers and help bring new life. It is not wishful thinking. We are promised. Easter is our coat of arms!
Watching the Vatican, watching Congress, hearing your experience in Romania bring ice water to my veins because they mirror my own life and the truth of -there but for the grace of God go I. Even in recovery, it is said… first it gets worse … then it gets better … then it gets different… then it gets real different! I have to stop fighting any of the “worse” part anywhere and ask for help with the acceptance of that and dig deeper and ask for the courage to be more faithful and trusting each day in a loving God and asking for wisdom in action! The paradox again- Gratitude for the disease- for I do believe as T.S. Elliot said (thank you for that) “our only health is the disease”… and that in the “world as our hospital” bottoms can be raised one person at a time as you are doing here. Fr. Richard- the Lord be with you.
It’s all about letting go, isn’t it? And being willing to die …
Richard: Thanks for being a brave and necessary voice
There certainly is a creepy feeling that the church is imploding. I follow a lot of commentary on NCR’s online edition and can feel the fury that’s out there on both sides of the many issues. A significant number of posters say that the church’s moral authority has all but evaporated because of the failure to effectively and appropriately deal with the sexual abuse crisis. Many say that the misogynistic attitudes of the hirarchy are furthering the debacle as is seen in going after the nuns. Still others comment that Vatican 2 was essentially a mistake and that the church, ie the pope, wants to create a “remnant church” with those who are “true believers”, ie, they take what the magisterium says as the end all, be all of Truth. There are other “big picture” themes but these 3 drive home the point that there is great suffering going on in and throughout the church and the world. Will the necessary collapse of institutions, both religious and secular, bring a new order and love into our lives? If history is any indication, the answer is probably “no”. I am not without hope but, to be honest, I see no real reason to be hopeful at this juncture. I pray for courage and grace for all of us as we watch everything that we have loved essentially implode.
Fr. Richard. So sad. So tragically true. Yet throughout the responses to this post there is a palpable Presence. Given your current meditations on the Trinity, I reflect on how the Mystery is at work here. You remian in my prayers. Janis
If anything, the Catholic Church (The One True Faith) is coming back.
Am I the only one who noticed that attendance of Catholics after Vatican II and the “escape from the mean old men at the top”, significantly dropped? Before Vatican II: 75% went to Mass, now, less than 25%.
The Church is not going back to the past. The Church is going back to where it belongs; in the waters of traditional orthodoxy.
The Church will not “implode” or “self-destruct” because our Blessed Lord Christ Jesus, guaranteed us that the Church HE established would prevail against the gates of Hell. And the gates of Hell (modernism, secularism) sure are rising high.
What you guys and Fr. Rohr are referring to is the liberal wing within the Catholic Church as coming to an end. With this, I would agree with you.
Just remember what Jesus said to His Apostles: “he who hears you, hears Me.” I’m asking all of you, and Fr. Rohr to turn back to authentic Catholicism. To trust in God that when He wants the LCWR to reform, then it is in their best interest to reform. Come back to the Christ-centered Roman Catholic Church, please!
I see nothing authentic in what the Vatican is doing. You refer to the “one true faith.” Faith is not a list of beliefs; Faith is an open and willing stance that does not cling to the past. Alan Watts said it best, Belief clings; Faith lets go.
Maybe, but lists of beliefs guides the heart to true faith. Jesus tells us to follow the narrow way.
We can not accept what society does, because some of what they do is a result of Satan. Beliefs in the Roman Catholic Church lead us away from Satan and towards Christ Jesus and His Blessed Mother Mary.
In the face of clergy sexual abuse and scandalous cover-ups of same we’re pointing fingers at SOCIETY’s behaviour as Satanic? I laugh to the point of weeping.
