"Unmasking the demon" lurking behind the T.V. especially late at night - a Christmas grace.

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Christmas is a time of great grace for anyone willing to receive the inner, spiritual gifts. What follows, and it was to be continued, is the reflection of a diocesan priest shortly after his return from sabbatical on what "the demons" that plague all of humanity looked like in his particular experience. It is one of the signs that the Child born in the manger of Bethlehem's shepherds' fields 2000 years or so ago truly is the Son of God that simply observing the festival of his birth brings fresh freedom to those who look to Him with hope. 

May this account open up the window of your own human journey and struggle with "the dark side" and help you enter resolutely deeper into the light! As Sam said to Rosie at the end of "The Return of the King", volume 3 of The Lord of the Rings, I too can draw a breath tonight and say, "I'm back." Sam had accompanied Frodo on his last journey, the one which led him away from Middle Earth to the eternal realm of the elves, the "undying lands" of Eressea and Valinor. The Elves, the Eldar, left Middle Earth when they had a sense that they had accomplished all they could for Middle Earth and its peoples, or else when they felt they could do nothing more in defense against the evils overtaking the world. 

For my part, I have come back from a sabbatical time - and liken it to a long stay in Rivendell, or better yet, Lothlorien. It isn't so much that the people I left behind were so mortal and flawed or that the people with whom I stayed in Chicago were perfect and other worldly like elves or angels. No, it was more like I found a refuge among good and kindly people, in whom there was sufficient selflessness and where I found sufficient distance from all the constraints of the intensive life of pastoral charity and from the long breathlessness of life's journey to remember who I am, that I am loved, what road I find myself travelling in the great pilgrimage of life, and what are the most important things for which I most desire, in Jesus, to spend the time and energy that are given to me as a gift, day by day, by our heavenly Father. 

As I sit here tonight and sense rising within me a full hearted "I'm back!" reverberating in my chest, it's perhaps because the grace of Christmas has overtaken me at last. There were, after all, 12 days of Christmas in the secular world of old, from Christmas to Epiphany, and today our Church kindly extends the Christmas season to the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord, so I'm riding on the "extension" of those 12 days - today is actually the 15th day of Christmas. 

Sadly, the secular world today has lost considerable ground since the time of the secular society of Charles Dickens' day, the world of Ebenezer Scrooge. My own experience this Christmas certainly speaks eloquently of our mortal need for patience, to "wait for the grace" as it were. To understand what I'm talking about, let me review briefly the sequence of events as I have lived them these past few months, with a thumbnail view of the past. 

When I first came to Becket, I left behind a considerably smaller congregation, but a wonderful people among whom I found a more wholesome life and a closer relationship with God. The very satisfying balance of life and routine I had come to know was all blown away by the greater intensity and activity of Becket. In addition, there were complications, and in response to these I applied myself to many practical things, such as 

1. responding to immediate needs and duties of the pastoral ministry, 
2. getting to know people and listening to their stories, heartaches, and hopes, 
3. applying myself to the consecration of the Church and Altar on the occasion of the 30th anniversary in 1996, 
4. supporting the initiative of parishioners and the development of the Alpha Course from 1997 on, 
5. participating in the formation of young men for the priesthood (Fr. Robert and Fr. Stephen), 
6. leading the Parish Think Tank and Pastoral Action Plan, 
7. reviving and saving Becket's Fania project in Honduras and 
8. World Youth Day in 2002, 
9. more fully sharing authority for administration with members of the Parish, and 
10. developing our understanding of and willingness for Discipleship and Stewardship. 

What I thought I had before I came to Becket was an openness and listening to the Lord for what He is doing and wants to do, and by extension, what He wants me and us to do. In the whirlwind of activity, questioning, challenging, rich diversity of views, needs, talents and gifts, and of initiatives here at Becket - not to mention the difficult transition of the early 90's - I got so caught up in need to do so much stuff that I quite lost that stance of listening to and waiting on the Lord; without which life is hell, basically. Hell is being trapped in a burning fire but not being able to get oneself out of it, and I suppose not even having the desire to get out. 

Actually, the real hell is also filled with anger and blaming of God in an attempt to escape accepting one's own responsibility for failures and sin. I give thanks to God that I never slid into actual Hell; however, I was caught in a trap. The intensity of life, activity, needs, pastoral ministry, planning for the near and distant future, social changes (Catholic schools), the neverending revolving door of lay leadership in the various groups and ministries, and much more.... all added up to a life that barely had time to think, let alone stand back to see the bigger picture. 

Well, it's 11:19 on Saturday night, and part of my sabbatical grace is the renewed freedom to get real, get a life, hear and listen to the Lord, and pay attention to the body; so I must ask you to stay tuned for the next installment. However, not to leave you hanging too much, let me just say a few things more. In the title, I mentioned something about "unmasking the demon" and the grace of freedom to talk openly of the obvious. 

Well, the obvious was that since before I came to Becket, I had begun to struggle with staying up late watching TV, and for the reasons given above, my condition just became worse after 1994. All along, I was patiently (this means in suffering and endurance by God's grace) praying and waiting for the power of God to draw me out of the "pit." It just didn't seem to be happening, though there were moments of grace, relief, and some progress. But I didn't understand what was happening to me, or within. 

It took this sabbatical grace for the Lord to draw me up, and tonight is the first time I find within me the leisure of spirit to allow some of that grace to tumble out into the light of day. It would be too long to delve into it, but until next time let me just say, that between December 2003 and these days of Christmas 2004-2005, what has come into the light of day is that in my vocation as priest I have been - in the words of Archbishop Paul Cardinal Gregoire who ordained me - "like welded to Christ". 

