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Posted by Susan Mahan on Oct 24, 2013

Seeking God, Decision-Making and the Ignatian Examen

Finding Peace and Freedom

We cannot find peace if we are arguing with God in whatever form we perceive the sacred. The Divine Reality loves us without reservation. We cannot find happiness and peace in any other place. Even non-believers will only find peace in the Reality that has created the universe and encloses all of it within Itself. God has given everything in the universe love and freedom. God’s love is total. It encompasses everything that promotes our growth and transformation. We have been created for union with this sacred reality, so we learn and experience during all our lives ways to be like God: to be knowing, understanding, wise, discerning, reverent, courageous and in awe of the transcendent. Everything in the universe has degrees of freedom. The nature of everything determines the degrees of freedom. I cannot flap wings and fly. I cannot breathe under water just as I am. I will always be a middle child. But, there are many ways in which I can determine my course in life, work with limitations or with strengths.

As I live my life I have many possibilities before me. I also have a certain amount of freedom. If I believe in the reality of God, I see myself in a relationship with God, a God who is close or distant. All religious and spiritual traditions have concepts of the relationship of human powers and divine powers. These relationships involve change, improvement, decision, freedom, human failure, consequences and divine intervention. The theological terms often used for these phenomena are: conscience or consciousness, grace, nature, discernment, acts, harm or sin and moral good, and judgment or karma. If I am thinking about getting more money I have a number of reasons as to why I want more money, what I possibly want to do to get money, and what the pros and cons are with various options. I can look at the decision from many angles. I can line up my ideas and come up with what I think will work the best. I can talk to others or read various sources. I can also present this to God in prayer and say: “Please tell me what You see as best for me.”

This is not easy to do because most people feel that God does not think of my little side to things; God is only interested in the Bigger Picture and saints or martyrs. In fact, God is very interested in individuals. God as most Westerners conceive of God is a personal Reality who sees us fully and knows exactly what would make us happy. We are still not too sure about that because it sounds too mature for us. Attending to our health and saving money may sound difficult, so long term happiness planning may seem very hard. I am the first to say that buying something new sounds like fun. But, wanting to surrender to God as our source of wisdom and a guide is the only way to have peace. We are also very rational in the West and often think God is so intangible or un-provable as to be neither reliable nor a reality with which we can have a two-way communication.

Time for Centering

Taking time each day to practice centering in God for the direction of our day and our lives is necessary. There are many ways to do this: journaling, walking a labyrinth, and having a spiritual counseling session are ways to think and pray through where I am in my life, where I feel drawn, and what God sees in me that I might benefit from. Another way to have an experience of being counseled by God is the Ignatian Examen.

Very briefly, sit quietly and think of or imagine things you are truly grateful for. They can be big or small: Clean sheets, good food, your dog, ways you have been loved, accomplishments, a family member or friend, your house or job etc. Tell God what you are grateful for. See, if God has given you things you are grateful for: a rescue in life, money you needed, safety, a trip you took. Then think of the things in yourself or your life which you have chosen that have harmed you, undermined your well being, or side-tracked you. These can also be big or small: being resentful, feeling superior, or not being willing to do something new that you need to do. Ask God to help you with these fears or hurts that have held you away from Him. Lastly, ask God how you can spend the next part of your day or life doing what is best. You will get answers. You can surrender to what is best and see how much more peace-filled you are. I do this every day, sometimes more than once. I act on what I hear and I am much more at peace.

Image: Three Candles by Alice Birkin, public domain

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Sep 17, 2013

St. Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen

St. Hildegard of Bingen lived in the 12th century. A remarkable woman, she founded a Benedictine convent, served as abbess of her community, studied medicine and physiology, including the use of medicinal herbs, composed and played hauntingly beautiful religious music, wrote poetry and morality plays, produced artistic works, and was a prophetic leader and preacher within the Church of her day.

Hildegard was also a mystic, having had visions beginning around the age of three. When in her early 40s, she began writing of her visions and their meaning. These were presented in three major works: Scivias (Know the Ways of the Lord), Liber Vitae Meritorum (Book of the Rewards of Life), and Liber Divinorum Operum (The Book of Divine Works).

Many of her musical compositions have survived to the present and have been recorded by contemporary artists and orchestras. Her music goes beyond the traditional chant of her day, with a much broader range of notes in her melodies than was common at the time.

Hildegard saw humans as the thinking heart of all creation, called to work with God in shaping our world. Humans, and indeed all of creation, are “living sparks,” “rays of his splendor, just as the rays of the sun proceed from the sun itself.” She taught that our separation from God through sin brought harm to us as humans and to all of creation, but through Christ, we have the way for all to return to our original state of blessing.

In her words:

All living creatures are sparks from the radiation of God’s brilliance, and these sparks emerge from God like the rays of the sun. If God did not give off these sparks, how would the divine flame become fully visible?

Hildegard is honored as a Doctor of the Church. We celebrate her feast on September 17.

St. Hildegard, pray for us as we seek to see God’s face in each other and in all of creation.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 8, 2013

St. Dominic’s Insight and Evangelization Today

Insights from Conversing with an Innkeeper

Dominic Guzmán (1170-1221), a Spanish priest traveling with his bishop in southern France, spent an entire night talking with an innkeeper who was a believer in Catharism, a dualistic religious cult that originated in the East. He discovered that the man had not really rejected Catholic teachings but rather was ignorant of them. This discovery led to the founding of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans), a group dedicated to learning theology and other disciplines and communicating the beliefs of the Church to all they met, while living as beggars and travelers on the highways and byways of Europe. Many great theologians and prophets, both men and women, have served the church through the centuries as followers of Dominic and his early companions.

