Breaking the Word

Friday, July 25, 2008

Feast of St. James the Apostle
Diving to the Top

Readings: 2 Corinthians 4:7-15; Psalms 126:1bc-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6; Matthew 20:20-28
Picture: CC MadMatson

When you pause for a moment and gaze upon your life, what does it feel and look like to you? Sometimes, I think that life looks and feels a lot like someone climbing up a high mountain. Whether it’s in school or at work, whatever may be our motivations, we just cannot seem to stop pushing onward and upward, seeking to get to the top. From kindergarten to graduate school, from one pay grade to another, there just seems to be one height after another to scale. Even after retirement, aren’t there those who continue to seek other challenges, other peaks to climb? Of course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Indeed, the image of ascending a mountain is a common and powerful metaphor even in the spiritual life. The psalmist, for example, speaks of going up the mountain of the Lord (Psalm 24:3), and one of St. John of the Cross’ books on the spiritual life is entitled The Ascent of Mount Carmel. Clearly there’s deep truth in the image. Life is meant, to some extent, to be an ascent of sorts.

Even so, isn’t it also true that there’s great danger in taking the metaphor too far? Isn’t it true that overemphasizing the need to climb continuously can actually be detrimental to wellbeing – both that of others and ours as well? It can lead us to become so obsessed with our own efforts and achievements as to lose sight of the reason why we’re trying to get to the top in the first place. And, in the process, we may find ourselves becoming ever more competitive, even to the point of ruthlessness. Which is why the image of the ascent needs to be complemented, and even supplanted, with yet another metaphor.

In the gospel, on this feast of St. James, what we find is precisely a powerful illustration of the dangers of overemphasizing the need to ascend. The mother of James and John asks Jesus for choice seats in his kingdom. And the rest of the apostles become jealous and envious. Notice, however, that Jesus doesn’t chide her for making an unreasonable request. After all, the Father desires to give us the kingdom (see Luke 12:32). But he does point out that she does not know what she is asking. And neither do the others understand the implications of her request. For everyone thinks that she is actually asking Jesus to pull some strings so that her sons can climb higher and faster. But Jesus proposes a contrasting image. Anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave… To ascend, one must first be willing to descend.

Paul deepens our reflection on this insight by reminding us, in the first reading, of Jesus’ example. Jesus didn’t so much climb God’s mountain as much as he was raised. And he was raised only because he first willingly lowered himself. He ascended only by making a descent. And it is only when we follow in his steps that he who raised the Lord Jesus to life will raise us with Jesus in our turn, and put us by his side… In order to truly receive the prize that we seek at the top of the mountain, we must first imitate the Lord in emptying ourselves. For we are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure, to make it clear that such an overwhelming power comes from God and not from us…

Even if life does indeed look and feel like the ascent of a high mountain, it is important that we remember that we reach the heights of God’s glory only by diving into the depths of selfless service.

How are we being invited to take the plunge today?

2 comments:

AnonymousFri Jul 25, 01:55:00 pm GMT+8
I'm reminded of a poem I read earlier in one of Fr Mark Link's reflections in the Vision / Mission / Action 2000 booklets:

My dreams for life were laid;
my journey mapped and made.
The Lord was at my side
to be my friend and guide.
So I started out.

But then the sky turned dark.
The road grew steep and stark.
I scarce could travel on.
I turned and cried: "My Lord!
Where's the road; where's the light?
Why this pain; why this night?"

The Lord turned and said: "My child!
Where's the faith; where's the trust?
Why this fear; why this fright?
I chose this way for you.
Just take my hand and travel on."

Now, almost two years later, I've yet to see the light at the end of the "water" tunnel. Wonder when I can finally rise to the surface and take a breather?
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AnonymousFri Jul 25, 09:51:00 pm GMT+8
What are my personal mountains to ascent? To be more attuned to the needs of others in an ever expanding realization that there is also a limit. Human limitations dictate that we cannot go it alone without a compass and guide. So I turn to the only person in our hour of need - the Lord of the mountain.
How low can I plumb into the self, given that the deep is often dark and unknown, lurking with unexpected dangers. Is it possible to know myself fully? How do I handle those emotions that unexpectedly surface with seething resentment over seemingly "small stuff." In my relationship with others, this awareness puts me in check of the outpouring of negativity that emanate from our lips.
So I am aware of my limitations and my propensity to go over the deep. My days are filled with competing doubts and joyful realizations.
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Breaking News: Ordinary Time

Apart from those seasons having their own distinctive character, thirty-three or thirty-four weeks remain in the yearly cycle that do not celebrate a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ. Rather, especially on the Sundays, they are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects. This period is known as Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time begins on Monday after the Sunday following 6 January and continues until Tuesday before Ash Wednesday inclusive. It begins again on Monday after Pentecost and ends before Evening Prayer I of the First Sunday of Advent. This is also the reason for the series of liturgical texts found in both the Roman Missal and The Liturgy of the Hours (Vol. III - IV), for Sundays and weekdays in this season. ~ General Norms for the Liturgical Year & Calendar, 43-44

From 36th Jesuit General Congregation

It is our union with one another in Christ that testifies to the Good News more powerfully than our competences and abilities.... In our individualistic and competitive age, we should remember that the community plays a very special role since it is a privileged place of apostolic discernment.... The Jesuit community is a concrete space in which we live as friends in the Lord. This life together is always at the service of mission, but because these fraternal bonds proclaim the Gospel, it is itself a mission. –Companions in a Mission of Reconciliation and Justice (CMRJ), nn. 7-9.