The heart of Christ agonizes still in the sufferings of each and every member of his Mystical Body, all the baptized; yet He also rejoices in the love of his Father. I too have felt both states in myself, but was mostly at a loss about where to start each day. There was just too much "stuff" and I wasn't praying enough, not listening enough to the Spirit speaking within me.... 

The first grace of the sabbatical was simply to leave, to get out of the rut, to go away, where I could more easily see the bad habits I had acquired and the turmoil of soul which deprived me of the peace and joy I had once known. The sabbatical time was just long enough for this process to open up and for the Spirit to plunge his light and truth and healing love deep within me. I have returned with the conviction that I don't ever want to go back to the way it was, that I can't live without the Lord and spending a lot of time contemplating his love and beauty, and that my soul deeply desires to spend more time with people, with the Lord's "lambs".... walking among them, leading them, caring for and pasturing them. 

This Noel finds me filled with joy and delight in the great gift of the Father who has sent us Jesus his Son, Emmanuel, who has come to dwell among us and within us. In his great light, all the demons are exposed for what they are, and I can now name the one which oppressed me for too long. It has many faces and many names: fear of not being able to do what is right, feeling sorry for myself, feeling excessively responsible, not asking for help or knowing how, the misery of those poor who grow up without all of life's skills, at the root - pride - and sloth, which is failing to act prudently or do at any moment the most important thing, which always begins with acknowledging God and turning to Him. Time to prudently act on the sabbatical grace welling up within me and simply pray a bit before the Lord, and go to be. Goodnight. to be continued....

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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"I lured her into the wilderness and spoke to her heart."

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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It's in the wilderness of our everyday lives, especially when we become so preoccupied with the physical world around us and its reality within us, when we most acutely become aware of our fragility, dependence, and poverty, that the greater reality of God and the world and life of the spirit can come breaking through to us. 

That is precisely what the best Christmas stories are all about, as they all reflect the very first Christmas story, that of the long arduous journey of a simple young married couple on the verge of giving birth to their only child with not place to stay... As long as we are strong and self reliant, we are less inclined to see, hear or even notice the presence of God, but when we become desperate, our minds, hearts, eyes, and ears mysteriously open up. 

No wonder God has such love for the poor, the suffering, the destitute, and the abandoned. They have lost the illusion of being able to be self-sufficient and are in touch with their need for God and the life that He constantly offers. They are more attentive and appreciative of each breath, each sip of water, each morsel of food, each moment of shelter, and each stitch of clothing. May you have a meaningful Advent and joyous Christmas season, you and your family!!! Fr. Gilles 

November 20th, 2006 

I'm shocked to see it was almost 2 months that I last posted a reflection on pastoring or news of my sabbatical journey.... I seem to recall that in mid-October, we went to Mundelein Seminary, where there is a conference/retreat center, and had a day of recollection. It had been almost two months since our arrival August 23rd, and I began to sense that I had launched rather intensively into it all: going to all the classes, taking an extra course a half hour away at the Water Tower Campus of Loyola University downtown Chicago, blogging, participating in our sabbatical community, taking solitude time for prayer, reading and reflection.... 

I wasn't playing enough. So, I visited a few museums, alone and with another priest, and took time to walk, and began going for morning swims 3 times a week at the almost new athletic center of Chicago University. I intended to blog again, but days went by, and it was enough just to clear the box of email.... A few weeks went by. 

Then I caught a cold when I left the car at a garage for repairs and came home in the wind and rain. I could have chosen a better day. They replaced the fuel pump, which probably needed to be changed and saved me breaking down altogether anywhere anytime, but the car still had the same intermittent problem with ignition, occasionally sputtering and losing power. 

So I rested to recover from the cold, when I cut my thumb trying to open a package. 18 stitches and my first experience going through an American hospital ER later, I needed to recover from the wound. Then we had a week retreat at Our Lady of Fatima Retreat Center at Notre Dame Univ., Indiana, came back for the weekend, and it was Thanksgiving break. I spent the week at Madonna House Windsor, and had a good rest. 

In the meantime, I did quite a lot of work on the research project on pastoring, and for the course with John Shea. The sabbatical was truly becoming a time of renewal. I began spiritual direction around the time of my last post, and that has been a wonderful grace as well. Also around that time, our reflection group asked me to give the homily at our scheduled weekly Thursday group Eucharist, followed by a social: preprandrials and supper. 

Each member of the four groups participates in the animation of the liturgy when it's their group's turn. They asked me again and I gave the homily once more last evening. It was a wonderful experience. As we come into the last 2 weeks, I've scheduled some films for the benefit and enjoyment of the whole group: "Babette's Feast", "The Passion of the Christ", "A Christmas Carol" (1951), "It's a Wonderful Life". We're into the great season of Advent now, a time to stop and listen to the breath of life coming from our God.... Well, I've got to end, as the library closes early on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, another little obstacle in getting to the internet. God bless you all.... 

 (to be continued)

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Jesus the spiritual teacher opens our mind to the spirit realm, away from the traffic of the senses - "Spiritual Development and the Gospel Narratives 8" by John Shea

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Our professor John Shea explained to the class that, like Jesus, we too must practice spiritual disciplines, if we are to become conscious of the presence of God all around us and in creation, as well as within us. Moreover, because our mind tends not to be spiritual and to go with all that we take in through our senses, spiritual disciplines and pondering the Word of God draws our mind beyond the limited vision and realities of the physical world in order to catch a glimpse of the "bigger picture". One such spiritual discipline is the practice of meditation, or of stilling the body, the mind, and the heart, so that we can find our way within to the place of our soul or spirit, which has been created by God with a capacity to be in union with Him.

