Gaudete Sunday!
The one who calls you is faithful and He will also accomplish it! This Gaudete Sunday we hear the words of St. Paul to the Thessalonians:
“Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances, give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test everything, retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil. May the God of peace himself make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. THE ONE WHO CALLS YOU IS FAITHFUL, AND HE WILL ACCOMPLISH IT! Brothers, pray for us too!”
When I heard these words being proclaimed yesterday evening, tears welled up in my eyes because I thought: “There’s still hope for me.” Lord knows I try very hard to be as holy as I can in all aspects of my life. However, no matter how hard I try I often fall short. There are things that I think, say and do on a daily basis that are so far removed from what Jesus taught and did. There’s the judgment, the anger, the laziness, the sharp tongue, the ego, the selfishness. I guess you can say the harder I try, the fiercer the storm of temptations. The worse part of it all is they often win. So what am I to do?
Paul’s words to the Thessalonians gave me a clue and coincides with what I read and discussed with my prayer group this week. In his book, Into the Silent Land, Martin Baird, talks about our wounds – one of which is temptation. Would you believe he talks about the “benefit” of temptation? The general idea of this section in the book is that God is closest to us in our wounds. Therefore, we should not run away or dismiss our temptations, failures and wounds.
Richard Rohr, in his most recent book, Just This, discusses the very idea of God being closest to us in our wounds. He writes:
“There can be no infilling unless we have made room for it. Emptying out must precede all filling up, and in equal measure. God as Trinity revealed this as the very shape of God and all things created in this image continue the same movement. In other words, vulnerability and power are in an eternal exchange. They produce and need one another.
In the human sphere, vulnerability shows itself as wound, grief, or desire. These are the primary ways that we make room for the Divine Infilling that is always ready and waiting to move into any open and inviting space. Just as nature abhors a vacuum, God waits for any spiritual vacuum and rushes to enter it. God never comes uninvited, unneeded, or undesired. Even Mary’s “yes” seems to have been necessary.
When we gradually learn to live the pattern of the Trinity, we see that God is both All Mighty and All Vulnerable, in equal measure. This alone allows us to deal with the full human situation – and know that God is not watching suffering, or even just allowing it, but is somehow actually a part of it!”
Let me get back to the benefits of temptation. How exactly do our temptations benefit us? Truly an “aha” moment for me and something I’m looking forward to practicing.
You see…….it’s in our human nature to think, think, think! It’s the incessant chatter in our minds that everyone is talking about these days. It’s thinking without ceasing and it’s often automatic. We are usually operating on autopilot and it’s the autopilot that offers the opportunity for us to give in to temptation. However, if we start to become aware of our thoughts and temptations we can begin to work on overcoming them instead of giving in to them. We can do this by approaching every waking moment as we do our practice of contemplation.
Everything I read about the practice of contemplation advises one to sit in silence without allowing thoughts to distract the practice. They recommend adopting a prayer word. The prayer word allows one to let go of thoughts and remain focused on God. The prayer word can be as short as one word, like God, Jesus or love and as long as Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner. This is a centuries old practice that has worked for many contemplatives. Not only can it work for our own practice of sitting, but Martin Laird suggests we adapt it to our daily life. In THIS way we pray without ceasing as Paul suggests in his letter. Wow! Our temptations “benefit” us by leading us to pray without ceasing! Amazing!
That’s just what Jesus did in the desert. He was tempted several times by the devil. However, He didn’t make conversation with the devil, He didn’t entertain the shenanigans and he didn’t give in to the temptation. What DID Jesus do? He recited Scripture! It was His defense and it was how he overcame the temptation. That’s what we can do as well. The minute you become aware of a temptation to judge, to become angry, jealous, etc. recite your prayer word.
Whenever your ego gets the best of you and you’re tempted to respond to someone in a way that’s not Christ like, think of your prayer word. It might also help to think about this before you speak: is what I’m about to say kind, true or necessary? (I didn’t come up with this myself, I heard or read it somewhere). This is how we can pray without ceasing – by turning our unceasing thoughts (which are usually temptations) into prayer! Amen!
Just as important as praying without ceasing is our thirst for something more. We must never grow complacent or comfortable in our prayer life. There is something to be said about routine but with routine comes the danger of distraction. If you’re comfortable with your prayer life, if it’s grown to be a routine that you rarely even notice, then maybe it’s time for a change. Do you feel like you know enough about the faith that there’s nothing else to learn? Are you so closed-minded that you believe there’s nothing more to learn from others? Don’t be fooled. Paul tells us: test everything, retain what is good and more importantly do not quench the Spirit!
We are all on a journey toward holiness. Too often on the journey we become disappointed with ourselves because it seems like we take one step forward and two steps back. The reality is we are called to be “perfectly holy.” St. Paul tells us that the one who calls us is faithful and He will accomplish it. As impossible as it may seem, we WILL be perfectly holy one day. Our wounds and failures are going to help get us there. Thanks be to God!
O Wisdom of our God most high, guiding creation with power and love, come to teach us the path of knowledge! God bless you!
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