Generativity

March 30, 2019

Humility

There is an old joke about a young man who takes a girl out on their first date. He is really nervous and wants to make a good impression so, over drinks he talks about his successes in college and during the salad he highlights his basketball career, while over dinner he talks about his work and his promising career and then, somewhat embarrassed, he pauses over dessert and says, “I am really sorry. I have been doing all the talking. What do you think about me?”
 
Humility is recognizing the truth about ourselves. We neither over state, nor understate, who we are and what we have accomplished. We are uncomfortable when someone brags about themselves, we are also uncomfortable when someone slights us in some way, and we are equally uncomfortable when someone inflates who we are or what we have accomplished.
 
In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses a parable to teach the importance of humility to those who are “convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” The story involves two people – a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee thanks God for his virtue bragging to God about his moral life, his charity, and his religious practices. The tax collector grovels, not even lifting his eyes to God, confessing his sin and asking for God’s mercy.
 
Humility recognizes our poverty, our need, before God. Whenever we approach God, we come with empty hands.
 
In prayer, let us lift-up to God our sins and our needs asking for his mercy and blessing. Let us give-up any bragging, self-promotion, self-aggrandizement and posturing. It is good to share with others your accomplishments – I got an “A” on my term paper – but then let it go. Offer yourself for the job and stress what your unique skills are without overstating or inflating your worth. Never say the word “great” or “greatest” about yourself. Don’t position yourself to be over and above others.
 
This type of purification takes time and patience. Step-up and spend time with people who are totally vulnerable. Children, for example, could care less how much money you make. Play with them, help them learn baseball or how to draw, or build a birdhouse. Be with the poor and the homeless who will not be impressed by your degrees or honors you have. Greet strangers with just your name open to meeting them and hearing their story. Visit the elderly or the sick and just spend time with them, listening to their stories or talking about their interests.
 
Humility feeds and waters our ability to give life. It is a virtue, a habit of being, that we must cultivate all our life. Humility opens the future up – not only for us but also for others. Humility gives oxygen and space for others to grow. Humility gives mercy a chance. That is why the tax collector left the temple justified – in right relationship with God.
 

March 29, 2019

True North

Life, and the giving of life, requires an unshakable principle less our power gets out of control, or worse, abandoned in favor of fleeting pleasures. Generativity needs direction and boundaries.
 
To explore our sense of what is the “True North” that will orient and direct our lives, it may be helpful to use imagination in our prayer. This is an approach to prayer associated with Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Essentially, you quiet yourself down, take the scripture story into your imagination, and recreate it with you as one of the participants in the story.
 
With today’s Gospel, put yourself in the scene: a scribe, a lawyer, who approached Jesus and asked him what was the “first of all the commandments.” Then Jesus responded, the scribe affirmed Jesus’ response and Jesus affirmed the scribe. Scripture gives you the bear bones of this encounter between Jesus and the scribe. Using your imagination, lift yourself up into this scene. Where did this encounter happen, what time of day was it, were other people around, what was the emotional tone of the encounter, what was the context for the encounter, what changed, and who are you in the encounter?
 
Consider this – you are a farmer, growing grapes and wheat, and your good friend John, a scribe, wants you to come with him because Jesus, a rabbi, is coming to a nearby town. It is growing season, and the fields need little attention, and you enjoy your friend John, he is so passionate about the law and the prophets, that you cannot help but to share his excitement. You meet him the next morning to walk the few miles to the town where Jesus will be. You talk about family and friends, weather and politics, until Jesus and his disciples enter the town. A crowd begins to form around Jesus, and he leads them to a hillside, where, under the protective shade of the trees, he begins to teach the people gathered. You are moved by many of the things you hear Jesus say but you are really struck by how your friend John is reacting – hungry, curious, and drawn to enter more deeply into conversation. You go with John as he approaches Jesus …
 
Now, create your own story and put yourself in it. As you ponder the Gospel, play with the encounter between Jesus and the scribe. See Jesus listening carefully to the scribes question, the look in Jesus’ eyes as he responds, the emotional energy of the scribe’s response, and the tenderness of Jesus’ affirmation of the scribe.
 
We need a true north and it is the total love of God that asks all of who we are and the second commandment flows from the first, love your neighbor as yourself.
 
How did the scribe feel as he responded to Jesus? How did he hear Jesus’s affirmation, “you are not far from the Kingdom of God.” What does it mean that no one dared to ask any more questions?
 
We have lifted ourselves into a prayerful and imaginative encounter with a moment in Jesus’ ministry. What does this experience ask of us? Perhaps we need to give-up anything that distracts us from our “true north;” what is stopping us from loving God with all our soul, mind, and strength and others as ourselves? Let’s turn away from those things and step-up by doing one thing today to “love God” and others. What would it be like to take a walk with God this evening and ask him to reveal to you the most important moments of your day? Do for someone else what you have done for yourself – clothe the naked, feed the hungry, share a cup of coffee with a co-worker, write a letter to an old friend, keep alive the memory of someone who has died.
 