To become conscious of my inner self, and get out of the heavy traffic of the senses, I pull in my consciousness and immediately become aware of my body in a way I wasn’t until now; so I may suddenly realize I have an ache in my leg, or that I am cold, and so on. I acknowledge the body - make any necessary adjustments to my posture to put the body at ease so it won't need to continue to seek my conscious attention - and pull my consciousness in further, and become aware of the mind, whose every thought wants me to identify with it, give it my full attention, or resist it.

I do none of that, but acknowledge each thought, and then simply let it go, and pull in further to the place between my thinking apparatus and my deep inner self, where there is contact between my spirit and the Spirit of God. Now this sounds simple, and in reality it really is, but it is not so easy to actually do. That's why it is called a spiritual discipline, requiring steady efforts to do it, without much regard for success or failure, but just to do it and be there, with trust that God is faithful and always keeps his appointments. Whether or not we actually sense anything go on within us really doesn't matter, since the Scriptures make it clear that God prefers to come in a silence and stillness in which we cannot lay hold of Him or manipulate Him the way we tend to do with things and people in the physical world. God is great and will not be used by us. He is sovereign and decides what is best for us. He loves us too much to allow us to sink into the illusion of  manipulating or having any "control" over Him. Seeking or taking control shuts down freedom, relationship, and any possibility of love. 

Normally, the mind wants to take hold of such a spiritual discipline and control everything about it in the same way it controls much of what we do all day long, with thoughts about what to do to prepare, what to do during, and what to do after, and more thoughts on how things seem to be progressing. None of that is relevant in the realm of the spirit. Whatever God wants us to know He will allow to stay with us afterwards as a lingering impression that won't go away. That is one way we can know what was real and from God, by what lingers persistently and remains for us to notice. Some of that may still be just from our own mind, heart, psyche, or body; so we need to learn and we can learn to distinguish where each thought, sentiment, or impression really comes from over time.

As I try to enter into this meditation and try to be still, the mind lets me release its many thoughts that come to me by the Word of God that I take in, which gives the mind truths to consider that capture its interest and stimulate it to open itself to more depth and abundance that it will find within, in the realm of spirit. As I employ this discipline regularly my mind opens more readily to my own spirit within, where it can draw Living Waters from the deep wells of Spirit within, as Jesus told the Samaritan woman He met at Jacob's well.

The Pharisees exemplify people with minds closed to spirit. They are so identified with closed worldly thoughts of fear, insecurity, competition, influence, keeping records of sins and wrongs, and of course domination, that they cannot open themselves to the Spirit. Jesus calls their attention to their thoughts and offers them a more helpful set of thoughts. Much of our pain is self-inflicted from the deadly thoughts to which we give our whole attention, such as all the many considerations around providing a life for ourselves and our families, and all that is within us concerned about how we are doing or what people think of us, and so on. Spiritual teachers always situate themselves in tension with the person, to intrigue, shock, or cajole the mind to give its attention instead to a spiritual set of thoughts capable of drawing the mind inwards to the spirit place, whence it might draw from the wellsprings of spirit and life. The spiritual teacher Jesus doesn’t focus on what a person says, but on the person itself, and is always trying to open the mind to the spirit within.

Jesus knows what is happening, when we are into “mob think” and caught up in shallow worldly ways of self-sufficiency, power, initiative, competition, and domination. Jesus hears our unproductive thoughts and calls us beyond that limited mind (meta-noia) into the “game” of repentance and life. He acknowledges our painful situation or struggle and calls us to go beyond it into mission and bear fruit. Jesus cursed the fig tree without fruit and it withered, even though it wasn’t the season for fruit, to get everyone's attention with a clear statement that He, Jesus, is the gardener and also the season for fruit – with Jesus, the time to bear fruit is always now, today. He digs up our roots to manure them, but we must be aware that our time for bearing fruit is limited – we don’t have unlimited time - we need to wake up now to what the Spirit is saying to us in the depths of our soul.

There is only so much space in our consciousness; speculation, idle amazement, chronic worry about life or excessive fear block out thoughts that can lead to conversion and openness to spirit. As spiritual teacher, Jesus tries to wake us up, using whatever we are experiencing: troubles, illness, or even death, to supplant unproductive, closed minded worldly thoughts with productive, open minded spiritual ones. It's not that the world is bad, after all, it is God's own creation and handiwork. It's simply that there is the realm of spirit that suffuses and radiates from within all that God the Father sustains in being, and He has created us with an inner capacity to recognize the inner spiritual radiance of his presence in all creatures. St. Francis of Assisi was sensitive to this presence of God in creatures and called them "Sister" and "Brother".

Spiritual teachers either love the teaching and give it to us, or else they love us and set the conditions for us to discover the teaching for ourselves – Jesus uses both tracks. In this way we can understand Jesus’ “dueling of words” in the Gospels, especially with the Pharisees, at the service of waking people’s consciousness to truth and to his guidance to life in the Spirit. He draws us away from our inner web of anxious thoughts in the project of survival towards faith in our Father's love and confidence that God cares for us, notwithstanding the sensory “evidence” to the contrary, erroneously filling us with thoughts like "It's a jungle out there. It's every man for himself."

