Become a Visionary

Dreamers. They don’t see life or the world the way other people see it. They live on a different level, a different plane. Their lives are perceived full of opportunities, not obstacles. And no obstacle stays an obstacle for long, because they invariable find a way to change it into a stepping stone. For them, nothing has to be permanent because all things can be transformed.

Hans Selye is quoted as saying realistic people with practical aims are rarely as realistic and practical in the long run of things as the dreamers who pursue their dreams.

Dreamers are visionaries. It’s no wonder scripture is full of men and women who dreamed dreams.  These were the individuals who ventured forth to change nations, challenge kings, and lead a people into a land not their own.

Dream a dream today.Let it take you aloft to new heights and change your view of the world, of life, of yourself.

Acceptance of what is

Wholesome. It is an invitation to gather all things together. The dictionary defines it as comprising the full quantity, amount, extent, number, etc., without diminution or exception; entire, full, or total.  It connotes healthy, nutritious, organic, balanced. It should also be a key word for each of us in our search for an authentic spiritual life.

Whole makes us think of oneness, of all the parts meshing together naturally. It also makes us think that all is above reproach, nothing damaged, nothing tainted. Yet in the spiritual life, that would be false. For there is not one person alive who could claim perfection. And in spirituality, wholeness does not translate into perfect. It translates into acceptance of what is.

None of us comes of age without a certain amount of baggage. We can spend a great deal of our lives working to deny it or cover it. But that too lacks the "wholeness" vision.

What we forget is that "perfection" is a myth, not a reality. Our woundedness does not damage or destroy our wholeness, only our lack of acceptance and willingness to work with it. We sense immediately when someone presents herself to us as perfect, that it is only a sham, that the truth is not being told, that life is being presented very superficially.

Authenticity requires that we accept our woundedness. Who is more beautiful than the soul that lets her authenticity shines through her words and actions, without guile or pretense? And spiritual wholeness requires we accept all facets of ourselves, the pleasant and the unpleasant. Only then can we be "whole".

Be whole. Accept your whole person. Then you can be truly free.

Taking the risk

Why are we so afraid of risking? Think of all the secrets we keep hidden within ourselves. And yet, what is more beautiful than an authentic self? 

I find that I keep up a façade because I fear. I’m not sure how others will accept me if they know the real me. So I don’t take that chance. I stay hidden and unknown, a smiling face without revealing the inner heart. I make an unconscious choice to stay lonely rather than risk openness. How wrong that is!

Carl Rogers once wrote I feel a sense of satisfaction when I can dare to communicate the realness in me to another…It is so obvious when a person is not hiding behind a façade but is speaking from deep within herself. When this happens, I leap to meet it. I want to encounter this real person. (16).

We don’t often think about that, that the real self makes others more comfortable, makes them want to leap forward to meet the real me. I suppose there is relief in no longer having to guess. Somehow, meeting someone’s real self invites me to take that risk myself, to be honest, to be open. It’s as though one risk is worth another.

What great friendships come from authentic selves! What wonderful doors open, and paths cross. So how much longer shall we fear to risk?

Going beyond need

Who hasn’t smiled at the directness and honesty of children? But while we chuckle at how uninhibited they act we know the day will come when life will not be quite so simple for them.

In our spiritual life, we too must "grow up" into reality. Bernard Bro puts it this way: perhaps the best definition [of an adolescent] is that of someone who has not yet experienced her limitations, and therefore has not had to accept them.

Bro points out that much of our prayer, the earnest and heartfelt portion, usually springs forth when we realize our limitations, our woundedness, our needs. When we do, we have the opportunity to accept them in faith, or to become angry that life isn't fair. Our acceptance, our "growing up" leads us to that authentic self, where we no longer pretend to things that are not so.

Bro goes on to say Prayer brings us back to what is most authentic in our quest for happiness...prayer makes us free...prayer...must teach us every day of our need for God.