Moving into a Changing World

Dominic’s insight that the Gospel must be taught both with words and through the lives of the ones proclaiming it in the contemporary world with all of its challenges holds as true today as it did some eight hundred years ago. In many ways, we as a community of faith had, until recently, settled into an almost self-satisfied attitude that all of the answers to the questions of faith and moral behavior had been resolved by theologians of the Middle Ages and/or at the Council of Trent. As Tevye (of “Fiddler on the Roof”) might have expressed it, “Everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to be!”

Yet such an attitude of self-confident satisfaction with who we are and what we believed did not serve us well. The world’s people continued to discover new truths in science and new understandings of human behaviors and cultures. Industrialization brought changes in family life and opportunities. Education of both boys and girls has become a given in Western societies and increasingly this is also the case in non-industrial societies around the world as well. More strikingly, perhaps, we did not as intelligent inhabitants of this planet learn how to live together in peace, with the common good as our highest concern. Instead, we set about conquering each other, with the nations having the strongest military plundering the regions they had conquered. Somehow the old teachings no longer answered the new questions about God, life, and the reality of evil in the world.

Evangelization Today

Pope Francis and his recent predecessors have called the Church to a new focus on evangelization. The teachings of the Church, including new insights from theology, philosophy, anthropology, psychology and other disciplines, must be presented to the world and lived out joyfully by Christian believers. Pope Francis repeatedly stresses the importance of going out into our communities and meeting people where they live and work. We are to work to alleviate poverty and suffering. We are to serve without judging others whose lives and values differ from ours. We are to be true to the traditions of our community, but recognize that those traditions may need to be presented in different words and explained using different images. Some of those traditions may need to be stretched so they express the lived experience of a new generation of believers. This is the age of the Holy Spirit in salvation history and we must recognize that God is so much bigger and more amazingly wonderful than we could ever imagine, that no human formulation could ever totally express the full reality of who God is.

Like the times of Dominic Guzmán, there is a great need in today’s world for people of faith to learn about God, about our Christian beliefs and traditions, and about the newly emerging insights of our living faith community. The days when the catechism lessons of childhood sufficed for an adult life of faith are long since gone, if they ever truly existed. We are all called to continue to learn, to study Scripture, to reflect on God’s active presence in our lives, and to share what we have learned with others. And we do this not just at Church or in catechism classes, but also in our daily activities on the highways and byways of our lives. The People of God are once again called to be proclaimers of the loving presence and activity of our God.

And that innkeeper with whom Dominic spoke all night? He returned to the Catholic faith once he understood what the community really believed.

St. Dominic, Pray for us!

Image: St. Dominic by Fra Angelico, Side panel of the Altarpiece in Perugia

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jul 31, 2013

Becoming Radiant in the Presence of the Lord

The readings of the Church recently have been focused on the experience of entering into the Presence of the Lord and spending time there. One way of describing the experience of spending time with God is to use the word prayer.* An ancient definition of prayer, attributed to St. Augustine, is this: “Prayer is lifting our minds and hearts to God.” On this feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, it seems fitting to spend a few moments reflecting on ways we enter into the presence of God and the results of doing so.

Jesus taught his followers to be very direct and straightforward in their prayers, asking for what they needed with confidence and persistence. They were (and we are) to ask for the coming of God’s kingdom and that God’s will be done both in heaven and on earth. Their prayer was also to include such seemingly mundane issues as requesting their daily bread and forgiveness for having hurt others, failing to live in loving ways, as well as the much more serious concern that they be spared from the soul-shaking temptations that sometimes afflict even good and holy people at difficult points during their lives. Jesus himself spoke familiarly and intimately with God, calling him Abba — a word that means Father in the sense of a loving parent, a “Dad,” or even the “Daddy” of a small child. The result of the conversation would not always be the reception of exactly what was requested or preferred (remember the Agony in the Garden and Jesus’ prayer there), but it was always frank and based in trusting love. Those who learn to rely on God for the “little” things (daily bread and forgiveness) become more able to rely on God for the big things (courage to make the hard decisions and accept the consequences of following the Lord).

Among those whose relationship with God we have seen as examples are Abraham, who spoke with God directly, pleading for the salvation of Sodom and Gomorrah if as few as ten good men could be found within their walls. Many years later, Moses met God and entered into the cloud with God for forty days, returning to the people with the gift of the Law that would guide their lives in holiness. When Moses returned to the people, his face was so radiant it was frightening to the people. He covered his face when among them and only lifted the veil when he again entered into the presence of God. Jesus’ friend Martha, who had spent many hours in easy friendship with him, did not hesitate to speak frankly to him, complaining at one point that she had been left to do all the work of entertaining the large group of people who accompanied him on his visit. But Martha also is known for her declaration of faith in Jesus: “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.” These and many others model for us the importance of speaking directly with God and of doing so on a regular basis.

Ignatius called his followers to contemplation in action, recognizing that the fundamental basis for a fruitful discipleship is the time spent in the company of the Lord. Out of the experience of friendship with God comes the gift of seeing how God would respond to those we meet in our lives today and the courage to act accordingly.

Entering into the presence of the Lord is not for the faint of heart. The great mystery of Love is not tame, nor is it particularly predictable. Love is a powerful force that can sweep away obstacles but can also be as gentle as a mountain stream bubbling through a meadow and washing the feet of children playing by its side. Yet as we enter regularly into the Presence, we are changed subtly and profoundly. Peace, joy, patience, gentleness, kindness, persistence, confidence, compassion, and zeal for justice become characteristic of ones who have spent much time with the Lord. Like Moses, if to a somewhat lesser degree, they become radiant with the joy of that relationship. And when at last they return to their Father and we remember them with love, sometimes we portray that radiance with a golden aura or halo surrounding their heads.