God is always present, the Spirit / wind always blowing, but we have to put up our sails to catch it. The open sail is deliberate, trusting prayer. In Matthew, prayer isn’t telling God our needs, since He already knows even more than we do about what we need, but consciousness of God’s graciousness. We draw our mind away from tomorrow thinking by meditating on the gift of being alive today, now. In God we draw from a fullness of abundance - the divine abundance that gives meaning and purpose to our spirit - even in the midst of poverty, pain, mourning or persecution; as Jesus taught in the "beatitudes" portion of his sermon on the mount. It is only by receiving from this abundance that we can engage in Christian ministry, because the ministry Jesus began and then entrusted to his disciples to carry on is a ministry drawing from the abundance of the Father's love for his children.

The spiritual teacher frees us from the domination and tyranny of our senses, which keep insisting that we are separate beings and that life is a competition for limited resources. As our spiritual teacher, Jesus shows us how to glide - buoyed up by grace like the swan once it hobbles off the land into the water - by freely choosing to waddle with difficulty off the land into the water of God's presence all around us.

Today is the time of beginning again, and we can recommit ourselves to the practice of various useful Christian disciplines like (1) observing the Lord’s Day as a Sabbath rest and celebration and letting this rest filter into each day, month, and year; (2) stopping the impulse to possess by actively receiving spirit from Jesus and practicing fasting and almsgiving; and (3) practicing meditation and prayer to seek the Spirit within, to be drawn where the Spirit wills, and to draw from the font of Living Water.

to be continued....

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Sin, fear & evils close me in and cut me off, but trust & faith connect me to God's power all around me - "Spir Dev & Gospel Narratives 7" by John Shea

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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The one significant idea I retain from the readings this week is that fullness of life and vitality is objectively all around us, because God the Creator is the living Source of all life, and He is ever radiating, creating, and sustaining life in myriad forms. It is at the level of human consciousness that it is possible to not see or be in touch with all this life and vitality or with God or both. Our openness and expansiveness requires our free participation, but there are many obstacles that can and do hinder openness and tend to enclose us upon ourselves, so that we can not see or participate in the energy of life, or refuse to accept what frightens us or threatens our comfort zone.

Roberto Assagioli wrote “Obstacles to Spiritual Development: Fear,” in Transpersonal Development (Crucible, 1991), pp. 169-172, declaring that intellectual obstacles to spiritual development such as skepticism and doubts are often symptoms of deeper emotional obstacles such as fears, which are “based on ignorance or error,” and these require spiritual solutions. He categorizes 5 main forms of fear and relates them to instincts: fear of death from the instinct of self-preservation; fear of loneliness from a sense of incompleteness and the sexual drive; fear of isolation, weakness, and insecurity going to the herd instinct; fear of not being recognized leading to excessive self-affirmation; and fear of the unknown leading to curiosity.

Sufficient psychological development lets the mind exert control over the emotions and transform them, and therapists use several techniques to help the mind to this. Psychoanalysis explores our experience, seeks out and brings the roots of fear to our present consciousness, which diminishes their power and hold on us as present fear. Physical activities and sport, directing the imagination elsewhere, use of humor, cultivating positive emotions, affirmation, and training the imagination to go through the feared event over and over in our mind before it happens until we no longer feel afraid of it, are various simple ways to help resolve fears.

Spiritual solutions to fears are more permanent because they deal with the root causes. The resurrection robs death of its finality and lessens or evaporates fear of it. Becoming aware of participating in the life flowing from God reveals isolation as the illusion it is, and deliberate acceptance of communion with God, others, life, and one’s own inner self, evaporates loneliness. This growing awareness of one’s “true spiritual nature” and of one’s inner strengths disintegrates fear of failure and inadequacy. Seeing that ills we fear often don’t happen is a help, and knowing that the energy to overcome them will come to us when we need it mitigates our fear of the unknown. Wisdom, true spiritual awareness as intimate, direct intuition of life and identifying our being with it “overcomes the limitations of separate consciousness” and replaces fear of the future with joy and freedom.

In pages 88-92 of The Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels Year A, John Shea interprets the text as Jesus drawing us away from anxiety to gift consciousness. Realizing we are gifted by God, anxiety will diminish. I agree, but sense the text is opening us a further possibility, which doesn’t seem practical. The more we dedicate ourselves to the kingdom of God, the more the Lord does provide for our needs. I believe this is a true working principle, but it is best understood by observing how Jesus lived it. St. Francis of Assisi is another example, as is Teresa of Avila, and all the saints. A life of trust in God in “reckless abandon” to divine providence requires a willingness to be hungry, cold, naked, and abandoned as well as be full, warm, clothed, and well loved, with indifference or equanimity about which comes to us at any given moment. This, I think, is also the truth taught by Jesus in the beatitudes. This is based in an understanding that this present life is simply a set up for eternity.

C.F.D. Moule in “Punishment and Retribution: An Attempt to Delimit Their Scope in New Testament Thought.” in Essays in New Testament Interpretation (Cambridge University Press, 1982) argues that these two terms, as well as reward, sacrifice, and atonement, are really leftovers from the Old Testament Law. I don’t agree, on the grounds of Jesus’ statement that He came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. Depending on how we live our lives, we either come under the effects of the law, or under the effects of Jesus new law of love. For an unhealthy person to "deny themselves and follow Jesus", they probably need to get more sleep, exercise, and proper diet, rather than do all kinds of fasting and penances. For a healthy person to "deny themselves and follow Jesus", they will probably progress by judicious practice of fasting and penances. The first has to pay better attention to the law (of nature), while the second is ready to go beyond to the law of love and self-denial.