I’m sorry, Michael. That isn’t very ‘non-dual’ of me. Jesus does speak of a narrow gate. That’s where you’re at, and that’s what you hear, and there are other stories that fit with that understanding. Bless you if that’s where you find life. For me, I have to notice that Jesus ran a very inclusive table, and crossed boundaries, and died with his arms opened wide to the world. He didn’t teach creeds, he told stories. He didn’t process in fancy dress (closest he came to that was a donkey ride) — he preached and healed.
And he wasn’t scared of even the scariest ‘sinful’ women — he challenged them, he defended them, he EVEN sometimes did what they asked him to…
(Hey…speaking of rebukes and censoring, Jesus did famously tell someone to hush, once, and stop being such a satan and a stumbling block…)
It is my experience that people who are so sure that they are right and everyone else is wrong almost never listen to someone’s thoughts who sees things differently. First of all, “The Church” is us, the People of God. The institutional church may go down in flames and God’s church will prevail. There is corruption and power-brokering all the way up the line, and anyone who will not admit that is not paying attention. Not naming names, it is a fact that what we have is a deadly crisis of failed leadership. Bishops repeatedly shielding priests who have raped children, sometimes paying them off to be voluntarily laicized. We have American bishops who repeatedly lie, as in continuing to assert that the Affordable Care Act pays for abortions when it clearly does not. When confronted with the facts, one bishop shrugged and said, “Well, it might.” (except that it DOESN’T). We have a bishop who is so sure that US Catholics are being persecuted that he says he expects to retire, but that his successor will be jailed for the faith and HIS successor will be martyred. We all know, well, Michael, maybe all of us but you, that the LCWR is not in need of reform; they have beautifully lived out the mandate they were given at the close of Vatican II; to go back to the spirit of their founder, examine and question everything (except the faith, of course) and remake their lives to be open to God’s Holy Spirit in the ways they would serve The Church in the Modern World. It is in the last thirty years that the hierarchy has abrogated and figuratively spat upon the teachings of Vatican II. You yearn for orthodoxy; most of us prefer orthopraxy; it is one thing to say all the “right” things and quite another to live according to the Gospel and the Catholic Christian teachings enjoined upon us as we respond to the vocation given us at our baptism; membership in the Priesthood of the Faithful. “By their fruit shall you know them,” as it says in Matthew 7. The vast majority of American laity are in solidarity with the LCWR in their history of service to and love for the poor, the marginalized, the suffering. On the other hand, the hierarchical, institution is on the skids, bearing the bitter fruits of prevarication, bullying,scandalous lifestyle, abuse of power and a spirit which appears light years away from “Love one another as I have loved you.” Richard Rohr, most of the posters on this board and I have no need to “come back” to the Christ-centered Catholic Church because we’re already there; and we would happily welcome you if you decided to walk into the light of the future instead of the dark of the past.
Love and gratefulness for Fr. Richard’s insights and his incredible courage to share these thoughts with us. And even more wonderful, a band of brothers and sisters who agree! I am beginning to understand the concept of “hope” at last. Thank you all.
Richard, As I read this piece, I first noted that you use vague and undefinable terms that are seemingly meant to merely arouse emotional responses from your adoring and unquestioning followers. Use of terms like “vatican meltdown” (which has either no meaning or can mean just about anything the reader wants) is a cheap way to get a rise from your readers who, it seems, are largely disaffected Catholics and Christians of other denominations. And it surely works as you are praised for, ahem, “speaking truth to power” and for your bravery. But it doesn’t take much courage to lob hand grenades at the Church which has nurtured you for the past 40+ years while remaining comfortably ensconced, “in good standing” under its protective wing. Limosine Liberals can also be priests in good standing. Fact is that I’d be a lot more impressed by your “courage” if you had the guts to leave the Church that you find so misguided. If it’s true that “The push back, the alienation, the cynicism lasts for centuries”, why would you want to be “in good standing with the church” as you so proudly assert at the top of this blog? Especially since you that you have no interest in working to “reform” the Church, which you long ago said was not possible. Finally, it seems that you have not been able to escape that dualistic mind that you’ve been railing about for the past 8-10 years. You’re familiar with the work of Rene Girard. Scapegoat much?… Physician, heal thyself.