*Philip St. Romain offers a good presentation of Christian prayer and contemplation. See also Fr. Ron Shirley’s reflections on prayer.

Public Domain image by Robert & Mihaela Vicol

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jun 24, 2013

A Song of Praise as a World Turns — The Benedictus

Zechariah and John the Baptist

On the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist, I find myself reflecting on the song of praise attributed to his father, Zechariah, known by its Latin name, the Benedictus.

Who was Zechariah?

Zechariah was a priest from the family of Aaron. His wife Elizabeth was of the same family line. They were elderly and had no children. According to the Gospel of Luke, one day when Zechariah was serving at the temple in Jerusalem, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer sacrifice. This was the most solemn duty for any priest and large numbers of people gathered outside to pray. Suddenly, an angel appeared to him, “standing at the right of the altar of incense.” The angel announced that his prayers and those of his wife for a child would be answered. The child would be a son and was to be named John. The angel explained that this child would be filled with the Holy Spirit while still within his mother’s womb and would bring back many of the sons of Israel to God. He would prepare “a people well-disposed” for the Lord. (Lk 1:5-17)

Zechariah found all of this hard to believe, so he asked the angel for more details about how it could happen — after all, both he and Elizabeth were beyond their normal child-bearing ages. The angel, Gabriel, responded that because he questioned the message, he would remain mute until the birth of the child. Then he would see that the Lord’s promise had been fulfilled. And so it happened. (Lk 1:18-25)

Nine months later, the child was born. Elizabeth’s cousin Mary, who had also been blessed by a visit from Gabriel, had come to help her for a few months and the child within Elizabeth’s womb leaped with the joy of Mary’s coming. (Lk 141) When John was born, all the relatives and neighbors expected that he would be named for his father, Zechariah, but both Elizabeth and Zechariah insisted that the child’s name would be John. With that, Zechariah’s tongue was freed and he spoke, praising God and uttering a prophecy regarding his son’s role in salvation history.

A Prophetic Canticle

Zechariah’s prophetic song is not a statement like that of a fortune teller. Prophecy in Biblical terms refers to speaking on behalf of God of the underlying reality of what God is doing in the lives of the members of the community.

Zechariah begins by blessing God as the God of Israel who visits and ransoms his people. God raises a savior from the House of David, the royal house, as promised in days of old. This savior will rescue the people from the hands of their foes in fulfillment of the covenant established with Abraham, delivering them from fear and freeing them to serve the Lord all the days of their lives. Only after laying out the ancient promises, Zechariah speaks briefly to his own child — a child who will be called a prophet of the Most High because he will go before the Lord to announce the coming of salvation and to help the people prepare to receive it (the image used is to prepare straight paths for the coming savior). Zechariah concludes by noting that all of this is a work of kindness from the Lord, the Dayspring who in his tender mercy will visit Israel, freeing those who sit in darkness and guiding their feet into the way of peace. (Lk 1:68-79)

A World Turns

In the birth of John the Baptist, the trajectory of history began to turn. The final step of God’s plan to reclaim all of creation and return it to the initial unity with God has been initiated. God does not force this transition or the people involved in it to cooperate. But God persistently works with humans and through human history to bring it about. Zechariah reminds all who hear his voice through the ages that God keeps the covenant, rescues the people, gathers the community, and wants to bring all people back to joyful unity in Love.

The Christian church (community) remembers this song of prayer, praise and promise in the Liturgy of the Hours. As part of Morning Prayer, the People of God around the world recite or sing this canticle daily. Some chant it. Some arrange its words to fit other religious or popular tunes. One of my favorite versions was set to the tune of an English folk song by Ruth Duck. Those who really listen deeply to it find a special joy bubbling into their day as they join Zechariah in praising a God who works such wonders.

Image from Holy Cross Monastery in Jerusalem

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Nov 30, 2012

Dorothy Day, Servant of God and Follower of Christ the King

Dorothy Day, 1934

Dorothy Day, cofounder with Peter Maurin of the Catholic Worker Movement, died 32 years ago, on November 29, 1980. Like many other activists who have struggled for social justice and worked among the poorest, most forgotten members of society, she is more respected by mainstream Americans, religious leaders, and commentators now than she was during all but the last decade of her life. In life she had the annoying habit of pointing out the discrepancies between our Gospel calling to serve the Lord in those around us, especially in the poor and most vulnerable, and our national focus on the value of making money and enjoying a middle class or higher lifestyle. She opposed war and participated in demonstrations against all wars, including World War II. She supported Cesar Chavez and the labor union movement. She was not unwilling to go to jail and did so on multiple occasions. She lived and died in a Catholic Worker house of hospitality in New York, providing services including food, clothing, shelter, and a cup of good coffee to the poor and homeless. With other activists, she also participated in non-violent direct actions aimed at changing the social structures that lead to poverty and homelessness.

Movies have been made and books written about this woman whose work led to the establishment of the Catholic Worker. Church leaders today speak of her with respect and support her cause for sainthood. Men and women around the world join together in soup kitchens, hospitality houses, and communal farms to carry on the work she began.