In personal development there is a threshold between the psyche and the spirit which can most clearly be described as what separates preoccupation with the self from solicitude for others, or struggle for health from the quest for holiness or transcendence. The neurotic confuses the quest and needs help to see and live it in terms of health. You can't give your life out of love if you don't have a life to begin with. For a neurotic person spending too much time running after supernatural “goodies” while neglecting family duties, self denial could be to cut back on the running and be more attentive to family; while self denial for a healthy person could very well include ascetical pious practices in the church.

I believe that is why Jesus denounced sin strongly when He preached but was so compassionate to those sinners who came to Him. Those who are neglecting the basics need to begin at the beginning; whereas those who have progressed enough to know they need forgiveness and come to Jesus are beyond the minimal requirements of the law. There is a basic truth as lowest common denominator; so the Law remains – with its rewards and punishments – for all who have yet to rise above the threshold of self-preoccupation to solicitude for others. In the realm of love, all takes on a different perspective intended by Jesus: those who leave preoccupation with self, worry, fear, and anxiety behind, are free to look at Jesus and see - perhaps for the first time - their neighbor, and discover that all is gift in the Father’s love, in the new life of the Spirit.

In “On Being Open and Closed,” in Spirituality and Human Nature (Suny), Donald Evans notes that a closed person, unlike the open person in touch with the limitless abundance of life and energy of which he is a part in creation, suffers impressions of scarcity and so becomes preoccupied with power and status and is closed even from the self. The open person is in touch with self at all levels, even the body, with others, all creatures, and with God, with a deep sense of participating intimately in the flow of life energies within and all around and even feels a kinship with living things, free to face sins and limits, to grow, and enjoy life with expansiveness.

The closed person tends to focus on its activity and interests as though there are no others, whereas the open person intensely commits to personal projects but recognizes the value of other people’s projects in a way that increases their own abundance. As the Gospel says, to the one who has even more will be given, but the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. The closed person needs to put the self at the center of the universe, whereas the open person is simply glad to be part of it. During our vulnerable and closed times we tend to inflate ourselves to fill in our vacant sense of self, and it takes compassion, forgiveness, and kindness to our self to ease out of that darkness back into the light, where we are part of the abundance of life in all creation and can draw from it, as well as share it with others. There is value to my presence and participation, to my life. When closed, out of fear of emptiness and irrelevance, we imagine illusions of expansiveness and limitations, but when open, we enter into true expansiveness and know our real limitations.

Closed, I aim for self-sufficiency, but open, I am able and willing to be “parented” by others and in my turn to “parent” still others. Closed, my altruism is motivated by my own need to matter and be recognized, but open, I am able and willing to empty myself, to pour myself out for others, like Christ. Closed, I do for others to exhaustion and then retreat in utter selfishness to take care of myself or “lick my wounds”; but when open, I enter into communion with others through my serving, able to receive as well as give, and find my life energies renewed. In openness, my solitude is not an escape from others, but a “participatory solitude” in expansiveness and awareness of others and all living things as “transfigured” or radiant with the life and power of God who is ever sustaining them and me. I sense within me that God’s divine life is the radiant energy of love flowing and radiating through us all, transforming all who are open and receptive. Fear, self-deception, and not having ever experienced in the body the radiance and vitality of life and energy in God, are so many obstacles to overcome, by God's grace.

I can be closed by fascination or obsession with my own experience and feelings, as though there are no other ways of seeing; so that I only see my view, my feelings, and no one else’s, or only see those feelings and views in others that are like mine, or not perceive anything at all of what other people see or feel. At the other extreme, I can hold everyone and everything at a distance and refuse to feel anything at all. In order to really be in touch with reality and experience life fully, we/I need “a sensitive and realistic responsiveness.” There will be shadows and obstacles of closedness, but I need only acknowledge these, with kindness and understanding for myself and others, and I will continue to grow and develop. The key is to notice, sometimes with the help of others, whatever tends to close me in on myself, and go out in the opposite direction, and open up to others and the real life that is all around me and within my depths, where, in faith, I can contemplate this life as God and recognize Him simultaneously in every other human being.

to be continued....

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Unlike finished objects, we are "happenings of being" made up of love we give and receive in communion - "Spiritual Development and the Gospel Narratives 6" by John Shea

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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It very challenging for us to live in both the physical/flesh world and the spirit world all at the same time. We suffer a lot because of what is happening in our psyche and flesh, as a social, emotional, and physical being, and wonder what has become of our soul / spirit, but we realize that we were really identifying ourselves with our psyche and body – mind, emotions, and flesh - as though this were all that we are. We want and need to see clearly the difference between "me" and "I". We think that we are a living thing that is already created, finished, done, but that is not what we are. 

Oh yes, the body is here, but who I really am emerges from within and is composed of the meaning I give to my life through my decisions, words, and actions, how I live out and order my thoughts and feelings. Who I am can’t come under my own observation, because it’s the transcendent “happening of being” where God breathes life into me and where I am one with God, from whom I flow and to whom I am returning. It is from this transcendent level of being that I can observe the rest of me in all its levels and parts, none of which really constitute who I am of themselves, either separately or together.

Those other levels and parts have a lot happening in them, they all have their own structures and ways of operating, and their interconnectedness is very complex, but in terms of spiritual development – my own and that of others – how do I identify myself? How does my identity truly come into being? The spiritual realm constitutes our identity as surely as the other realms do, (physical, emotional, psychological, social, intellectual, etc.) because we are related to a transcendent Source, but it also has the capacity to unify all the others in an integrated sense of who I am. Actually realizing this is a long (life time), difficult process, and a crucial factor is what my treasure is: that to which I give most of my attention, where my heart invests itself, and how it distributes my life force and energy.