If you and I would grow up spiritually, we need to realize that prayer is more than asking. It is accepting. It is telling God that we are okay in feeling needy, in being wounded, in having wants in life. Prayer from an adult says to God, "Yes, this is a relationship where I can trust that no matter what happens to me, I can reach out my hand and find you are there." Prayer is realizing that it is our very needs that keep us close to God.

For if we were all sufficient, who of us would take the time to pray?

Step aside!

Mary Magdalen. The woman chosen to exemplify wondrous love. The gospels tell us she had seven devils cast out of her. It also tells us she was one of the few at the foot of the cross. She is the first one to see Jesus on the day of resurrection. And Jesus doesn't say, "Hi Mary, Got to run. Must tell the big boys I'm up." He says, "You, go and tell my disciples I have risen." From this account, she is called the Apostles of the apostles. So, Peter and Paul, step aside, because you are superseded by the faith of one who once had seven devils. Step aside because a woman has been chosen to proclaim the good news to you. Step aside, because love conquers all, and Mary Magdalen had that love.

Mary Magdalen. She is mentioned in scripture as standing at the foot of the cross, where no disciple could be seen but John. She was the first to go to the tomb, not giving thought to the heavy stone or the guards or the people. She stayed at the tomb even after Peter and John came, saw and left. Mary Magdalen, the name so synonymous with sinner is actually the epitome of selfless love. While the disciples hid behind locked doors, she went out in public, in daylight, to find her lord. While others saw an empty tomb and left, she stayed and wept until even Jesus could not leave her ignorant of his resurrection.

Harkening back to monastery days...

I was asked by a friend if I would share with her what Easter means to me. I suppose most if not all of my thoughts on Easter come from living in a monastery for so long. Easter there is a totally different experience from what it is out here...as the spiritual aspect is the one focused on, and we were spared the commercial side.

I suppose I could say Easter for me is a reminder that there is a spiritual world out there that invites us to step beyond the tangible. My Easters are so heavily dependent upon Holy Week. In the monastery we tried to "re-live" the events, not just read about them. So Holy Thursday we washed each others' feet, we celebrated the last supper with a special meal, and we spent the night in prayer as we read the passion. In those days, we stayed the whole night. Good Friday was a day of unique silence. There were no monastery bells (which were normal on regular days, so their absence impacted the day quite a bit), no music of any kind except the chant of the Tenebrae, the special office for the Triduum and of course, no one spoke. I still try to maintain that kind of silence on Good Friday, as much as I can (for me it means no TV or radio or music). Holy Sat. was a day of preparation, a joyous day of anticipation. It was a day we gathered flowers from our monastery garden to adorn the altar, when we set up the candles and broke out the special vestments and chalice for the Easter celebration. The day was always full of anticipation, for the heaviness of Lent was about to give way to celebration, and after our Lenten fast and penance, that was a time worth waiting for!

Easter became the most important day of the year for me after my first year in the monastery. It wasn't just the way we commemorated Holy Week that made it special, though that was part of it. It was also the chant that captured, for me, first the pain and sorrow of Holy Week, and then the beauty of the resurrection. I lived each year waiting eagerly for this time of year, Holy Week and Easter. In fact, the main reason I stayed so long in the monastery was because every time I thought of leaving, I would stop and say to myself, "But how will I ever live without these celebrations of Holy Week and Easter?" That one event kept me in many more years than I probably should have stayed. That's how different Easter was in the monastery than it is out here.

I still try to capture its essence as much as I can. This year I found a parish community in Mount Washington (North Baltimore) that celebrated Holy Week with such rituals and ceremony as to help me stop missing the monastery so much. I confess, its the one time of the year I do love rituals and ceremony (normally I like to keep things simple). I find their use helps me "touch" the spiritual aspect of my faith.

So that, in a rather long, rambling narrative, is what Easter means to me. I hope it makes sense. As I said, it’s the one time of year I get really homesick for the monastery. I suppose Easter is what life is all about, being able to come through any kind of "lent" and find new life and glory. I think the celebration of Easter should be about remembering that life never dies, but only changes form.