Richard, I did an internship at CAC in 1994, and you and I had some interesting early morning conversations while I was there, sometimes in the library. I asked you once what you thought would happen with the Church. Your reply was something like “I think it has to deconstruct before it can reconstruct as a healthy Church.”
Blessings -
Sarah
Thank you for the benefit of your thought, for sure there is a disease all around us. In our world, in our city, in our neighborhood. But, there is still the voice of the Lord, if we can be quiet enough and if we can lead others to that quiet and peace. I think the first instance is to find the peace, ourselves, the peace that Francis and Claire proclaimed. The trouble is, it is not found where most of us live!
“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem…”
Never thought I’d say it , but “power corrupts…” Trite but so true.
People have not yet realized that the “Power” in the church and in the government is all
a sham just like the Wizard of Oz. It’s like in a classroom full of children. The children
have the power not the teacher. If they choose not to sit quietly and listen to the teacher,
all chaos wold break loose. They have the power. The teacher is fooled. The people
in the United States have the power and the people in the pews have the power. They
just don’t recognize it yet. They will soon. Betty Lou
Betty Lou…let me applaud you. I used to say to my high school students that an illusion of power is a dangerous thing. I’d then say, “Hey, guys, there’s one of me and thirty of you. What’s to keep you from deciding to stage a revolt and overcome me…I’d be putty in your hands…I just hope you never do.” And they’d laugh, because they knew I was fair, that I never demeaned nor belittled them and I would respect them as adults as long as they didn’t start acting like kindergarteners. Would that our hierarchical Church would stop treating card carrying adults, particularly women, like they needed to get smacked over the nose with a newspaper and what they’d better be doing is kissing the Bishop’s ring, which he keeps in his back pocket.
Thank you for this. Janis
The role of a prophet is to speak the word obediently and simply. Sometimes that word is rejected just as Jesus was rejected. To speak such a message and have it dismissed must entail much suffering. I pray that we will all hear this message and put into action what we are inspired to do in these difficult times.
Thank You Richard for your honesty about what you are seeing and experiencing. I feel what you simply and with compassion state. I pray for you as you travel.
Pax,
Julia P.
The Vatican and the US Congress reflect another characteristic of the people they supposedly “lead” and that is the ever deepening divide that perhaps we should image as the Grand Canyon. This divide is part of the worse that will get worse before it gets better. Jesus came to create community not to divide. St. Paul “got it” in his Body of Christ reflections. Richard’s reflection of the Trinity this week “gets it”. A house divided against itself cannot stand.
As we continue to dialogue these important matters, let us remember prayer and commit to pray for each other regardless of our views and in our prayers pray Thy kin-dom come, Thy will be done in all our hearts and minds.
I read this while in Cuba this week, its by Kahil Gibran from his book Jesus the Son of Man, (1928). “Jesus of Nazareth was Himself the Great Event.That man.. ….was Himself a miracle wrought in Judea. Yea, all His own miracles, if placed at His feet, would not rise to the height of His ankles”. We need a miracle – let’s ask Him for one and accept the one He delivers!! shalom
i can only join the chorus thanking you for so aptly expressing your clear view on these situations and states we’re in. as i wrote sharing the link to this article on facebook, imho the message of christianity is radical openness and you really have it in you to remind everyone willing to listen of the truths buried deep under all that crap (pardon my french), that keeps scaring people off the church, that on its part so stubbornly fails to bring over the message it was supposed to spread in the first place. so again – thank you! and i really hope that all of us who share your perspective are not only here to exclaim our approval, but are taking all this deeply seriously, thus striving for genuine transformation on our way to becoming spiritually mature voices and agents ourselves.
Curious … in this present time … with SO much need for healing all over the place … why isn’t the focus on helping out others with a better path to life and love? With so much needed healing of relationships … or better said a better understanding of what a healthy relationship even is … why be critical of others?