Giving all our attention to sin – temptation, actually sinning, and torment over having sinned – is how we come to identify with sin and constitute our identity around sin. This only tends to lock us into producing more fruit of sin and injury as we get caught up with networks of social reinforcement. Jesus refused to take part in the complicities around sin, judging, and retribution but instead gave all his attention to his Father and the Father’s love, forgiving people in order to set them free from the traps of sin for the freedom of the children of God; so that they / we might freely receive love and in turn give ourselves in love like Jesus. Still, we struggle to accept God’s forgiveness and to then in turn offer it to others, in part because we are so invested in keeping track of our hurts and the offences of others.

Like the Pharisees, a fair amount of our identity has formed around distinguishing ourselves as different from or better than others. The Pharisees had a lot invested around the rituals of purification from sin and ritual uncleanness. Without sinners, the Temple economy would collapse. For my part, if I can’t sit in judgment over others, then I will have to look at my own sins, and I may not want to. A formidable obstacle to forgiveness is that holding a grudge and seeking revenge can make me feel powerful and be quite intoxicating, which makes other practices necessary for coming to freedom.

Restitution can give a sense of the damage caused by sin, penance can purify or burn away my sense of identification with my sin, and seeking a firm purpose of amendment brings me to face the decision to turn my attention away from sin and give it to God, others, and spirit. God’s love lets me face the fear of being exposed by his light of truth as a sinner, and in forgiving me, shares with me his power to turn to others with forgiveness. God’s limitless mercy and grace frees me from Pharisee stingy impulses to control and ration forgiveness.

In life, God’s Word opens up this territory of forgiveness; theology and theological reflection - like the pondering in the heart that Mary was always doing - maps the territory of forgiveness out, and practical spirituality walks the path and does forgiveness. These three - God's Word, theological reflection or pondering, and practical spirituality - are three essential disciplines for the Christian life. We cannot live our faith in Christ as Lord and follow Him as his disciples without practicing these. God is always there and lovingly bent over us, like a loving and doting parent, but like children, we are not always or constantly aware of, or appreciative of, this loving presence and attention of our Father.

Although I don’t recall ever articulating that every human being is at a certain level always in union with God; as I reflect on it, I sense that I have always believed that this is so, but could not say it in clear terms. Over time, I have gone from a static view of creation (like the universe, we were created all at once and are a finished product) to a dynamic one, where we are ever growing and developing and God is constantly holding us in being by his will and breathing his own Spirit into us. 

Jesus brought home to us the intimacy of this relation and the gratuity of the freedom with which the Father calls us to enter into this life more deliberately through love for God and of every other human person. In sin we cease breathing in and out the life and love offered us by God,  but we also hold back forgiveness, and stop receiving and giving ourselves in love - we begin to die. The great joy of reconciliation wells up from our restoration to being loved and loving. So, am I filled with joy today?

to be continued....

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Unselfconscious gratuitous acts of love make us most ourselves and unite us to all and to God - "Spiritual Development and the Gospel Narratives 5" by John Shea

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Beatrice Bruteau, in her book The Grand Option, inspired especially by Teilhard de Chardin, expresses a vision of human evolution that would have us be willing and conscious elements that will evolve into a higher order of being all together as a collective human organism. I like it though as a fresh way of looking at the Body of Christ, the Communion of Saints, and our willing and conscious participation as active members. She explores the distinction between our human nature ridden life and the loftier human / divine transcendence to which Jesus calls us in the Gospels and which the saints obviously attained in their lifetimes. 

She says it’s really up to us to move towards a collective awakening that as human beings we are really all united and all responsible together for our collective outcome on this planet. She goes to the root of the Gospel message to seek for an understanding of the giftedness in us and our potential as human beings that can include all of humanity, irrespective of religion or other distinguishing attributes. Christians have been entrusted with the revelation of how we are connected to our Source and with each other; so we have the responsibility to make this good news known. In addition, Jesus has given us as his Church means to remain in communion with Him and be transformed into Him by the Spirit as we accept to love, obey, and follow Him.

As Gandhi took Jesus and his good news to heart and put his approach into practice; so we must follow Jesus literally and actually live the familiar and comforting revelation that we are children of God and in our practice renounce privilege, titles, and influence in exchange for the truth and the solidarity to which it calls us. These are the very same things Jesus formally renounced in the desert as He was tempted, and then continued to renounce until the end. Like Jesus at his Baptism and temptations, we must hear God the Father call us his beloved children, and go discover all that we are not – no magic, no miracles, no domination for the sake of our own interest – and what we are – regarding all as equal, impartial as God is, loving our enemies, pure in fact as well as in ritual, and considering ourselves blessed even in misfortune. Against the entrenched “routine assumption that we are all separate, isolated, but comparable units” we are children of God who do “inherit the nature of our parent” – an integration of the metaphysics of a global spirituality uniting East and West.

As children of God we are incomparable – just as there can be no adequate description of God, so there can be no adequate description of who we are – mysterious and indefinable as God. Any description of our self remains limiting, and points to only a part of who we are. Our true self is mysterious, flowing with life from our Source. We are “transcendent of all descriptions” as God is. Like our Father, we are love, that is, we are most fully ourselves in the very act of loving the other with no interest for or awareness of ourselves, not responding to external stimulation, request, or need, but creatively going out to another – especially those unworthy of our love – such as enemies. God’s love, ever creative and original, is unexpected from the world’s point of view. Loving like God, I become a lover, distinguishing myself from my beloved at the same time that I unite myself to the one I love. The more I love, the more I become who I am, a lover, in the image of God.

