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.