Lent: Drawn to the Light

Sometime ago I read Tobias Wolff's excellent novel, Old School.  I was struck by the comments of one of the characters.

He speaks about "tropism, what makes a plant grow toward the light. Everything living aspires to the light. You don't have to chase down a fly to get rid of it - you just darken the room, leave a crack of light in a window, and out he goes. Works every time. We all have that instinct, that aspiration."

We are by our very nature drawn to the light. "Everything living aspires to the light." And, at our deepest level, the human heart seeks the One who is the source of all light.  Even when we are distracted by false lights, even when we turn from God's light - the longing for the light of His presence and grace abides. We are made for the light not for darkness.

Lent begins this week.  During the coming weeks we are invited to consciously turn from the darkness toward the light; we prepare ourselves to let the Easter light enter in at a deeper level; we open ourselves more fully to Christ's  liberating power.

At a particular time when he struggled with the confusion of competing lights, the young Francis of Assisi begged God: "Enlighten the darkness of my heart. Give me a right faith..."

Faith dims the false lights so the true light can get us home.

Living in Christ

Do you know that in the New Testament the phrase “in Christ” is repeated 164 times? We are “in Christ.” What does that mean? By the indwelling Spirit we are united by a real enduring bond with Jesus, we are one with the Risen Lord, we live now in Christ. Our baptismal oneness with the Lord has glorious consequences. 

If we only understood the gift of God, our dignity as God’s sons and daughters, the sublime presence of the Spirit that is already ours!

For example, what of the truth that, because of our baptism, the Spirit of the Lord prays within us, indeed is prayer within us.

Though we might not know God’s will in a given situation – Christ’s Spirit within us surely does.    Though we might feel powerless in our prayers – Christ’s Spirit within us does not. Though we might feel lacking in trust in God’s love – Christ’s Spirit within us does not. Though we might feel exhausted and confused – Christ’s Spirit within us does not.

But this God-given reality that is ours is not just for communion in prayer but also for partnership in mission. The same Spirit of God that filled Jesus has been given to us, and has made us one with the Lord.

-    So those we serve, Christ serves.

-    Those we forgive, Christ forgives.

-    Those we comfort, Christ comforts.

-    Those we lift up in working for justice, Christ lifts up.

-    Those we pray for, Christ prays for.

The core of our Christian living is simple: Live the grace of your Baptism. Live under the guidance and influence of the Spirit. Live in the Spirit. 

Allow the Lord’s love have its way with you. And then let that love flow out to others.

St Francis - Experiencing God

Over the centuries St Francis has often been co-opted by different causes and projects. On his feast day it is good to recall to the core of his experience and message.

At its heart, the origin of the Franciscan movement is a rediscovery and revitalisation of the Christian experience. Inspired by his own life-changing encounter with the Risen Christ, Francis sought to meet men and women in their own milieu with a joyful witness to God who has come to us in Jesus. He wished to make the faith present in an explicit and visible way, without fear or calculation, in all the spheres and situations of life.

With overflowing joy in God, Francis expressed the goal of all life and service in the following passage from the Earlier Rule:
'Let us desire nothing else,
let us wish for nothing else,
let nothing else please us
and cause us delight
except our Creator and Redeemer and Saviour,
the one true God who is the fullness of good,
all good, every good...
Let all of us
wherever we are, in every place,
at every hour, at every time of day,
everyday and continually
believe truly and humbly
and keep in our heart
and love, honour, adore, serve,
praise and bless, glorify and exalt,
magnify and give thanks
to the most high and supreme eternal God,
Trinity and Unity,
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Creator of all, Savour of all
who believe in Him, and hope in Him and love Him.'

Spacious Sanctuary

Killiney Beach looking towards Dalkey Island

Our Summer is over. During July and August I was able, most early mornings, to sit and pray on Killiney Beach. As Autumn begins, and the days shorten and cool I know the memory of  praying, surrounded by sea and sky, will stay with me .

These few lines attempt to capture the gift of those Summer mornings.

My spacious sanctuary
Stretches north to
Dalkey Island, south to
Bray Head,
Sand for floor
Cloud and blue dome.

Looking east the soft sounds of sea
Accompany my psalms.
Murmuring waves bless the Lord,
Weaving gulls and preening
Cormorants sing His praise,
Morning light give Him glory.

When November days
Creep in
Dank and dark
I will recall my dawn-facing
Space, sacred and wide, and be
Wrapped again in Summer.

The Waters of Mercy

Abraham Joshua Heschel, the Polish-born American rabbi, writes beautifully of the spiritual path that is the God-given potential of every person. 

In his book, The Insecurity of Freedom, he speaks of the act of prayer as - not so much a dialogue with the Eternal - but an immersion in the "waters of mercy".

It is certainly true that as our prayer deepens it grows in simplicity. We become less active, more still and receptive to the action of the Spirit of God.

This makes for hard going. We have an innate and strong desire to be in control, even of our relationship with God.  This growth in simplicity in prayer can mean letting go of particular ways of praying that have nourished our souls in the past.

The rabbi writes: "I am not ready to accept the ancient concept of prayer as a dialogue. Who are we to enter a dialogue with God!

The better metaphor would be to describe prayer as an act of immersion, comparable to the ancient Hebrew custom of immersing oneself completely in the waters as a way of self-purification to be done over and over again.

Immersion in the waters! One feels surrounded, touched by the waters, drowned in the waters of mercy."

Trinity Sunday

The spirituality of  St Francis is deeply Trinitarian. His writings reveal a profound awareness of even now being immersed, sharing in the Communion that is God.

The grace of his baptism had come alive in Francis in his experience.  The same awakening of the gift  is offered to each of us.

So tomorrow's feast of the Holy Trinity is not meant as a theology lesson. It stirs up in us not only a spirit of awe and adoration before the Most High, but also confidence, assurance and joy in the God who has lifted us up into his own intimate fellowship.

The Spirit of God penetrates our most intimate personal depths. From there we can cry out in love and trust: 'Abba, dear Father.'  The Spirit places us within the very rhythm of the divine life, allowing us participate personally in the love that exist between the Father and the Son.

That is why love and prayer are going on in us, at the deepest level where our spirit has been touched and enlivened by the Holy Spirit. Our prayer can seem to us such a poor thing,  so distracted, so ‘unsuccessful’. But we do not see the reality. Our prayer is one with the communion of love between Jesus and the Father, this communion which is the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit becomes the soul of our soul, the most secret part of our being, from which rises unceasingly to God a movement of prayer.

I can see why Francis and the other saints keep reminding us: be careful that your understanding of the gift is not too small, your vision too limited, your hope too paltry.

The deepest things we need are not elsewhere. We  are in God; we live in God; we journey to God in God.