Eastertime Incarnational Wisdom

We generally focus on the incarnation of God at Christmas, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. However, Easter is also filled with stories about God’s physical being as Christ, in the form of the resurrected Jesus.

This physical manifestation of God walked, talked, and broke bread with two people on the road to Emmaus. He was taken to be a gardener by Mary Magdalene. He appeared to a group of his disciples and said, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have….” He then asked them if they had anything to eat, and upon giving him a piece of broiled fish, he took it and ate it in their presence (Luke 24: 36-43). Later, this incarnated Christ cooked breakfast on the beach for his friends.

Why was it so important that, after the death of Jesus, he should again take on flesh after his resurrection? Why not appear as a disembodied spirit, a voice from a cloud, or an image in a dream?

In his book The Holy Longing, Fr. Ronald Rolheiser sheds some light on this question. He explains that God took on flesh because God, having created our nature, respects how it operates and thus deals with us through our senses. Therefore “God takes on flesh so that every home becomes a church, every child becomes the Christ-child, and all food and drink become a sacrament. God’s many faces are now everywhere, in flesh, tempered and turned down, so our human eyes can see him.”

If God respects the fact that we humans interact with the world through the senses, through our physical body, then we should do the same. Often it seems like we try to approach life through our mind alone, but the body offers us wisdom we can only attain when we pray through our breath, attend to others through our listening, appreciate beauty through our eyes, recall memories through smells, and comfort others through our touch. As we age and our body becomes less functional, we should still honor the lessons it offers about humility, endurance, diminishment, and gratitude.

The first creation story in Genesis says that after God created humans, he looked at what he had made and found it “very good.” It is very good that we are physical beings, at least during our short time on earth. Let’s take advantage of every opportunity to know God through the taste of a ripe peach, the smell of the soil in spring, the sight of a loved one’s face, the sound of the wind, and the way our hands can create art, food, and music. It makes good sense, after all.

And the Award Goes To....

Our world is consumed by “Top Ten,” “Hall of Fame,” and “Best of” lists. Millions of people watch popular shows such as the Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, and Tony Awards, not to mention the Olympics; colleges and universities vie to be on U.S. News and World Report’s annual list of the best educational institutions; a select number of athletes are admitted to their sport’s respective hall of fame annually; and newspapers are full of cultural “best of” lists at year’s end.

Given that St. Benedict says, “Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way” (RB 4:20), it follows that Benedictine monastics and oblates don’t share the world’s preoccupation with receiving recognition or landing on a “best of” list. However, I recently discovered an exception to the Rule. Every year, the Global Listening Centre compiles a list of the Top 25 Outstanding Women Listeners. Now, being on a list of the top outstanding listeners is an achievement all followers of St. Benedict’s Rule should strive for!

The very first word of the Rule is “Listen,” which indicates its importance in a Benedictine life of prayer, community, hospitality, and discipleship. Although the Global Listening Centre’s most recent list of outstanding women listeners doesn’t include any Benedictine women, those on the list nonetheless are living out Benedictine values of peacebuilding, wise leadership, communal prayer, welcoming the stranger, human rights, care of earth’s resources, education, and artisanship. Listening is key to creating a world where the practice of love of God and love of neighbor leads to peace and fullness of life for all.

St. Benedict quotes Romans 12:10 in saying that monastics “should each try to be the first to show respect to the other.” And because the best way to show respect is to listen, becoming an exceptional listener is something we should all aspire to.

Hearing God's Voice in the Psalms

St. Benedict gives a lot of specific instructions in his Rule about how and when the psalms are to be prayed. To this day, chanting the psalms is the primary form of prayer used by Benedictine communities at Liturgy of the Hours. Why do Benedictines place such an emphasis on praying the psalms?

Sr. Irene Nowell sheds some light on this question in an article from Benedictines magazine:

“Because the psalms are the Word of God, we come to them daily with the same question: What is it that God wants to say to me today through this text? We have a right to expect to hear the voice of God in the psalms — every day. Every day that word will be different — sometimes challenging, sometimes comforting, sometimes the still small sound of silence, sometimes the roar of the devouring fire. Every day, as we listen to the psalms, we listen to the voice of God.”

I confess that my mind often wanders during Morning and Evening Prayer. However, Sr. Irene’s words are a call to attention; if God is going to speak to me today through the psalms, I don’t want to miss what God has to say! If I have the right to expect to hear the voice of God in the psalms, I also have the responsibility to listen to those words of challenge, comfort, instruction, and even the sound of silence, which can be very rich.

The circumstances of some of the psalms may be hard to relate to, because many of us have been blessed in that we have never directly encountered war or been a refugee, for example. There are plenty of people in the world who face those circumstances every day, however, so perhaps in those psalms God is inviting us is to a greater level of compassion.

More often than not, though, the psalms touch on emotions that are common to all humans — awe, gratitude, mourning, jealousy, desire, fear, betrayal, temptation, and pride, to name a few. These feelings touch every aspect of our lives. How good, then, that God helps us navigate these complex emotions by guiding, comforting, and challenging us in the psalms each day.

As St. Benedict says, we just need to listen and incline the ear of our heart.

You Only Learn By Listening

It’s always a pleasure to pick up echoes of St. Benedict’s teachings in unexpected places. 

Nihar Malaviya —the CEO of Penguin Random House, the largest book publisher in the U.S. — grew up in Rajkot, India, and moved to the U.S. when he was 13. He doesn’t come from the Benedictine tradition, but listen to what he said in a recent interview:

“Coming to the country at a young age basically meant I had to completely change my worldview. I went from somewhere where this was very important to somewhere where this completely different set of things was very important. That created in me a respect for looking at different perspectives and the ability to take those in to shape my thinking. I like to learn. And you only learn by listening.”