If one is on a better path to life & love … then lead … others seeking a way out will follow!
Even our church admitted what Galileo saw and experienced was true and real … took a couple of hundred years … but, it too admitted it’s mistake. And how about the rest of us … anyone want to admit to being the source of clear understanding … as in fully the Christ?
Let’s light a few candles by our actions and words … others seeking a way out of this mess will follow … who cares how long it takes …
Hello friends.
I am touched by the wisdom of this phrase ” the poison must come to the surface” in order for healing to take place . I am a visiting nurse and much of our work is caring for wounds. ( paid for by medicare , medicaid , and other insurance funds ) Most wounds are from pressure injury (bed sores) or poor circulation to an injured area. Some wounds take months even years to heal. After three years of wound care, we just discharged a paraplegic young woman (God bless Amanda !) who had a stage four pressure ulcer to her coccyx (tail bone) This developes when prolonged pressure over a boney prominence does not allow blood circulation to the tissue covering this area. The tissue dies, thus a wound. We all must shift our position at least every two hours to prevent injury . We do this when we feel pain or tingling. Those of us who are frail or without sensation , must do this by habit or be assisted by the loving hands of others to frequently reposition. There is so much wisdom for us here, but let me get to the issue of healing!
There are so many ways the body protects and heals its wounds. For our part, we know that open wounds must be kept moist and require our daily vigilance. We see , that infected wounds do not heal until they OPEN and DRAIN. ( sometimes we facilitate this necessary process) Poison must drain out of the wound before the bed of wound can granulate with healthy red tissue . This healthy tissue naturally ‘raises’ the wound bed ,reducing the depth of the wound ,and then the covering skin cells migrate across this bed , finally closing the wound. This newly healed area is fragile for yet years to come. Again, daily vigilance and care !
There is a passage in the old testament that reports on the healing of wounds. They must open and drain. They require vigilance. (TLC !) Healing prevails if we allow it to take place. We must not be afraid. Again we are given the way! Our place is to participate and follow healings Goodness. So nice to be with you all! Vivien
Thank you, Vivien…your message speaks profoundly to me.
Mike wrote: “Let’s light a few candles by our actions and words … others seeking a way out of this mess will follow … who cares how long it takes …”
Mike, to me, your thoughts were evocative and spot on! I resonated with them in different ways on many levels. We need to get busy and with a great sense of urgency and we need to also relax and with a peace the world cannot give!
On one hand, while we must avoid indifferentism, still, because of the enormity of human suffering and the immensity of human pain, we want as many as possible to embody Gospel values that all may travel more swiftly, with less hindrance and greater consolation along this difficult journey of life. On the other hand, we must nurture a holy indifference regarding the outcomes, results and timing of our evangelism, as we preach the Gospel at all times, even using words when necessary (per St. Francis).
There is an insidious indifferentism that doesn’t care which values we choose (evaluatively) or which methods we employ (normatively) and it makes for a seriously impoverished anthropology (view of becoming wo/man), ecclesiology (view of becoming church), soteriology (view of becoming whole), eschatology (view of becoming eternal), sophiology (view of being radically accepted, profoundly cared for and deeply beloved), as entailed in our pneumatology (view of divine indwelling) and Christology (view of the incarnation). Of course, that we think we thus follow God’s will in such discerned values and methods does not mean that we indeed do, but we believe that our desire to please Him does indeed please God and that He won’t leave us to journey alone (per Merton’s Prayer).