This year, Dorothy Day’s feast falls outside of Advent. Last Sunday we celebrated the Solemnity of Christ the King. The convergence of our celebration of a King who was crucified, died, and rose from the dead with our celebration of the life of a woman whose life was focused on serving that King in the poorest of the poor is one that does not happen often. Yet it seems fitting that this connection should be noticed. Serving the poor and disenfranchised is hard, dirty, smelly, frustrating work. Most people who live on the street are not there by choice, yet some prefer to remain on the streets rather than deal with the requirements of the various shelters or programs in their communities. Some have mental illnesses that are untreated. Some battle post-traumatic stress. Some have lost their homes as a result of loss of employment or long-term illnesses. Families and single people live on the streets. Children and old men and women live on the streets. It’s cold, lonely and dangerous there and all too often, the rest of us pass by without noticing them or if we do see them, we somehow assume it’s their own fault and feel no compulsion to try to help.

Those who enter pastoral ministry, social workers, and others who regularly deal with the homeless and disabled quickly learn that it is not glamorous or easy to provide support and care for this population, particularly with scant resources and personnel. Yet as Dorothy noted, “The mystery of the poor is that they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do to Him.” This doesn’t mean she was never frustrated or angry with God. Anyone who regularly deals with impossibly difficult individuals, bureaucracies, social structures, and disdainful or fundamentally unaware fellow church members or citizens will experience times of total anger and frustration. Faithfulness to the call to serve Jesus in this way requires continuing anyway — telling God what a mess it all is, maybe telling God how angry one is feeling, complaining about how hard it is to keep going or to deal with the physical realities of life on the street or in poor neighborhoods, and then going out and continuing the work. This is the connection with Christ the King: faithful following of the call to service of the poor and vulnerable and to change those social institutions that keep so many people trapped in poverty.

Dorothy Day is on her way to officially recognized sainthood. Nevertheless, we would all do well to remember her thoughts about what might result in such an eventuality, “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.”

Photograph from New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 11, 2012

A Quote from St. Clare for her Feast Day

St. Clare of Assisi was a friend of Francis of Assisi and founder of the Poor Clares. Her advice to her sisters and other followers, as well as for us today is this:

Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance! And transform your whole being into the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation!

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 4, 2012

Quote of the Day – St. John Vianney

St. John Vianney

August 4 is the feast of St. John Vianney, patron of parish priests. John Vianney was born to a peasant family in Lyons, France. He wanted to be a priest, but his education was limited and he was not a very good student, despite his great desire to learn enough to be ordained. Finally his bishop took a chance on him and agreed to ordain him. John was assigned to a remote town far away from any place of note. He was not a great homilist. His knowledge of theology was limited. But he was a good listener and a compassionate man whose advice and counsel was welcomed by those who came to him for confession. Before long, he was spending up to eighteen hours a day, sitting in a confessional, hearing the confessions of people who traveled from all over France to receive forgiveness through his ministry.

St. John Vianney also loved the Eucharist. Among his many insights was this one on God’s love for us.

“The soul hungers for God, and nothing but God can satiate it. Therefore He came to dwell on earth and assumed a Body in order that this Body might become the Food of our souls.”

Image of St. John Vianney is in the public domain.

Posted by Susan Mahan on Jul 3, 2012

The Seventh Gift: Awe and Wonder (Fear of the Lord)

Baby Galaxies in the Night Sky

When I stare at the night sky, especially if I am out in the country, I get almost overwhelmed at the immensity of the universe. I am in awe of the beauty of the stars and then amazed at a God who can create and manage such an enormous and complex reality and yet be with me personally. One billion galaxies! Possibly two billion.

Even if a person does not believe in God as the reality defined in traditional religious terms, the beauty of the night sky, the roar of water down a canyon, the amazing chatter of birds and animals can take the breath away — almost bring one to tears.

The gift of AWE AND WONDER helps us to know and to feel that God is the fulfillment of everything we desire. That there exists perfect love — perfect knowledge, goodness, power, action, discretion, justice, healing. With this gift we perceive the mystery that God is. We realize that there is an aspect of the Sacred, the transcendent, that we cannot know on this side of death, but that we get glimpses of such majesty and glory. We see that God can know, interact with, and sustain billions of people. It’s amazing. You either believe it or you don’t. If you believe in such a possibility then it is mind blowing. My particularities matter. I am fully known. Nothing is impossible.

In 1974 When Annie Dillard published Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, it made two inaccessible worlds available to an entirely new audience. The first world was the natural world known in a scientific way. All of a sudden cells and their biochemistry, ecosystems, the interdependence of species, and the rhythms of nature were explained in lay terms and could be understood and celebrated. Secondly, this joy and excitement was not just intellectual but also solidly spiritual. There was no separation of the secular from the sacred. The world was whole and we felt whole in it. How nice! My body and the whole physical realm was God’s love and creativity writ big in the awesome processes of life in mitochondria, chloroplasts, T cells, blood, genes, the periodic table, and atomic particles.

Dillard took all the lovely words, images and sounds of a poet like Gerard Manley Hopkinsand showed us the genius of God, down to the most minute details. Hopkins’ dramatic words: grandeur, greatness, ooze, dearest freshness, dappled, brinded, original, spare, and strange now showed the grandeur of God as Dillard explained the incredible scientific reality of ooze and freshness, dappled and brinded. She also opened up very wide the whole subject of suffering and death and gave the reader a new perspective on the meaning and purposes of both. As a spiritually anemic graduate student, I soaked up the theology of Dillard’s book and saw for the first time the consistency of God in the natural and supernatural realms. How could God have a cycle of growth, disintegration and integration in the natural realm and not have one in the spiritual realm? What was all that talk of planting, pruning, cultivating and harvesting in the Bible all about if God was not also doing it in society and in my soul? And was God a genius in nature and then mindless and distant in the spiritual world? No, we can and do find God in the wonder of the universe and in the many parallel things we know in our lives.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning speaks of awe when she says, “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees takes off his shoes.” Having Awe and Wonder is not automatic. It is a gift. We can be so over-indulged or over-stimulated that we miss beauty or grandeur. Last Sunday morning I saw a small fox trot by a glass door of a building where I was in a meeting. It was very close. The sun was shining through its translucent tail all colorful and fluffy. What a pointy nose and whiskers! Wonderful round dark eyes. Such a lovely animal. So light on its feet. I couldn’t dismiss it. It made my day. God is near.

