Religion

I try to read the parable of the mustard seed and the yeast (see Mt 13:31-35) in the light of my reflection on the Word of God yesterday, I mean, in the light of the growth of my relationship with God.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.' (…) "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened."
In baptism, the seed of faith was planted in my heart. But it didn’t remain a seed, it has grown to the point that my relationship with God became central to my life and a determining factor on how I would like to live the rest of my life. It is now a tree which “covers” all the areas of my life – my dreams, my actions, my hopes, my relationships. It is the one that gives direction, taste and meaning to my life. I guess that in the end, this is what we mean by being “religious” – it’s not so much belonging to this or that institution but seeing to it that one’s life is “linked intimately” to the Creator, and in so doing, also undertands the connections among all creatures and the whole of creation.
I’d like to deepen this thought with a poem from Kahlil Gibran:
And an old priest said, 'Speak to us of Religion.'

And he said: Have I spoken this day of aught else?

Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,

And that which is neither deed nor reflection,

but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul,

even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?

Who can separate his faith from his actions,

or his belief from his occupations?

Who can spread his hours before him, saying,

'This for God and this for myself;

This for my soul, and this other for my body?'

All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self.

He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.

The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin.

And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.

The freest song comes not through bars and wires.

And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also to shut,

has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn.

Your daily life is your temple and your religion.

Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.

Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute,

The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight.

For in revery you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures.

And take with you all men:

For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes

nor humble yourself lower than their despair.

And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles.

Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children.

And look into space; you shall see Him walking in the cloud,

outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain.

You shall see Him smiling in flowers, then rising and waving His hands in trees.

Prayer

How far could one bargain with God? In the first reading of today’s liturgy, Abraham had courage to go from 50 to 10 (cf Gn 18:20-21,30-34) but wouldn’t go any further. Jesus in the gospel encourages us to stretch the limits because in God, we have a father (mother) and a friend. (cf Lk:11:1-13)
But I guess there’s the “hitch” – our relationship with God or our faith in him, for that matter, has not usually reached that point of maturity: we don’t usually consider him a father (mother) nor a friend. God is simply a judge – giving rewards if we “follow the commandments” or punishing if we don’t do “our homework.”
Come to think of it, the development of our prayer life is really based on how our image of God has developed or has been transformed through time. In the end, prayer is actually much more than “asking.” It goes further – it is first and foremost a relationship, an intimate conversation, a dialogue. And in the more mature dimension, it is complete identification, it is “being one” with the Beloved.
A poem by Kahlil Gibran expresses this very well:
Then a priestess said, 'Speak to us of Prayer.'
And he answered, saying: You pray in your distress and in your need;
would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.
For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether?
And if it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into space,
it is also for your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart.
And if you cannot but weep when your soul summons you to prayer,
she should spur you again and yet again, though weeping, until you shall come laughing.
When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at that very hour,
and whom save in prayer you may not meet.
Therefore let your visit to that temple invisible be for naught but ecstasy and sweet communion.
For if you should enter the temple for no other purpose than asking you shall not receive.
And if you should enter into it to humble yourself you shall not be lifted:
Or even if you should enter into it to beg for the good of others you shall not be heard.
It is enough that you enter the temple invisible.
I cannot teach you how to pray in words.
God listens not to your words save when He Himself utters them through your lips.
And I cannot teach you the prayer of the seas and the forests and the mountains.
But you who are born of the mountains and the forests and the seas can find their prayer in your heart,
And if you but listen in the stillness of the night you shall hear them saying in silence,
'Our God, who art our winged self, it is thy will in us that willeth.
It is thy desire in us that desireth.

It is thy urge in us that would turn our nights, which are thine, into days which are thine also.
We cannot ask thee for aught, for thou knowest our needs before they are born in us:
Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all.'