There is also a holy indifference, an Ignatian detachment, a surrender of the will and an abandonment to Providence, a humility that desires that others may become both more whole (intellectually, emotionally, morally and socially per Lonergan’s conversions) and more holy (religious conversion) than us, provided we become as whole and as holy as God wills, where we seek enlightenment out of compassion for those who’d otherwise have to suffer our unenlightened selves, where we desire and occupy ourselves in prayer more so to gain the strength to serve and less so for its consolations (per Teresa of Jesus), where we desire to foster our own and others’ conversions by holding on, best we can, to our communally discerned values and methods, then, letting go, as we must,
of both our material results (wholeness remains in creative tension with our inability to cooperate with grace) and spiritual outcomes (holiness remains in creative tension with our refusal to cooperate with grace and I say “creative” because God uses it all). After all, while we do seek to become as whole and holy as God wills, as we cooperate with grace for the greater glory of God (ad majorem Dei gloriam), this is not because each human person is not already intrinsically worthy, absolutely valued and fully loved (whether an infant, variously-abled or declining with age). While a community can discern failures to cooperate with grace and must often interdict them, whatever their source, we can never know which result from inabilities (e.g. due to poor formation, deformative influences, illnesses) and which from refusals (i.e. sins, both serious and venial), hence, forgiveness and compassion should always accompany our holy indifference.
I’m still trying to learn from that last whine of St. Peter “Lord, what about this man?” Jn 21:21 And, Jesus words to him were “What is that to you? Follow me!”
Isn’t this whole matter (of contemplative prayer) a most wonderful and profound attraction! (Lets pay attention to that … ATTRACTION!)
Morton Kelsey once said way back in the 1970′s that if we provide a rich sense of prayer to our youth they would not chose a cheep alternative in drugs, sex or some other form of low level sensory pleasure.
St. John of the Cross, Mother Teresa, Thomas Merton, Dorthy Day and others lived a way of life that is still attractive to us. And that is just the nature of it … attraction. They LEAD into somewhere, someplace … perhaps Dr. Finley’s book Merton’s Palace of Nowhere is another hint …
All of this a great many of us find attractive … and that is just it … “it is what it is” as they say. None of them were perfect … none of them had it all together …
In St. John of the Cross I believe I read in there that the sisters use to enjoy asking John over … he was known to have a sense of humor … so did Mother Teresa at times … it’s as if God was tickling them with such great love that that was one of the ways it spilled out.
The world, the Vatican and all the rest of us took notice of Mother Teresa in our time … it’s reported that she didn’t try to convert one soul … interesting … appears even some of the boys at the top weren’t charmed by that either …
Don’t you just have to laugh at the boy’s in the Vatican over the years? Hopefully they have learned to laugh at themselves … can you imagine them sitting around all dressed up in white, red and black and feeling rather smug in the belief that the world was flat … but that seems to be the case!
Fr. Tony DeMello SJ use to say that the Church (Vatican) IS like our mother … we need to love her as our mother … and sure she is a little half baked at times … so, we love her none the less!
Mary would say to us as did her Son … Follow Jesus …
YES!!!
More and more, in formative spirituality, we are getting in touch with the fact that, for most people, 1) belonging precedes 2) desires, which precede 3) behaving, which precedes 4) believing. The wonkish formula is that ortho-communio precedes ortho-pathy which precedes ortho-praxy which precedes ortho-doxy.
I love the OT verse that says that, in those days, ten men from every nation will come and take you by the sleeve and say that ‘we would go with you for we have heard that God is with you.’ And the NT verse that most resonates with this notion is Luke 24:32 – Did not our hearts burn within as we walked down the road with Him and He opened us to an understanding of the Scriptures?
Catechesis & apologetics, moral & practical reason, all have a place but the forming of desires has been neglected too often.
I think we can lose sight of the belief that a human person’s intrinsic worth (with an already absolute value) does not change from womb to tomb. We cooperate with grace in following developmental/transformative trajectories because it gives God greater glory for us to cooperate with the Spirit and because there is something in it for us (via both eros & agape) vis a vis consolations and value-realizations (via both intrinsic and extrinsic). But we travel only the distance allowed by His will, which differs between each of us and even for each of us through time, all of us still remaining radically finite and variously incomplete (intellectually, emotionally, morally, socially and religiously) and radically in need of God.