Red Fox

The fox looked back at us as he or she trotted on. I wanted to go with it as it ran into the woods. In Psalm 139 it says that we are wonderfully made. Yes, we are. Sometimes squirrely and difficult; other times sleek and dolphin-like. But we are all wonderfully made, “The work of his hands.” And, awe, wonder and gratitude are our best response. Hopefully we can at times “Take off our shoes” at the thought of all this splendor. Maybe we can shake off the darkness of this world a little as we drink in “all this juice and all this joy”!

Image of the fox from wpclipart.com – public domain.
Image of Baby Galaxies from NASA – public domain.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jun 9, 2012

The Feast of Corpus Christi: Celebrating the Mystery of Divinity Transforming Humanity

Corpus Christi Procession

Known as the solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and celebrated on the Sunday following Trinity Sunday, the Feast of Corpus Christi has been officially celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church since the mid-thirteenth century. The feast is the result of a series of visions of St. Juliana of Liege, a Belgian canoness regular (a member of an Augustinian order) and a mystic. The visions occurred over a period of more than 20years before she began to understand their meaning. In the vision, she saw a full moon with a dark spot in it. Eventually she came to believe that the dark spot represented the lack of a solemn feast dedicated specifically and exclusively to the Body and Blood of Christ. Working with her confessor and a group of theologians and Dominicans living and working in Liege, she arranged for the feast to be instituted as a local feast of the diocese of Liege in 1246. She and her confessor, Canon John of Lausanne, composed the first music and prayers for the feast. Later, Pope Urban IV commissioned the composition of an office (a ritual of music and prayers) for the feast by St. Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas’ hymn, Pange Lingua, composed for this feast, expresses the idea of transubstantiation— the doctrine that the substance of the bread and wine offered in the Mass are transformed into the substance of the body and blood of Christ without changing in outer appearance.

The Church’s belief in the Eucharistic transformation of bread and wine into Jesus’ body and blood dates to the earliest days of the Christian community. Christians have always gathered to celebrate The Lord’s Supper. The disciples on the road to Emmaus described recognizing Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Understanding of the implications of this great gift, however, has developed and deepened over the centuries.

Like many of the mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the mystery of the Eucharist defies easy explanation. That’s part of the nature of mystery: part of the wonder and awe we experience in the face of the great love God has poured out into all of creation and each of us through the life of Jesus and the gifts of their Holy Spirit. As St. Augustine explained it in his Confessions, Christ says to us, “You will not change me into you, but you will be changed into me.” In the Eucharist, the divine takes over and transforms the profane — the everyday reality we experience. We see and experience no obvious change, yet when we eat the bread and drink the wine that have been transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, we are ourselves transformed into his mystical Body and Blood. Our bodies don’t absorb his; rather his transforms ours and we are strengthened and pulled into his mission of transforming our world into God’s Kingdom.

Posted by Susan Mahan on Jun 6, 2012

The Sixth Gift: Reverence

Reverence is rare in American society yet we love to see it. We are enthralled by dignity in great people. We appreciate graciousness and care, attention to detail, kindness to the helpless. We love to gaze on a photo by Ansel Adams of a ray of sunlight coming down on fern beneath redwood trees and ache to be in that very quiet, quiet place. Many of us love the scent of incense, the intonation of chant, and bowing before the Blessed Sacrament. All of us, even non-believers feel humbled by special churches or temples. If I spy a butterfly up close or gaze on a sleeping baby, I feel taken aback by these, I feel reverence.

Reverence is an attitude and feeling of being in the presence of something bigger and more important than we are. It is not a feeling of unimportance but rather of an encounter with something one admires and wants to honor and respect. In order to feel reverence for someone or something, I have to have realized that this reality is special and unique.

St. Ignatius of Loyola speaks of reverence a number of times in relation to God. He links reverence to honor or service. He is not referring to the idea that one should honor or serve God as a duty. Rather he is stating that one wants to honor and serve because God is so amazing and humble with respect to us that we cannot but want to reverence Him. Teresa of Avila refers to Jesus as the Divine Majesty who desires only one thing — that of humble closeness to us. Julian of Norwich speaks of Jesus who is so courteous with us that He will not force any aspect of himself on us.

Reverence requires that I am able to be grateful and humble. All of these are gifts. It is only by the grace of God that we are not blind and obtuse all the time with respect to what God has done and is doing for us. Reverence implies that I have deference for God, that I acknowledge the majesty and superiority of God and feel deeply thankful for God’s attention to me.

This kind of admiration and gratitude is not automatic. Our daily lives and problems are so all-encompassing and often overwhelming that we feel little relief. God does not seem involved. Where is He? We have a difficult time finding God in the discomfort. I often resent the fact that God could eliminate my problems in the wink of an eye if he wanted to. He could do that. So why doesn’t God construct a world in which there is no pain and suffering? He allows the struggle to go on because he envisions a far better outcome for us than we can imagine. He allows all the challenges to purify us because he is the best possible parent. He lets us make choices and learn from them. He lets us live in a world that presents growth possibilities — controversies, complications, tragedies, opportunities. He loves us enough to risk our hating him.

