Blessed are those who Hope

 

I decided to try to do my Lectio Divina on the daily readings. Today's readings are Jeremiah 7:5-10; Psalm 1; and Luke 16:19-31.

My way of doing Lectio is to circle the words that speak to me as I read. The following words are the words I circled in today's reading: seeks, heart, desert, change, trust, tree, fears not, fruit, understand, hope, delights, season, fade, chaff, kept, bosom, crossing and listen.

Seeking is a lifelong endeavor. It begins with the heart. In the beginning, we experience dryness and doubt, a sort of desert, which happens in any kind of change. With time and trust, we set roots down into our soul, like that of a tree. We learn to fear not when things don't go our way, and rejoice when we see fruit.

Understanding is not the goal; hope is, the ability to delight in what we have, as life is full of seasons, and it is hope that will sustain us even when we fade or feel like chaff.

Because God is kept in our bosom until we reach the crossing. We just need to listen to our heart to be reminded of these things. 

Not set in stone

As beautiful as this is, it will not grow.

Deuteronomy 5:8 instructs You shall not make for yourself any graven image. We are prone to interpret that as false gods, the kind the early Israelites made and set up before themselves and worshiped. 

But is that the true meaning of Deuteronomy 5:8?

I think not. I think it is telling us, don't take an incident, an action, a thought or a value and hold on to it as though it alone is true. Because that is carving it in stone. And life is not like that.

That is death.

Life is change. Life is learning. Life is journey.

I think that is one of the many reasons why we are urged to forgive. Because to refuse to forgive is in effect saying that that one action, that one incident, is carved into my memory. I will never let that memory go. I will always look at that person in light of that one action. And that too is death.

We do the same with opinions. We get an opinion, and then we hold on to it, and refuse to see some other value or way of looking at it. In effect, we have carved that opinion into stone and then worshiped our ideal as the only one true.

And any graven image is a dead image.

To refuse to carve an image in stone is to honor life.

I have heard it said that if we say we know someone like a book, then we really don't know that person at all. Because we are not books. We are human beings. 

And so, the same can be said of setting ideas, memories, or events in stone. It is the opposite of growth, enlightenment, and transformation.

And scripture says, Jesus came that we might have life, a life that grows, matures, and changes.

Making all things new

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).