A Teachable Moment

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Benedictine, Christ, Christian, crucifix, fullness of life, joy, Jubilee, overcome, presence of God, Roman Catholic Church, sign, spiritual journey, St. Boniface, Teilhard de Chardin, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, the way of the cross, weight of the cross

I keep trying to ignore my first thought for today’s post. It comes from the reflection I just read on the life of St. Boniface whose feast the Roman Catholic Church celebrates today. Boniface was an English Benedictine monk who gave up being elected abbot to devote his life to the conversion of the Germanic tribes in the 8th century. It was not an easy task, http://www.franciscanmedia.org reports. I had determined to abandon that topic for something more upbeat or light-hearted when I read the line of the commentary following the biographical information. It said: “Boniface bears out the Christian rule: to follow Christ is to follow the way of the cross.”

While I would not dispute the teaching that suffering is part of life and that Jesus is a model of how to accept and bear one’s suffering as a transformational practice, I take issue with the inference in the above statement that the cross is the entire or desired way of life for the Christian. The often quoted line of Teilhard de Chardin provides a needed balance for me. “Joy,” he said, ” is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.”

So why am I still talking about this? As it happens, I had an experience two days ago that moved me to a deeper place. It’s one of those analogies that seems far-fetched and maybe irreverent, but it helps me so I beg the indulgence of those who do not see it so.

On Saturday I participated in a very joyous Eucharistic liturgy for the family and friends of one of my “jubilee companions.” There are only five of us who entered the convent together 50 years ago so we plan to be present, if possible, at each of these individual celebrations. My participation in this event included the task of carrying the cross in the entrance procession at the beginning of the liturgy. I had never before performed that particular task at our Motherhouse and was surprised at the weight of the heavy metal, 5-foot crucifix when I lifted it. To hold it high processing down the very long aisle to the altar was no small task. At the same time we were singing joyfully: Let us bring the gifts that differ and in splendid varied ways, sing a new Church into being, one in faith and love and praise.

What struck me in that moment was very symbolic (perhaps only to me). Feeling the weight of the cross at the same time as the joy of such a communal gathering was a powerful image of possibility in the Christian life. Although our lives can be fraught with difficulty at times, we needn’t be overcome. The joy that comes from the spiritual journey in community, modeled in the life of Christ with his companions and the Spirit that remains with us, can and must enliven faith and engage our hearts in love. These realities are not separate but constitute a unified whole that is, in fact, the way to the fullness of life.

Waiting and Watching

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crucifix, Cynthia Bourgeault, desert, Easter Vigil, entombment service, fidelity to Jesus, Good Friday, live in the present moment, Mark, Mary Magdalene, The Passion of Jesus Christ, the Resurrection of Christ, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, waiting

Today feels like “the day the earth stood still” (which I believe was a movie many years ago that I have no memory of except the title). I sensed that as I awoke to rain and darkness this morning, still holding the events of yesterday and last evening in my heart. I am on retreat and our Good Friday “Entombment Service” was a stark example of the kind of experience I was describing here yesterday.  The reading of the Passion from Mark’s gospel in sections of the day (6AM-9AM, 9AM-Noon, etc.), the  mournful chanting and the wrapping of the crucifix in the linen cloths as it lay on a table in the middle of the room brought the experience of Jesus’ death present in a most vivid way. It was clear in the slow, personal moments of each one of us moving to venerate the cross that we were grieving. And we will hold that attitude as we move through this last day together.

The mood will change in tonight’s first celebration of The Great Feast of Easter, the Vigil service recounting the movement from death to life. The first psalm of the service cries out: Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth! What follows is the narration of our salvation history during which the sense of the light grows and hope returns until the bells ring out and we know Resurrection! Alleluia!

Living in the present moment is especially hard today. It would be much easier to focus on the future as we often do in the times when we would rather be there than in the moment where we find ourselves. But today gives us an opportunity to join ourselves to those people who are waiting for a good outcome of suffering, those who have no assurance that “all will be well” – nothing except their faith to keep them from despair. Here we will explore today the experience of “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary” whom the gospel tells us stayed at the tomb, without hope or reason to do so – just holding the space in reverence and fidelity to Jesus – as love calls us to do in times of great sorrow. We will wait in that “desert” with them, a time that will make all the more joyful our experience of the Resurrection of Christ and perhaps our own rising to fuller life as well.

May it be so with you!

PS: I leave early tomorrow morning for a week-long Wisdom School experience with Cynthia Bourgeault in the mountains of North Carolina. I can’t be sure of internet service there but will connect as I am able, definitely back by Monday 4/13.