My Heart Longs for You… (Ps. 63)

Why do we have an entire liturgical season dedicated to longing for Someone who is already here? Yes, Jesus has come, and he has returned to his Father. But he has also said, “I am with you until the end of the age.” So which is it? Ah…or is it both?

 

The Eternal Word really never left his Father. But in his “coming” he bent down and entered space-time, and dwelt with us, taking on a physicality we can see and touch. But that isn’t all. He bent way down, into our grief, our corruption, our dying, and our crying. He got himself all bound-up in more than swaddling bands. More, now risen from all this dying, he will return, clothed with the cosmos, and wearing every atom, for he has not lost anything the Father gave him. I believe this.

 

So what is Advent all about? All this might be true, but it might not be true for me. It is one thing to know about this, and another to know it because it has made its home in me. This is the mysterious “coming” that Advent is all about. It is a love story. It is discovering my primary intimacy, my “first love.” It is discovering the Soul of my soul. Once I am in touch with this One I will be “home.” Until I ground myself in this First Love, all my other relationships will be fighting to take its place. I will feel out of kilter, un-centered, as though I “don’t have it all together.” The “it” is my First Love. When it’s in place, all my other loves gather around it and dance. Peace is its gift to me, and joy is evidence that I have come home.

 

Funny paradox…Advent is all about my coming…home to Someone who is always waiting for me, Someone who has already come, and will finally come to claim me, because he won’t be complete until I’m there.

 

History, Mystery, and Majesty…

You came once, long ago…

You come…in and out of my awareness of You…

And you will come finally

To claim me.

Clean out my soul with longing

Empty it to make room.

Be it a tavern or a temple

Make it your own.

Center me in Yourself

So that I see clearly

All that you have given me to love.

You who are always coming

Now it is my turn…

To discover my home in You.

 

Worded Women and Men

Common Life, Common Prayer, Study, and finally, Mission (Ministry), the pillars on which the lampstand of Dominican life stands as it shines in the midst of the Church; or if you prefer, the varied prism of the charism as shines with the Spirit’s light.

For the vowed Dominican, and for those who journey with us in the light of this charism, a startling fact emerges. True, we are immersed in the Word, in person, and in the scriptures. But there is an effect that flows from this immersion. We become worded ourselves. We take on the very Word that entrances us. We gradually become worded women and men personally. We become what is called the holy preaching.

The mission of Jesus, who is robed in our humble humanness, is two-fold. His mission often is voiced in the Alleluia verse of the liturgy: Jesus proclaims the kingdom and heals. This twofold mission is the Church’s mission as it travels through time, expressing itself in the rich ministries of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

Proclamation is the emphasis of the Dominican’s mission-gift to the Church, but the startling fact is that this mission is first manifest in the very person of the preacher, before he or she says a word. In fact, for many who live a Dominican spirituality, this is the major form of preaching they offer: they themselves are the holy preaching having become so by their contemplation of the Word.

Fed by the ongoing self-giving of the Eucharistic Jesus, they are a living word, a sign of the kingdom flowing out of a life, another form of real presence. As common as bread on the table, they proclaim the kingdom in the compassionate visit, the phone call, the greeting, the driving, the laughter, the tears, the patience in pain, loss of vision, hearing, or mobility. They are a wordless holy preaching of the reign of God in their lives.

The proclamation can take many forms. Ministries flow from this mission: teaching, pulpit preaching, nursing, working with finances, administration, music and art. But the time will come when these will lessen or stop altogether. But the holy preaching does not stop. It is not mainly a ministry, it is a way of being a worded woman or man among others. “No voice or sound is heard, yet their word goes out through all the earth.” In Dominican spirituality, we not only have a mission, we are our mission in the active and less active phases of our life.

Checking Priorities

The autumn is here in earnest, and the trees are ridding themselves of their leaves with abandon,

knowing in some secret way that they will be back…all new and green. Harvests are in. We are getting ready for

the winter sleep. The pace of the year slows down. It’s time to take stock.

The readings of November are pointing to a way to do that. Their target will be the Feast of Christ the King as

the liturgical year comes to a triumphant close, but on the way there we will be called to check out what takes

top place in our lives.

Baptism has firmly positioned us in Christ – that’s the truth. But we struggle with the day-to-day hangover of

the sin-of-the-world trying to suck us back into the sin-sense of isolation from him – and that’s the lie. Nothing

can separate us from him, no matter if we feel that way. So we are challenged to claim the deepest truth of our

lives: I am clothed with Christ, and nothing…really absolutely nothing, can separate me from him. My sins

mess up our relationship, but he is with me even in my falls, as is clear from his passion.

So it is time to reclaim my deepest truth. John has Jesus say it this way: “I am in you, and you are in me.” What

would happen if I spent this month claiming this as I put my feet on the floor in the morning, or if from my

sick-bed I said, “Lord, your presence with me is the truth, Help me to keep this in mind today. No matter what

happens, I’m not alone.”

This can really reset my spiritual compass. This reveals who is King in my life. It’s not my fear, it’s not my anxiety.

It’s this One who has bonded my poor self to his greatness, never to be parted. This One is my top priority.

Lord,

The air is filled with the scent of crumbling leaves.

In a final flash of color they let go of what has been.

It’s time for me too, to lay down what has been for me this past year.

I nest it in your mercy, good or ill.

You will know what use to make of it all.

Fix my eyes, my King, on you alone,

Keeping your constant presence in my mind’s eye.

And

Help me not to miss you when the needs of others

Make their claim on me.

Amen.