When I realized that God was calling me, dragging me, carrying me, and letting me be beaten by the most awful forces so that I could be stronger and surer, I began to admire him. When I watched Jesus in the Gospels be ridiculed, baited, criticized, and threatened, I really grew in respect for what an awesome and holy opponent he was. Jesus was smart, humble, strategic, direct, disarming, and kind. What a special person just on the human level! I feel the desire to bow before him any time.

Reverence also extends to how we feel about other human beings. This is much harder for us because we have encountered so many who are arrogant and ignorant, childish and irrational. But, God sees a spark of himself in each one. We also cannot imagine ourselves being anything less than perfect. It is so easy to perceive the insensitivities of everyone else. We do in fact feel the abrasiveness of being in relationships. People are very hard on each other — demanding. Real love though is not about enjoying only the pretty parts of people. Real love is reverent. It hopes in my potential and that of others. Real love is not arrogant or overbearing. God calls us to love each other as we want to be loved. This is a very hard thing to do. It means that I wish for the other the joys and respect that I want for myself. It also means that I am not superior.

In the past twenty years we have also begun to appreciate the importance of the natural world and our dependence on it. We no longer take for granted our environment. We see the beauty and complexity of every scientific process within our bodies and every element of the universe. While not wanting to cling to physicality in a literal way, we do want to reverence it. The entire process of living, developing and getting nurturance is an amazing interplay of resources, influences, choices, and challenges. Our bodies, the solar system, atomic particles, and plants and animals are all amazing. Learning about these realities should help us to appreciate them and to reverence them — from wanting clean water to finding a cure for malaria.

This humility before God, each other and the universe is reverence and it is a gift.

Two saints to read about in regard to this gift if you have not already done so are St. Peter Claver, S.J. and St. Solanus Casey, O.F.M. Cap.

Posted by Susan Mahan on May 11, 2012

Blessed Julian of Norwich Feast Day — “All is Well”

Julian of Norwich - Stained Glass Window from Church

May 13 is the unofficial Feast Day of Julian of Norwich, the English mystic and saint of the Middle Ages. We cannot be sure of her birth and dates but she lived approximately from 1342-1416. Her lifespan and location were situated in times of great distress in England. Three waves of the Black Death had swept over England and Norwich was particularly hard hit as it was a commercial center, especially of the wool-textile trade with the Netherlands, which brought with it the bacteria from the Continent. Julian was an anchoress at the church of St. Julian. We have a historical record of people visiting her for advice and prayers. We do not know why she was not canonized by the Catholic Church. One reason is likely that she left behind relatively few writings. Another is likely because her writings contained teachings that would have been considered controversial by some scholars. Teachings about Christ as mother and that God sees our sins as a way for us to learn about ourselves would have offended or worried many clerics of her day.

In 1373 we read that Julian had 16 visions in which she was saw and heard revelations related to God, creation, evil, sin, salvation, and the human person. She recorded these revelations at the time and then some 20 years later produced a longer version, called the Long Text, in which she integrated the many thoughts communicated to her by Christ about the meaning of the 16 visions and locutions.

Julian is optimistic in a time of when people questioned the goodness of life and how God regarded them. She recorded that Christ said to her that “All will be well and all is well.” She explains how all can and will be well. Julian also recounts wonderfully warm images of us and Christ who holds us tenderly and celebrates us as his “crown.”

Another reason to celebrate this great saint is that she is believed to be the first woman to write a book in the English language. She is also a pioneer, with Chaucer, in creating literature in Middle English. After many years of Norman control of England, the French and their language were driven out. The English language had degenerated into a language of the lower classes with a very poor vocabulary. Julian is responsible for creating many new and very useful words to articulate her scholarly theological presentations and to give colorful descriptions of what she saw in the visions.

Julian’s texts, which she referred to as the “shewings” (Showings in contemporary libraries), are very inspiring and provide satisfying answers to many questions which Christians have.

Image of Stained Glass Window borrowed from Satucket Lectionary entry for the Feast of Julian of Norwich

Posted by Susan Mahan on Apr 20, 2012

How Can God Heal Abuse and Trauma?

A door can still open ...

As we reflect on the Resurrection of Christ we cannot help but wonder how it changed anything. Christians believe that the triumph of life over death and light over darkness was more than just an isolated event in history. The Resurrection is understood as a cosmic event in which the entire space-time reality was shot through with God’s presence. The world remained a mix of “wheat and weeds,” but after the Resurrection the indwelling Spirit of God works within that reality to bring about unprecedented healing, growth and holiness.

Abuse and trauma are never acceptable. I experienced abuse for many years — verbal, physical and sexual. It hurts and bends the person. The damage is deep and reaches into all the dimensions of one’s life. Psycho-therapeutic experiences are normally necessary for someone to heal from the pain, anger and fear that come from abuse. Telling the stories of abuse are a key part of healing. Practicing to work with life in new ways in order to avoid negative patterns is also helpful. Using affirmations to counter self-hatred is important. Setting boundaries and being firm about values helps the person to feel less vulnerable.

But there is a point when talking it out and new ways of living and communicating fall short of healing. There is a well of pain that often does not go away. Underneath all the hard work there is still a raw person who does not feel safe. It is very hard to trust anyone.

I learned to not-trust any adults. I also learned not to trust myself because I could not overcome my fear in order to fight back. I learned to criticize everything I thought, said and did. I betrayed myself over and over out of fear. What to do? I knew there was a God out there but was not sure He would be interested in me. This is a normal reaction from someone who has been regarded as unimportant and worthy of abuse.

