Ways to remember

Memory. It plays such a critical role in our lives, and in our religion, and in our family. In fact, it would be hard to imagine life at all without its memories.

Yet, like anything else, memories need moderation. We all probably know of someone (perhaps oneself, God forbid!) for whom memory played a bad role, causing that person to live in the past, and forget that the present and future still exist, still hold promise, still need to be made into a memory. That kind of memory is a tomb.

But there are other ways of remembering. We can remember for gratitude, for the lesson the past can teach, for the part of us we need to treasure and hold on to. The secret is being able to think about the past without staying in the past. For each, it is a matter of sorting out, letting go, moving forward or simply moving on. Only the individual can find a way to keep memory a companion and not a task master. And then, truly, memory becomes enriching and rewarding. For it keeps us always in the company with those we never want to lose.

Being the delight of divinity

Proverbs 8:27-31 says When the Lord established the heavens I was there, when the Lord marked out the vault over the face of the deep; when the skies above were made firm above, when  the foundations of the earth were fixed fast and the sea set in its limit, so that the waters should not transgress; then was I beside the Lord, and I was the Lord’s delight day by day, playing before the Lord all the while, playing on the surface of his earth; and I found delight in the human race.

The writer here is speaking of wisdom, portraying her as a person who was always in the mind of God. But we too can identify with this image--the image of having been in the mind of God before the creation of the world. We were the delight of a Divine being, and such thoughts should fill us with profound peace and joy. For no matter how our lives twist and turn, the same God who held us in the Divine mind's eye, who found delight in imagining our creation, is with us still, with no less intensity of love and design.

God intends that we should "play before the Divinity" by trusting in providence, knowing our serious life needs the light hearted joy of confidence, so that we too may be as wisdom, beside her as a co-creator, assisting in creation and delighting the Divine day and night.

Discovery on the journey

To journey is to discover. We discover by entering ever more deeply into the world of the spirit, the world of the unseen, the unknown, the hidden. As we enter there, we become different people, and we learn to walk the path of life with different attitudes and eyes. This is how one advances in the spiritual life.

Some writers of spirituality speak of this journey as though we were climbing a ladder. Each rung represents a different stage, a higher one. But this view of the spiritual life tends to stigmatize. Stages means some are higher and some are at the bottom. And we all know how Jesus felt about that.

The spiritual life is different. Though there is a gradual development, a learning curve, it is more of an awakening to presence. We desire and search, and gradually the mist burns away because a fire has been lit from within. We are not so much ascending to a higher level as we are deepening our understanding of things we've always had, but not appreciated. So our vision becomes a bit clearer and our understanding broader. We find we continue with the same practices, we just understand them differently. 

According to the Abbas and Ammas of the desert, the journey is all about transformation. In some sense, we remain always beginners, because we awaken continually to new understandings and visions. It involves finding that "new" element in our spirituality, that bit of heaven tucked into our heart and soul, a new understanding that is given to us alone, one we can share with others or keep to ourselves.

So put aside those books that would assign steps to your journey. Seek newness of life in each day, the knowledge to see what you already have in a better light. If you do, you will understand the words of Revelation: "Behold, I make all things new" (21:4).

Be the prophet you are called to be

In Zechariah chapter eight we read of God saying, through the prophet, that ten people of every nationality, speaking different tongues, shall take hold, yes, take hold of every Jew by the edge of the garment and say,  "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."

As I read these words, I realize, I would like that to happen to me...I would like to so radiate the peace and love of Christ that people could come up to me and say, "Tell me what it is that makes you different. We can tell you have a power and tranquility in your life that is unexplainable. Share your secret with us, for we too want to experience this peace."

This is the true form a prophet should take. We should all be prophets; we should all radiate the peace and love of the Divinity. That is the goal of each believer, to radiate and live out one’s faith.

John Eudes Banberger writes the simplest realities frequently conceal the most mysterious of truths. (CSQ 45:1) We are here to reveal those truths by our simple faith. We are called to this witness. Our search for the truth isn't just for ourselves. No matter how many or how few people we touch, there are souls waiting for someone to help them find the way. They are looking for that sign, that person, that experience that enlightens them. They are waiting for that person who will reveal these secrets to them.

You be that person. You be the prophet you are called to be.

The mysticism of the soul

Isn’t it our greatest wish that God not be some faraway abstract entity, but somehow like us? writes Heather King.

I think she is on to something here. Perhaps a faraway abstract entity satisfies us when things are going well, and we are operating on cruise control. But when life needs direction, we’d like our deity to be near, very near, to us.

Mysticism is all about that understanding, that knowledge, that awareness that God is somehow like us, near us, available to us. It is journeying into the light without having to see the light at all times. It is taking the hand of God without needing to see the signs of God.  It is struggling without losing heart, fearing without terror of the future, grieving without despairing, because we know our deity is within the chapel of our own soul.

Headache, heartache, anxiety; God knows them all in Jesus. Loneliness, fear, terror, we see it in the Gospel stories. Our God is someone we can identify with, someone who can understand our struggle, who knows our pain and suffering.

Do not let your hearts be troubled, Jesus says in John 14:1. Jesus would not have us stay in our fear and anxiety of heart. He would have us remember his own life, his own struggles, and realize that God is very much like us. He is indeed, not some faraway abstract entity. He is very near to us.