St. Benedict also valued learning, prescribing set times for the monks in his community to read each day. And like Mr. Malaviya, he knew that you only learn by listening, for the first words of his Rule are “Listen and incline the ear of your heart.” Apparently, St. Benedict took to heart the words of God recorded in scripture regarding the transfiguration of Jesus: “This is my beloved son. Listen to him.”

Listening to Jesus calls us to completely change our worldview and transition from a societal regard for wealth, power, status, and self-interest to God’s regard for generosity, humility, service, and love of neighbor. As we listen to Jesus, can we take in his perspectives to shape our thinking and use it as a model for the way we live?

As our Lenten journey continues, may risk entering more deeply into the attentiveness of prayer so we can hear what Jesus is saying to us through Scripture, the Rule of St. Benedict, and our neighbors, as well as in our own heart.

Called Out for Divine Purposes

In a reflection from Not By Bread Along 2024: Daily Reflections for Lent, Catherine Upchurch observes, “Human flaws and weaknesses do not diminish holiness. To be holy means to be called out for divine purposes.”

We see this truth play out over and over again in Scripture. Abraham betrayed his wife; Jacob was a cheat and a liar; Noah was a drunkard; Moses, David, and Judith were murderers; Solomon betrayed the covenant God made with him by worshipping other gods; Zechariah doubted God’s word; Peter betrayed Jesus out of fear. And yet, with all their weaknesses and flaws, these people were instruments in God’s unfolding plan of Self-revelation, liberation, and the peace that comes from living in right relationship.

In this sense, we all have the capacity to be holy, because we are all called out for divine purposes. However, for various reasons, we may not recognize or respond to that call:

• Sometimes we don’t recognize our call because the things we are drawn to do seem so ordinary. How can treating our coworkers with kindness and respect or volunteering to walk dogs at the animal shelter be part of God’s divine purpose?

• Sometimes, like the prophet Jonah, we recognize our call but resist it because we think we know better than God what should be done or who should be invited to the table of forgiveness and mercy.

• Sometimes our understanding of our call is clouded because of self-doubt, societal pressures, indecision, or lack of insight.

God’s creation is in great need of healing and peace. When we are true to the way the Divine Presence is present in each of us, we can live out our unique calling to contribute to the loving, creative, interconnected universe that God envisions.

What God Wants To Do In Us

Lenten resolutions are generally a litany of good intentions about what we intend to do during the six weeks prior to the Easter Triduum. Perhaps we plan to read a spiritual book, start a new prayer practice, fast from unkind thoughts, cut out between-meal snacks, donate money to a homeless shelter, or help out at the local food pantry.

One interesting aspect of Lenten resolutions is that they tend to focus on what we want to do instead of what God wants to do in us. How would our Lenten practices be different if we asked God, “What gifts do you see in me that I’m not using?” “What habits or attitudes are keeping me from having a closer relationship with you?” “What do I need to learn to be a more loving person?”

These questions were sparked by a statement by Dr Glenn Young, a teacher in my spiritual direction training program, who said, “Contemplative prayer is not something we ourselves achieve but something God does in us.” In prayer, as in the rest of life, we like to be in control — but that leads us to judge ourselves by our productivity and can result in feelings of guilt and shame when we fail to reach our self-imposed goals. Admitting that “without Christ we can do nothing” (Jn 15:5) requires humility, but it is the channel to fullness of life.

Asking God, “What do you want to do in me?” does not engender passivity. Maintaining an attitude of attentiveness and openness, giving up our own desire for control, and recognizing that God’s capacity for love, wisdom, and mercy is infinitely greater than our own requires a high degree of trust and engagement.

As usual, I have made some Lenten resolutions this year — to read Holy Longing by Ronald Rolheiser, to try to be less judgmental, to divest myself of items I no longer need. But perhaps most importantly, I hope to practice centering prayer — simply sitting in the presence of God — so if God has some different ideas about where to lead me, I’ll be listening.

Practicing Presence in Prayer

The impulse to be human doings instead of human beings extends to the realm of prayer. We can become overly concerned about achieving benchmarks in prayer (e.g., praying the rosary each day or making sure we get to Bible Study each week). All too easily, we fall into the trap of believing that our worthiness in God’s eyes is tied to the productivity of our prayer life.

 

Image by Lorenzo Quinn

To be sure, prayer practices are essential because of their role in helping us build a relationship with God. Through prayer, we can remember that God is the source of our life; voice our desires and discern what God desires for us; recognize that God is God and we are not; intercede for others, expanding our understanding of what it means to be part of the body of Christ; develop gratitude for the gifts of life; and, ultimately, grow into a bond of love and trust with the One who has loved us into being.

When we love someone, what makes us most happy is simply being with them. The same holds true of God. Eventually, more and more of our prayer entails just sitting in God’s presence. It doesn’t feel like we’re doing anything, and that can be uncomfortable, until we relax into this practice of being. As Richard Rohr, OFM, says, “So much of life is just a matter of listening and waiting and enjoying the expansiveness that comes from such willingness to hold” [this tension].

 

I continue to be touched by a story that was relayed by a sister who was sitting with Sr. Maria Van Hee when she was close to death. Sr. Maria started giggling, and her companion asked, “What are you laughing at?” Sr. Maria replied, “God just told me a joke!” May we all enjoy such intimacy and expansiveness when we open our being to God, whose love and joy is eternal.