If the traumatized person can pray at all, a door can open to safety that starts as the tiniest crack. Within the mix of inner voices and emotions there is one voice which reaches into the sticky pain and feels or sounds safe. The traumatized person is uniquely blessed to be able to discern the difference between his own inner voices and the voice of God. This is because the abused person called out to herself over and over during the horrible times and discovered that at the time she had no power over the abuser. The personal thoughts and voice of the abused one were complicit with the abuser. The abused person also knows the voice of the culture and the Devil because both of them bring inner chaos, depression and self-abuse.

If such a person can pray, even pray to be able to pray, there will begin the tiniest feeling of longing for love. This is a miracle, because traumatized people usually do not want to feel anything. Seeking love and finding authentic love from others and God can heal wounds. It is a long process, but with the support of a therapist and a spiritual director the person traumatized by abuse can take a chance on attachment. Abused persons on Ignatian retreats or practicing Ignatian contemplation have experienced amazing experiences of God loving them. The voice of God within them is telling them that they are his beloved, that they are special. People who have been abused often do not want to hear that voice because it will open up a floodgate of sadness. But, after the crying, the voice does not disappear. They are not talking to themselves.

Contemplative prayer experiences are real. When Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you,” he meant it. Taking a chance on God doing something with the pain is worthwhile. There are forms of injury only he can heal.

Image by Paolo Neo, public domain

Posted by Susan Mahan on Apr 9, 2012

What is Holiness? Is it Wholeness?

People often think that being whole or holy involves being perfect in some way. “Perfect” of course is defined in a million ways, but we can construct a picture and list of qualities that might encompass what we assume is the saintly person. So, we would expect to see on this list: seldom angry, patient, kind, generous, courageous, truthful, trusting, reverent, hopeful, zealous, loving, etc. In her final year of life, as she was suffering from tuberculosis, Saint Therese of Lisieux wrote in her diary: ” Never leave a knife near a terminally ill person.” She was a realistic and honest person. She was not perfect in many ways, but she was a whole and holy person. Saint Padre Pio yelled at people frequently and then was very gentle and kind with others. Saint Ignatius of Loyola had a temper, but normally used it after a process of discernment. Teresa of Avila talked back to Christ and questioned him often.

Behaving in perfect ways and trying to feel only nice feelings is a complete distraction from the real task of life. Holiness, or even wholeness in the most secular terms, is very simple. It is the ability to listen in a productive way. There are a welter of voices within and around us. The culture, our egos, our pasts, other people, God and evil, however you understand it, are all part of the mix of voices in our lives. Within ourselves we have many levels that all have a voice. We have the imprint of our parents within our memories: ” Stand up straight.” “Eat everything on your plate.” “Susan is bright.” “You’ll never grow up.” We have a frightened voice: “You can’t do that,” or a confident voice: “That’s easy.” There are the lists inside: “First, go to the Doctor’s; then go to the Drugstore; then get gas; then get the kids; etc.” And, there is the emotional and spiritual report: “I’m uncomfortable.” ” I’m aware that I am procrastinating.” “I really want to quit repeating this pattern.” A friend many years ago told me that we had to get married by the time we were 25 years old because after that we would be “all washed up.” I believed her and sped around trying to meet more men! It caused me to join a lot of organizations and waste a number of Sunday afternoons listening to types of Jazz I did not like, hiking in places I did enjoy, not to mention the unusual experiences I had attending psychological “encounter” groups.

These days it is very un-PC to say this, but I believe in personal evil and prefer to use the Ignatian term for this entity: “The enemy of our human nature.” When someone is not in a state of negative thinking and has every reason either not to feel bad or to feel happy and a random and destructive thought or feeling enters his or her consciousness and destroys his or her peace, the classic response from the Christian tradition is to interpret this as coming from the Enemy. We may be hearing, remembering or seeing something psychological, but the intrusion is not just random. We are not always just talking to ourselves. God is constantly communicating and so are the enemy and the other voices as well. It’s subtle and not superstition. Why is this complex communication happening? What are we supposed to do with this? What has this got to do with holiness and wholeness?

This life on the Planet is a exercise in growth. In the process of life we make choices and determine what we value. We are determined by certain factors but we also determine some of the conditions of our lives. The process of becoming holy, the process by which the world gets a St. Francis or a Mother Teresa, is a process in which those people work over and over at hearing the better voices inside. When a voice said: “Compassion feels better than money,” these people felt drawn to that voice. When an inner voice said: ” Status is nauseating, phony,” these people felt its authenticity and took a chance on goodness. When a voice says: “eat right, drink less, watch less television” or “read this book,” holy people obey the voice if it carries a feeling of peace or rightness with it. Sorting out the voices, listening to the voice of God or one’s true self and then obeying these best voices is what makes people holy and truly whole. Listening and obeying are not easy. It takes a commitment to my best interests. It is in my best interest not to play games. I can spend the rest of my life procrastinating regarding the things I need to do to be happy. I can also stay in a perpetual program to be defensive or angry, to punish people that have hurt me, or to prove that I am fine just the way I am.

At some point I may progress beyond that and also see how awesome God is. The reality we call God is immense in His/Her intellect and in love. Many modern people cannot stand entertaining the concept of God. It is so uncool to admit the possibility of such a reality in many circles today. But, if God exists and I know God does, this reality can get me to an authentic life. I could end up happy and fully realize who I am. Taking time and quiet to listen and note the voices within is a decision. Admitting that I prefer a sleazy voice is okay. I want any excuse not to be a grown up. If a voice says that I should not eat something, say something, or go somewhere or that I should go to bed at a certain time, By God, I want to ask that voice: “who do you think you are…..?”