Every human experience of God is radically true, radically good, radically beautiful and radically unitive; it’s ALL extraordinary (GKC), whether for infants, those with Downs Syndrome, those variously-abled or the most pious contemplative, even as each value-realization may differ in its degree of dualistic problem-solving and/or nondual relationality (elements of both present). Everything we need to know for business, we learned in Kindergarten, they say; everything we need to know for the Kingdom, we learned at our mother’s breast. Stages of development that follow our earlier stages, in my view, are better called LATER than higher. They add diversity of experience and enrich the Mystical Body but they don’t make this cell versus that cell in the body “more” valuable, intrinsically and eternally, just because, by our temporal and extrinsic standards, they might contribute “more.” Are the working father and diligent mother more valuable than their beautiful baby or senescent grandparent? Much of our impatience, intolerance or hypercriticism of those in earlier stages can be misplaced and little of it models the virtues we associate with later stages. Fr Rohr has often reminded us not to over-engage our detractors but to simply “do it better.”
From Diana Butler Bass’ blog, author of “Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening” —
Americans are searching for churches — and temples, synagogues, and mosques — that are not caught up in political intrigue, rigid rules and prohibitions, institutional maintenance, unresponsive authorities, and inflexible dogma but instead offer pathways of life-giving spiritual experience, connection, meaning, vocation, and doing justice in the world. Americans are not rejecting faith — they are, however, rejecting self-serving religious institutions.
The end of conventional church isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Christianity after religion, a faith renewed by the experience of God’s spirit, is closer to what Jesus hoped for his followers than the scandalous division, politics, and enmity we have now. Will there still be Christianity after the end of institutional religion? Yes, there will be. But it is going to be different than what Americans have known, a faith responsive to the longings of those who are expecting more spiritual depth and greater ethical integrity rather than more conventional church. Indeed, I suspect that the end of church is only the beginning of a new Great Awakening. <<<<<<
A FAITH RESPONSIVE TO LONGINGS
To be a Catholic today is to live in the eye of a storm. The old certainties of the men in Rome have betrayed the vulnerable and trampled on the hopes of a new generation. The Faith of our Fathers is now failing to nurture grace and life.Those of my generation can do little but sit and “watch the parade pass before us” and trust the future will give birth to our dreams.
RE: Vatican meltdown, which Fr Rohr clearly explicated as the Vatican’s “condemning things in every direction,” where’s the controversy in that grasp of the obvious? The USCCB, itself, is presently deliberating changes in its messaging strategies. In their own words, to wit: Overly sensitive about criticism (1), the church, both in the States and at the Holy See, does not do a good job of communicating around controversial topics (2) and needs to teach in a way that’s not combative, but inviting (3).
Amen!
1) Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson
2) Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston
3) Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane
Hello Father Richard,
I am an Albuquerque journalist who has been learning from and guided by you and Father Fran Doerff at the Norbertine Community. We found common ground recently on the topic of “dualistic thinking.” I am a searcher for pure divine and spiritual inspiration. I write about “wellness” in New Mexico–wellness in all aspects of that word.
I write to you (and to other religious leaders in New Mexico) seeking the answers to some puzzling and important questions that a movie I am in the process of reviewing and sharing with my readers has posed. The film is Globalized Soul, (produced by Heaven on Earth Creations in Santa Fe), which was selected as “The Featured Film” of the 2011 UN International Day of Peace and features many scenes and ideas of most of the world’s religions, especially Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Sufism. I think most spiritual people like you will find the film interesting.
Click here (URL below)to read the first article in the series of four, and if you can answer any of the intriguing questions in the article that the film poses, kindly email me those answers at peknik@gmail.com. All of your followers are invited to weigh in on these key questions, the true answers to which may help all of humanity.
Thank you very much for your guidance.
Peace, Shalom, al-Salaam, Sohl, Paz….
George Peknik