With the poor, we can learn what hope and courage mean.... In our communities and apostolates, we hear the call to rediscover hospitality to strangers, to the young, to the poor, and to those who are persecuted. Christ himself teaches us this hospitality. –CMRJ, nn. 15-16.

At the heart of Ignatian spirituality is the transforming encounter with the mercy of God in Christ that moves us to a generous personal response. The experience of the merciful gaze of God on our weakness and sinfulness humbles us and fills us with gratitude, helping us to become compassionate ministers to all.... For us Jesuits, compassion is action, an action discerned together. Yet we know that there is no authentic familiarity with God if we do not allow ourselves to be moved to compassion and action by an encounter with the Christ who is revealed in the suffering, vulnerable faces of people, indeed in the suffering of creation. –CMRJ, nn. 19-20.

(T)he Society must respond more decisively to the Church’s call for a new evangelization, giving special emphasis to ministry to and with the young and with families.... A special gift Jesuits and the Ignatian family have to offer to the Church and her mission of evangelization is Ignatian spirituality, which facilitates the experience of God and can therefore greatly help the process of personal and communal conversion. –CMRJ, nn. 22-23.

In many societies, there is an increased level of conflict and polarization, which often gives rise to violence that is all the more appalling because it is motivated and justified by distorted religious convictions. In such situations, Jesuits, along with all who seek the common good, are called to contribute from their religious-spiritual traditions towards the building of peace, on local and global levels. –CMRJ, n. 28.

Pope Francis has emphasized the fundamental connection between the environmental crisis and the social crisis in which we live today. Poverty, social exclusion, and marginalization are linked with environmental degradation. These are not separate crises but one crisis that is a symptom of something much deeper: the flawed way societies and economies are organised. The current economic system with its predatory orientation discards natural resources as well as people. For this reason, Pope Francis insists that the only adequate solution must be a radical one. The direction of development must be altered if it is to be sustainable. We Jesuits are called to help heal a broken world, promoting a new way of producing and consuming, which puts God’s creation at the center.... The multifaceted challenge of caring for our common home calls for a multifaceted response from the Society. We begin by changing our personal and community lifestyles, adopting behaviour coherent with our desire for reconciliation with creation. – CMRJ, nn. 29-30

From 35th Jesuit General Congregation

From General Congregation 35

By sending us to 'those physical and spiritual places which others do not or have difficulty reaching,' the Pope entrusts to us the task to 'build bridges of understanding and dialogue,' according to the best tradition of the Society, in the diversity of its ministries.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 6

To be missioned to this work 'at the New Frontiers of our times' always requires that one also be rooted at the very heart of the Church. This tension, specific to the Ignatian charism, opens the way to true creative fidelity.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 13

In every mission that we carry out, we seek only to be where (Christ) sends us. The grace we receive as Jesuits is to be and to go with him, looking on the world with his eyes, loving it with his heart and entering into its depths with his unending compassion.
- Decree on Identity, n. 15

For ultimately, there is no reality that is only profane for those who know how to look. We must communicate this look and provide a pedagogy inspired by the Spiritual Exercises, that carries people - especially the young - into it.
- Decree on Identity, n. 10

Our ministries of proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the Life of Christ in the sacraments continue to be fundamental for our mission and our lives together as Jesuits.
- Decree on Mission, n. 19

The complexity of the problems we face and the richness of the opportunities offered demand that we engage in building bridges between rich and poor and establishing advocacy links of mutual support between those who hold political power and those who find it difficult to voice their interests. Our intellectual apostolate provides an inestimable help in setting up these bridges, offering us new ways of understanding in depth the mechanism and links among our present problems.
- Decree on Mission, n. 28

Jesuit community is not just for mission, it is itself mission.
- Decree on Mission, n. 41

In this global context it is important to highlight the extraordinary potential represented by our character as an international and multicultural body. Acting consistently with this character can not only enhance the apostolic effectiveness of our work but in a fragmented and divided world it can witness to the reconciliation in solidarity of all the children of God.
- Decree on Mission, n. 43

Faith in Jesus Christ teaches us that self-realization comes from self-giving and that freedom is not so much the power to choose as the power to order our choices toward love. At the same time, love for Jesus Christ and the desire to follow him call us to trusting commitment. Commitment to the Word Incarnate cannot be separated from commitment to the concrete manifestations of the Word that are at the center of our lives, the Church and the Society which exists to serve the Church.
- Decree on Obedience, n. 19