The path to holiness, exceptional living, being special in the best sense is a surrender to the wisest voice inside. It has taken me many years to accept this fully. This is far harder than parading around trying to be perfect. The authentic voice within might ask you to be better than you think you are; the author may believe in you more than you do.

Posted by Susan Mahan on Apr 2, 2012

Providence/Grace and Free Will

We live in a world where we often feel pressured to prove that God exists and then we can be at a loss in explaining where God is. Out in the world of work, everyone is supposed to pretend that they are very objective and scientific. But, as we have said, empirical data is only one modality of space-time reality. Experience is a valid category by which we learn and make decisions. Following my gut feeling about how to approach a worry or a situation with a person can be very useful. Trying things like prayer and finding out that something new, unexpected and helpful outside my usual “bag of tricks” is happening, can send me down a good path towards surrender to the ways of God. No one can define exactly how this universe is set up in terms of cause and effect. No one philosophy or great intellect can tell us definitively a way to control outcomes. I can be as intelligent, mature, ethical and unselfish as possible and that will not guarantee certain results.

Why is that? From the secular point of view, we come into our lives with many predetermined factors. Our physical lives, ethnicity, time in history, birth order, family system, religion, and socio-economic situation dictate a great deal of how we will develop. There will also be many influences along the way. The choices parents make, teachers we have, opportunities, illnesses, choices we make, etc. will be part of the mix of who we become. But, from the spiritual point of view, there are other factors that intervene and open up possibilities. If one has the perspective of faith, one will see the action of God in his life in varying ways.

Why in “varying ways?” Therese of Lisieux said that “Everything is a grace.” Ignatius of Loyola said that we can and should “Find God in all things.” Everyone will observe and interpret the action of God in the external world and the motions of God within ourselves in different ways. Many people will be very conservative in believing that God is active at all in their lives. Others will see God and God’s care in many events big and small throughout the day or week. The most challenging context in which to affirm the presence of God will be in the experience of suffering. It can be challenging to see God or any value in any experience of pain or difficulty. Hurt, inconvenience, failure, addiction, and loss can all seem pointless and to be avoided.

How can suffering be okay or how can God allow it? How could failure be a grace? Why aren’t resources that I discover just something I did on my part? And, further, why see God in my circumstances at all? If my sister dies at a young age, how can that be okay? If I spill breakfast cereal on my pants, how can that be a good thing? Didn’t I figure out which graduate school to go to on my own? Does God do my tax return? Isn’t it important to take control of my life? These questions are at the heart of the daily grind of our lives. If God is here, what is he doing and why or how is this mess of a world okay?

The theology or meaning of Christ on the cross is at the center of this question. What Christians believe is really strange but poses a answer that confounds all other interpretations of reality. How can surrender in obedience and helplessness to a divine Father who loves him, be the apex of salvation — THE solution to the problem of evil and suffering?! Look at the other solutions. First, if we believe in God, that is a reality which encompasses and surpasses the immensity of the universe by definition. So, scientific laws are included within the reality of God who is intelligent and complex beyond anything we can understand. Second, things we think are bad because they feel painful may not be bad in an objective sense. If my overall desire is to realize my potential fully, I may not even see what that is. If I have desires to be happy in a certain way, I may not know how to get there. I may not see what is in the way.

With faith, one believes in a Sacred Reality that is close but also beyond my limitations. I believe that this Reality is loving and personal. At some point I may take a chance on this God and let him guide me. My life may take me through suffering. It may be at the hands of crude, misguided people. I may get beaten up one way or the other. I may make bad choices too. With guidance I could learn to discern better decisions. From the hurt of the past I can gain several things. I may see that I am compassionate because I know what hurt is. I may be an exquisitely good at setting limits and yet being generous. I may know how to express myself clearly because I have had to protect myself. I may see through the games of others. The suffering was in no way a waste or distraction — it was all good.

This learning, maturity, holiness is not something I can insert into myself. It is part of a great mystery. Something greater has made itself available to me. The key resources are beyond the components of daily life. I can go to yoga, the chiropractor, analysis, the health food store, school, have a great job and body, and be rich, and still not be on my true path. If one is a person of religious faith, the only way to real happiness is surrender to God. It is that blunt and simple. This is so totally uncool that saying it is like marketing cat poop. Okay, so we could say “Higher Power” and it might sound less “Churchy.” The bottom line is that dependence on any authority figure is totally unacceptable. We are supposed to grow into greater and greater independence. God is a weird old guy wearing white gowns who is out of touch and judges people. So, that’s for later — when we die. Admitting that I have a relationship with God, experience his presence on a daily basis and make decisions in relation to the inner motions of the heart is unusual for most people.

Yet somehow, a sizable segment of the Catholic/Christian population does have this experience. They are middle of the road believers who know that they are being guided by God and still have their free will intact. They surrender their inclination to demand that God explain it all. They trust the mystery of how providence and freedom work, but they know the balance is real. They base this trust on experience. The care and challenge they feel from this divine reality is consistent, rational, reliable, helpful to them, and beyond their own abilities. They would have abandoned their faith in God a long time ago if the results had been destructive. They know when they “bump” into someone they need to see, that it is a gift. They realize that the thought to travel down a certain road helped them avoid a pileup on the freeway. When they lose a job they eventually see that it moved them out of a situation which was undermining their health.

Mystery, yes. Surrender, yes.

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