When we creatively and freely love another, our distinctiveness as persons is clarified at the same time our love joins us to the other, and our loving them actually brings us into them, and them into us. This is what happens between the contemplative and God. God loves us first, and as we contemplate God we become aware of his love and surrender to it, loving our Lover back. In self-giving love, “each subject sees through the other’s eyes, feels with the other’s heart, wills in conjunction with the other’s will, and flows together with the other’s action.” The more distinct and free the person is, the more perfect their love can be. The original paradigm for such total union is the “perichoresis”, the union of love among the three Divine Persons in the Blessed Trinity, an essential doctrine of Orthodox and Eastern Rite Churches which is at the heart of how they understand and deliberately intend to live their lives of faith in love in following Jesus.

This love truly creates and gives life, enabling the newly beloved to in turn become filled with life and overflow with love to others. God in Jesus visibly pours himself out to give us life; we too become conscious of the deep desire to pour ourselves out into others in love. Inhabited by God’s active love, like Jesus we become “incarnate as creative process” as we too learn to pour ourselves out in love for others. Our “central self is full, luminous life, safe from all injury, and is most itself when it is most giving itself.” It is at the level of person, not of nature, that we pour our love and forgiveness towards others for their future good, whether they accept it or not. 

What is evil in our lives and our suffering both fall in the “order of reaction and choice freedom” within the confines of this physical world and life, but we transcend it by loving impartially like God, simply for the good of the “I am” in the other, ignoring attributes of nature. We are the activity of the Trinity drawing us into their perichoresis – as we live it most deliberately in Holy Communion – uniting with our activity in a moment of self-realization that we are loved and lover, and God unites with us as we love another and in turn unite with their self-realization and outreach of love to a third. 

This is how we are in the image of the Trinity, persons in union with all other persons, and loving in God’s love, rising above our nature. We can force none to this love, but can freely love others, as Jesus did. Virgil Elizondo’s “I Forgive but I Do Not Forget” seems to bypass or at least ignore traditional teaching on the 7 capital sins as the root cause of human sinfulness and misery, but it’s only that he makes a very good point, namely, that much of our human misery comes from our originally sinful inclination to cry out for justice when we feel wronged and to secretly desire, if not demand or exact, punishment or vengeance for those who offend us. We just can’t forget wrongs, because our memory of them continues to stimulate feelings like anger, resentment, and desire for revenge or at least to see the offender punished. Our damnation is continuing to cling to this misery and refusing to let it go. 

He makes a very good case for wanting to be free of these destructive feelings and desires, which I agree eat away at our “innards” until we become free of them, and the only way to do that is to forgive the offender as though we had never been offended at all. I like his conclusion that this means undoing or “uncreating” the offense, but as only God can create and uncreate; only God can effectively forgive. We lost our God-given ability to do that in the original sin, and what has now become natural is a deep-seated desire for retribution justice. This enlightens what it means to be enslaved by the law, and why God himself had to come in Jesus to clear a new path, make a new humanity possible, through loving forgiveness of offenders, which only divine love makes possible.

This text too, like the others we have been reading, affirms that it’s our condition to live in both the flesh and the spirit at the same time. While our remembrance of offenses continues to generate feelings of hurt, anger and desire for retribution justice; our own experience of God’s inexhaustible and undeserved forgiveness, mercy and love set us free to manifest the same superabundant love and mercy to others. This is the new man, the new life in the Spirit which is the freedom of the children of God and such good news. Like Jesus and his Father, we refuse to allow offenses against us to become the basis of our relationships with our offenders or anyone else. We refuse, like Jesus, to identify or to reidentify with sin; having once and for all left sin and failures behind in order to embrace life in God.

In chapter 8 “The Living One’ of Beatrice Bruteau’s The Grand Option, she seems to pick this up when she states that forgiveness is not directed to the corpse of the past offense, but rather “unites with the other’s creative act of stepping forward into the next moment… is an act of making the future.” Forgiveness is just one dimension of self-giving love that emerges not from the psyche and other elements of my personality, but from the spirit which is profoundly centered in union with God and shares in God’s “sense of sheer ‘I am’… (and) is radiating in all directions the intention ‘May you be!’” The self that we give to others in love is not the self we are normally conscious of, our living soul, but the deeper self, which, united to God, is also a life giving spirit. Agape is more than contemplative or appreciative love, is active, bursting “with energetic desire that there be more being.” Creative, free self-giving desires to bring into being what does not yet exist for the other’s good.

It is this transcendent spirit in us which is our true self – in union with God and flowing from God as its Source – and the new life revealed in Jesus and shared with us since his Resurrection. It is a challenge for us to be aware of this spirit and creative freedom, unpredictable and bringing forth life that is ever new, as our true self and to deliberately live out of it from moment to moment, and to be further aware of pouring ourselves out in love into the same fluid spirit self in others and of all others pouring themselves out in love into us. At this level, we realize that the boundaries of our selfhood are interpersonal to the limits of the Body of Christ, rather than the narrow limits of our psyche and physical traits and awareness. We are so familiar in the confines and comfort of our body / psyche self, that we require spiritual disciplines to cultivate the ongoing awareness of our spiritual self in communion with God and with all the others like ourselves.

