A Consistent Voice

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gift of life, independent, living rightly, proclaim what is right, Sr. Joan Chittister, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unity, we are all one, wholeness

This morning I woke up with Joan Chittister’s name front and center in my consciousness. I don’t think I was dreaming about her but I looked across to a little book of hers standing upright and face out on my bookcase across the room. “She must have something to say today,” I thought. My guess is that Sister Joan always has something to say and it’s usually important. The little book, entitled We Are All One, was written last year and contains the author’s reflections, as the subtitle explains, on “unity, community and our commitment to each other.” It could have been written by Lynn Bauman whom I quoted yesterday. It seems that many of us are waking up to the same or, at the very least, similar themes for living rightly in this world. Here’s a smattering of sentences from the introduction that sets out the foundation of all that follows. I believe the book will be among my reflection tools for the foreseeable future.

Life, we learn young, is one long game of push and pull. One part of us pushes us always toward wholeness…The other part, however, pulls us back into ourselves. It separates us from the universe around us and leaves us feeling distant and out of sync…We seek unity, yes. But lurking within every human act is the gnawing need to be independent, to think of ourselves as distinct from the rest of life…Is the purpose of the gift of life to consume it for ourselves…or is our purpose to join the human race on its way to fullness of life for everyone?

And then her conclusion: The choice is actually simple. We must only decide if we will go on lingering in the shadows of life, forever trying to choose between doing what a numbed world will call “nice,” or step up and, in the face of evil, proclaim instead what is right. (p.1-3)

Riches

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balance, certainty, choices, corruption, gift of life, money, poverty, power, precious jewel, psalm 49, responsibility, riches, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, troubled times, wealth, wisdom's words

All of the readings today speak of the danger of riches. We have seen how our culture fuels our desire for more – whether it be money or power – and the corruption that ensues in many cases when “more” is achieved. Clearly there are very rich people who do amazing and generous things with their money – Warren Buffett, for instance – but responsibility with wealth only comes from the development of a discerning heart and a life of understanding that we are, not just in theory, brothers and sisters in this world.

Psalm 49 begins with the psalmist calling for attention to “wisdom’s words” regarding riches as he develops his argument in a framework that we might call “you can’t take it with you.” Listen well, my people, you who live on earth pay heed. Whether you are rich or poor, born high or low, it does not matter now. For wisdom’s words apply to you… He then asks a question that we would do well to ponder, and answers it for himself. Should I be terrified in troubled times, when evil dogs my way, while those who trust their wealth to save boast vast prosperity? No, none of this can help us now nor buy the gift of life. Riches never bring us certainty, nor free us from the grave…Then the one certain thing is the psalmist’s conclusion: For the grave claims back our bodies and angels claim our souls, but the One with the power of life and death claims you always as its own.

As always, there is a balance to be sought here. It would be foolhardy to raise up poverty as a benefit, but striving over-much for wealth is just as futile. As I write this, I’m thinking of the family, the mother and her seven grown children, who just won over four hundred million dollars in the Powerball Lottery. They presented as a close and loving family and in the few sentences that the news channel allowed, the spokesperson and one other of them sounded balanced in what they proposed to do with the money. I will pray for them today and hope that wisdom undergirds their choices and love walks with them into a future that is filled with possibility. May they and all of us remember that we cannot buy the gift of life; thus may we hold it as a precious jewel and share it generously each day.