In our Gospel this week, Jesus makes us insiders. He places us among those to whom he makes the mysteries of God's kingdom known. Especially in the liturgy, we see and hear what many prophets and righteous people who lived before Christ longed to see and hear. The liturgy is the privileged place to hear and engage with the scriptures. Like Jesus' public teaching, whether for the crowds or his closest disciples, this is a communal endeavor.
Anyone who's been around for a while has seen the dynamics Jesus describes in the Parable of the Sower play out: people who start so full of zeal and then quickly fade, people who strive to live the values of God's kingdom and who finally decide to go their own way. Faith and its practice seem to only make life more demanding and difficult, not freer and more meaningful. And the people, oh the people, don't even get me started. Many have concluded, some understandably so, that life is less complicated without Church.
Finally, there are those who through waxing and waning seasons don't just keep the faith but consistently bear witness to it. You see, being a Christian isn't about living with a constant buzz.
Being faithful, bearing fruit for God's kingdom means, to use Saint Ignatius of Loyola's terms, dealing with desolations and consolations. In reality, most of life is lived somewhere between the peaks and valleys of existence. Reading the Gospels, which together constitute the heart of Sacred Scripture, show that Jesus' own life bears this out.
Especially as I grow longer in the tooth, there are sayings, phrases, words that come to take on more and more meaning. One such phrase was coined by the late Eugene Peterson, who described Christian discipleship as "a long obedience in the same direction." To bear fruit, a plant must endure the vissicitudes of weather. Where I live this year we had late freezes and now dry heat. Yet, I still see crops growing.
In this metaphor, spirituality, which I take to be the practice of spiritual disciplines, means cultivating and conserving rich soil. First among the disciplines comes prayer. To extend this a bit, in prayer, the Holy Spirit is like a gentle but steady rain during the dry months of summer.
Growing up I learned a song that we sang often: "Don't Forget to Pray." It's easy to forget or, even worse, to consciously decide not to pray. Since I am on a Saint Francis de Sales kick, I'm reminded of his exhortation to pray each day for at least half and hour, unless you're busy. If you're busy, he insisted you need to pray for an hour.
At different times in my life, I've been like the seed on the hard path, or the stones, or the thorns. I returned to the Church just before Easter this year after being away for more than 20 years. I started reading the Bible in February of this year, for the first time in my life, and I've just started Jeremiah. I've been praying the Rosary daily now for the last couple of months. I joined our Men of Faith group that meets each Friday morning at Christ the King parish here in Little Rock. I feel the Holy Spirit at work in my life as never before, and I want nothing more than to keep growing in my faith, learning everything about it that I can and discerning God's will for my life. Maybe you remember me from the brief time we both lived at the Newman Center way back when. My email is djkuralt@gmail.com. I would love to chat with you.
ReplyDeleteDavid, first and foremost, it's wonderful to hear from you. I certainly remember you, Karen, and your brother, and do so with great fondness. I knew you were moving to Little Rock, but I did not know that you had. I will email you for sure.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, here in our diocese, we really struggle to establish faith groups like the one you're currently participating in. I am very happy to hear that you're back. Come Holy Spirit!