Gospel puzzle

Since yesterday, I have been reflecting on Jesus’ enigmatic answer to his disciples’ question: "Why do you speak to them in parables? " (Mt 13:10) His answer goes like this: "Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.” And the enigma follows, “To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
Some say the “it” must be “faith”: the one who “has faith” in the first place will receive more, while the one who has “no faith” even the little he or she has will be taken away.
Be that as it may, I feel I need to continue my exploration and I found that the Word of God today seems to give me the hint for a possible answer (actually the continuation of the gospel above, cf Mt 13:19-23). “The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold."
The basic thing in all these types of soil (disciples?) is the capacity to hear the word. True, there is a basic difference among the types of soil (this is the lovely thing about the parables – they stimulate your imagination bringing to mind reality) – the path, the rocky ground, the thorny soil, the rich soil. That is equivalent to saying that we, disciples of Jesus, have very different personalities and approaches to reality. All of us are capable of “receiving the seed” or listening to the Word, but not all have the same capacity to understand. Hence to anyone who has more of this capacity to understand, more will be given to learn about and live in Jesus.
The gift and the task of understanding then, beginning from attentive listening, seems to be the answer to my search. This is about all we can do from our side to let our spiritual life grow. God will help us to do the rest.
At this point, I recall Bernard Lonergan, a Canadian Jesuit philosopher and theologian who developed a whole system of how we humans could possibly grow in understanding what we know (beginning from experience), deciding on our actions on the basis of what we know, and making it a “habit” to do good, allowing ourselves to be transformed into the Love that has known us and that allows us to know him. I guess that would be the equivalent of "bearing fruit and yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty."
His works are not easy reading though. Here is one quote from him which calls to mind Jesus’ parable today: "The seed of intellectual curiosity has to grow into a rugged tree to hold its own against the desires and fears, conations and appetites, drives and interests, that inhabit the heart of man." Insight (310 [285]).

Saints Joachim and Anne

Today’s liturgical memorial is a rare one: instead of the usual solitary saint, we have a husband and wife, Saints Joachim and Anne, parents of Mary, hence grandparents of Jesus. They are presented by the Church as model for Christian spouses and parents. The Sacred Scriptures do not even mention them but some stories of them are told in the Protoevangelium of James. Here’s one example:
“Joachim is said to have been born at Nazareth and married Anne when he was still a young man. He was a rich farmer who possessed great herds. Because they had no children for many years, Joachim was publicly mocked--to be childless was considered a punishment for unworthiness. One day the Temple priest even refused Joachim's offering of a lamb. In a last prayer for a child, he withdrew to the desert and fasted for forty days.
Anne's father is said to have been a nomadic Jew named Akar, who brought his wife to Nazareth for their daughter's birth. Anne, too, after her marriage to Joachim, was saddened that God had not blessed them with children. She would weep and pray for God to answer her prayer. One day as she was praying beneath a laurel tree feeling that even Joachim had abandoned her (he was in the desert), an angel is said to have told her that God had heard her prayers. She would have a child who would be praised throughout the world. Anne replied, "As my God lives, if I should conceive either a boy or a girl, the child shall be a gift to my God, serving Him in holiness throughout the whole of its life."
Then the angel told her to run and meet her husband, who in obedience to another angel, was returning with his herds. They met by the Golden Gate and from that time Anne prepared for the blessed event. Saint Anne gave birth to Mary when she was about 40. It is said that Anne kept her promise and placed Mary in the service of God at the Temple when she was but three years old. According to tradition, she and Joachim lived to see the birth of Jesus and Joachim died just after seeing his divine grandchild presented in the Temple at Jerusalem, and was buried in Jerusalem.”
For more on these saints, you can click here.
The alternative reading in the liturgy praises them in these words from the Book of Sirach. "Now will I praise those godly men, our ancestors, each in his own time. These also were godly men whose virtues have not been forgotten. Their wealth remains in their families, their heritage with their descendants. Through God's covenant with them their family endures, their posterity, for their sake. And for all time their progeny will endure, their glory will never be blotted out. Their bodies are peacefully laid away, but their name lives on and on. At gatherings their wisdom is retold, and the assembly proclaims their praise." (Sir 44:1, 10-15)
For our prayers today, we can ask their intercession for the needs of grandparents, parents and spouses awaiting the birth of their children.