October Dominican Reflection

“They will study…they will need no other penance.”

-     Statement attributed to St. Dominic

When the white light of our charism of preaching a just word shows its colors, we speak of common life, common prayer, study, and  mission/ministry. Study is the characteristic that marks our difference among other religious orders. Other orders study when it is helpful. Dominicans study because it is constitutive to their identity. Ask religious orders who they are, and they answer, “We are vowed persons who live community by common life, common prayer, and a common mission.” (The Benedictines might add “stability in monastic life,” and the Jesuits, “faithfulness to the Holy See”) But that’s not how a Dominican will answer. The Dominican man or woman answers, “We are vowed persons who live community by common life, common prayer, common study, and common mission.” So how do we study together? We understand this pillar of our identity to exempt no one – not the Dominican in the laundry, the administrative office, the classroom, or the jail. It is our common penance. We often study in groups. So what is study for us?

Study is intentional engagement in an issue of truth-seeking. As intentional, it is not haphazard. It is something I choose deliberately to explore. It is not just reading. It is engaging what I have read. It means questioning it, critiquing it, respectfully disagreeing, or offering another view. What issue? Well, it might be an issue of justice. It might be a theological issue. It might have to do with health or science or finance or food. Wherever I am drawn to focus my energy and engage in probing, in exploring, that is where I am to seek truth, understanding, insight, the facts. Above all, study for us is “intellectual compassion.” The head rests in the heart.

The Dominican faithfully does this “penance” for the sake of the Church. Dominicans do this together, no one exempted. So I challenge each of us, and our associates, to identify our “area of intentional engagement, our area of intellectual compassion.” Perhaps one that is scriptural/theological, and one that is a service or justice focus. The “OP” once meant “Order of Penance” because the Dominicans were known for their disciplined minds. Never are we more needed in the Church, in the nation, in our cities, and in our struggling world of “alternative truths.” So, where have you chosen to do your penance?

October Dialogue with the Word

“Think of yourself as a tree…”

       Words of God to Catherine of Siena

            Carla Mae Streeter, OP

The full quotation is
“So think of yourself as a tree made for love and living only by love…
There is a circle in which this tree’s root, your love, must grow.
That circle is true knowledge of yourself, knowledge that is joined to me, God,
who like the circle have neither beginning nor end.
You can go round and round with in this circle,
finding neither end nor beginning, yet never leaving the circle…”     Dialogue 10

It is autumn, and the trees are revealing much to us if we have eyes to see. The Church, the Wisdom Woman, is looking for fruit. Yes, a fruitful tree speaks of rich growth, of fertility. Where does this fruit come from? What feeds it? The tree that is myself is fed by the fruit of another tree, the tree of the cross, which blossoms into resurrection. The life comes from the Paschal Mystery, and the Church never ceases to ponder it, year in, and year out.

These weeks of October will find a certain fruit being called forth as the Church shapes the scriptures put before us. She knows what she is after. It is not chancy. She knows what a beautiful tree looks like, and she will settle for nothing less. We have less than ten weeks left in this season of Ordinary Time. The harvest time is here. It’s time to collect and display our delicious fruit…and what are we asked to show?

First, we will be asked for our ID. We belong to the Shepherd. We listen and follow. Then we are shown that our fruit is not for ourselves, but to be given away. Then we must be dressed properly so we can be identified as disciples. Christ Jesus is himself our wedding garment. Then we will be reminded that we have two sets of relationships: to our Shepherd and to our brothers and sisters, who make claim on us. Finally, we will be asked if our fruit is delicious. Love makes it sweet, not bitter and sour. In the end, love covers a multitude of efforts not as successful as we had hoped. So it is harvest time. Check the fruit of your precious tree.

What would I do if I remembered

that I’m planted in the circle of your love?

How would I feel if I got up in the morning

put my feet in my slippers and remembered?

How do you feed me in this circle?

With the water of your tears as you took our DNA in Mary’s womb?

With the fire of your blood as you emptied yourself out to buy us back on the cross?

With that bread that is yourself hidden away in the tabernacles of our chapels and hearts-

your final bending down to wash our feet

so we can go and do likewise?

With Whom do we Pray?

The Spirit-Light that is the Dominican charism reveals beautiful hues like the rainbow. Also called the “pillars” of Dominican life, these mainstays are Common Life, Common Prayer, Study, and Mission/Ministry. We’ve reflected briefly on the vows which set the context for the charism, and on Common Life as a “Widening of the Tent.” What may be a new way to understand Common Prayer as we move forward in time?

Common Prayer has always meant that praying with others is a part of our Dominican life. Usually it meant the Liturgy of the Hours and the Eucharist. The importance of this “praying together” can be demonstrated with a simple image. Light a candle. Then invite five others to light a candle too. Your candlelight is piercing the darkness, but the power and beauty of the gathered light is even more beautiful to see. “Where two or more are gathered, there am I…”

But in our times the “others” has suddenly become part of the “Widening of our Tent.” So who are these “others” that I might pray with? For some of us praying the Office is our mainstay, and the “others” are those with whom I live. For some of us who live singly, there are no “others” physically present. But make no mistake, there are “others.” We just have to be more intentional

about bonding with them. Wherever you are, you can surround yourself with a “cloud of witnesses” when you pray. Maybe they are the folks on your block or in your apartment building. You may intentionally link your prayer with those at Siena Center. You may bond with the poor you serve, or those struggling in refugee camps, or who are isolated in prisons. How are you going to exercise your Common Prayer. Nothing need prevent you. The “others” need you…and you need the “others.” Common Prayer in a new key…