In “The Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels…” John Shea demonstrates how Jesus provided us with means to live out of this sense of communion with all others through ongoing reconciliation: talking it out one to one, then if they refuse to listen including a few other people, but if they continue to refuse to listen only then finally appealing to authority, and finally when their refusal becomes obstinate, simply considering the offender as one needing ministry or work. At every stage, relational skills and the willingness to dialogue and be open to other possibilities are necessary for reconciliation to occur.

More importantly, we need to bridge the disparity between the psycho-social level within us and Spirit. Prayerful attention to Spirit can help all those involved get in touch with their deep desire for peace and enter into the process of reconciliation from the deeper spirit self from which radiates the love of God, which makes the process infinitely more fruitful and life giving for all. Our psycho-social self tends to keep a record of wrongs and hurts, so that forgiveness tends to put pressure on letting go of the score keeping; whereas our spirit self is aware of receiving itself from God and more willing to give itself in forgiveness in order to see the future life of the other come to pass in peace and love.

to be continued....

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Thérèse de Lisieux - A new classic film - a must see!

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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It doesn't happen too often that we can enjoy a film production that is not only beautiful art, but really entertaining, and profoundly meaningful. Well, I had the privilege of seeing one today at an AMC movie theatre here in Chicago - Therese - you'll find a good review at National Review Online. I don't know why, but I wasn't expecting such a powerful production, but I guess I should have known better, and certainly would have if I'd known it was directed by Leonardo Defilippis, whom I first met at Madonna House I think it was in September 1992 or 1993, when I was delighted to watch his one-man performance of John of the Cross. 

You can find out more about Leonardo, the many great productions that are the fruit of his foundaional work and that of the company he started - St. Luke Productions - they have a fine repertoire of live plays they are glad to perform for smaller or larger audiences and with more or less elaborate sets. You can even order their audio and video productions online. We have several of both in our lending library at Becket. 

The grace of the afternoon is that I didn't go alone but went with another priest and three sisters. We were able to share some of our thoughts and emotions afterwards - I had thoroughly drenched my hankie - this is the kind of movie that can really clear your sinuses, unless something inhibits it. It's only as we were chatting afterwards that I found myself saying to some of the teenage theatre crew that the story might actually leave you cold in the sense that it might seem so foreign to what we have come to know and experience of life today in this culture of ours. This occurred to me because of a comment by the homilist at Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish here in Hyde Park this morning - he said that the movie was a little "sweet", but still had a good message. 

As I stood there initiating a chat with the teens, I saw in a flash that I deeply desired to invite them to see it - neither of them had, a boy and a girl - and they seemed indifferent. In the same instant, I realized they might find the film a huge disconnect from the world that they have known until now - both at home and in their society of school, friends, and work, not to mention the marketplace. 

Then I remembered it - the Martin family was unusual even for its own day. Thérèse's parents Louis and Zélie Martin had an incredibly profound spiritual grasp of their faith, relationship with God, and of their Christian vocation. They very deliberately entered into Marriage, so that they attended with exquisite love and tenderness to their children - 5 girls. That's what I told the teens - this was an incredibly sensitive family - perhaps quite different from what we've known, but very precious all the same. 

They seemed intrigued. The movie actually does justice to the kind of home the Martins kept - without the time to also portray the austerity of the era and the relative poverty of the family in comparison to our own lifestyles in the West today - so that in the end, when we watch the movie at face value, we get a fairly good impression of how this family would translate into our own time. 

That's where the gap can hit pretty hard. We could find - if not a disconnect then perhaps a disturbing realization - that our lives are a far cry from this deeply genuine personal love and attentiveness. In the real historical life of the Martin family, the relationships between the parents, between the parents and their girls, and of course among the girls, were characterized by such tenderness and chaste affections that we could find them "sweet" or even unreal. 

Sadly, our "real" world is far from chaste, so far in fact, that we run the risk of becoming jaded, cynical, or at the opposite extreme, so obsessed with pleasures of the flesh as to become almost if not quite incapable of genuine personal intercourse or, if you prefer, authentic personal exchange, honest sharing, trusting openness, and chaste intimacy. 

This family had all these character strengths, modelled and mentored by the parents; so it is not surprising that all 5 girls took their own vocations seriously and pursued what for each of them was the highest ideal of their spirits - religious life. Four entered Carmelite Convent of Lisieux and one entered a convent of the Poor Clares - all contemplatives. They wanted to live the life of a spouse of Christ, literally. How could such a thing happen? Were they forced to it by their parents? Not at all. 

In fact, their parents would have been happy to see them married, as they had done. Simply put, this couple took God so seriously and lived such intense and loving relationships with God and each other as spouses, that their girls learned to discover their own interior life, where God is pleased to dwell with every human being. The art of faith is learning from others, such as parents, how to nurture the desire and gratitude for the gift of faith, and how to discern the presence of God within, and how to respond with honesty, trust, love, and hope. 

This is a movie that would be appropriate even for little children, though they may find it long at points - simply because they may be used to much more action-oriented fare - and there are so many touching scenes that they may also want to cuddle up to their parent or older siblings. By all means, plan to have time before and after to set up the viewing and then be able to share all the feelings, thoughts, and questions that it will have evoked. 

It would also be very wise to pray in advance of planning to go and actually inviting others to go see the movie. This film was made at all points by Christians of deep faith, and I believe that it can easily become a powerful instrument of God's grace, particularly as we entrust ourselves and others to the action of the Holy Spirit in an ongoing way. As the review linked above, this film may be a powerful and very meaningful follow-up for the family to Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ! 

May you have a blessed viewing!

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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