March 28, 2019

Power and Unity

Participating in the creative act is one of the most awesome powers God has given humanity. Ponder for a moment the grapevine.
 
Our ancestors were hunters and gatherers. They found lowly grape. The grape can be found indigenously all over the world. It was good for food and it was easy to work with and, around 4,000 BC, our ancestors learned how to make wine. This led to the creation of vineyards. Today, over 70% of the grapes grown in the world are used to make wine.
 
In the Mass, we lift-up the chalice of wine saying it is “fruit of the earth and work of human hands.” Consider all the effort that goes into the cultivation, growing, and harvesting of grapes. We can easily imagine row after row of grapevines basking in the California sun, the labor it takes to prune and nurture the vines, so they produce rich fruit, and the labor needed to harvest these plump and juicy clusters of grapes.
 
Once the grapes are harvested, the winemaker begins their craft. The grapes are crushed, the juice extracted and purified. Then the process of fermentation, aging, and blending to create wine. Eventually, the wine is bottled, shipped to stores, where we can buy it. In many grocery stores, a whole isle is dedicated just to wine – there are so many kinds and they different widely in quality. We search for the “cheap wines” where we get the best taste for the least amount of money. Other times we celebrate and buy a more expensive bottle of wine and can begin to appreciate the rich texture and tastes, the notes of other flavors, and the complexity of its composition. Fruit of the earth, work of human hands. Generativity, power, and unity. Working in harmony with God’s creation, humanity has created beauty and joy.
 
In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses his power to unleash speech in a mute man. The agonizing silence has come to an end; the power to express, influence, create, and connect with others has been restored. Many were astonished. Some resisted, claiming his power came from the evil one. Others wanted more, ignoring the power given in favor of theatrics.
 
There must be unity to power that even Beelzebul respects of he will be fighting against his own purposes. Where does the power to heal come from? Is it not from “the finger of God?” In this moment, when the mute sing, the Kingdom of God “has come upon you.” Jesus is more powerful than Beelzebul and we must align ourselves with him less we work against him and scatter rather than unite.
 
We have the power to unite and create and it gives life to the world. We also have the power to destroy and polarize and it will lead to our destruction.
 
In our prayer today, let us lift-up images of humanity taking the “fruit of the earth” and creating goodness and beauty. Think of the team of doctors and nurses healing diseases and broken bones. Or engineers and architects creating homes, places of work, and places of worship. Think of the automobile or the great ships that knit the continents together. In this place of wonder and peace, where humanity is at its finest, give thanks to God for the gift of unity and creativity.
 
Too often we cling to our own needs, wants and fears and it blinds us to the goodness unfolding right in front of us. Can we give-up today some prejudice and see people in a new light?
 
Finally, can we step-up and cooperate with others in efforts to make our home, our neighborhood, our city, our state, our country, or our world a better place? As the saying goes, let’s be part of the solution rather than the problem.

March 27, 2019

Law and Life

Is there an order to life and the continuation of life?
 
There is a painfully violent film, Lucy, that explores what would happen if a human being could use 100% of their mental capacity. The professor, who explores this question, demonstrates how life in a hostile environment reproduces by dividing, where in a friendly and stable environment, life is passed on through procreation.
 
In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks us to come to terms with law. This Gospel is part of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus, as the new Moses, gives his summary of the law and the prophets. Jesus is not revolution; scraping the law and the prophets in favor of a new teaching. Rather, he is evolution; the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.
 
What is law? Law is defined as a binding custom or practice of a community. The social, cultural, and political understanding of law is based on a deeper perception; that there is order to creation and all the relationships it affords.
 
The Church has embraced a natural law perspective, rooted in the philosophy of Aristotle and developed by Saint Thomas Aquinas. Do we believe there is a God given order to things? Is there an ecological and evolutionary necessity for the mosquito and the malaria it carries or are humans justified in the total elimination of the mosquito – intentional extinction? What about climate change? What about humanity itself; how many people can the earth sustain until humanity exhausts all of nature’s resources?
 
Natural law attempts to articulate the order of creation. Human and divine law creates a friendly and stable environment for the continuation of human life. Law is an attempt to preserve and advance right relationship. We need to value the role law plays within our society and change those laws – evolve those laws – when a greater law supersedes it. At one time the death penalty was necessary to preserve safety and security for the community. That is no longer the case in most societies.
 
As we lift-up our soul to God in prayer today, let us be mindful, thankful, and critical of the laws we live by; what they can and cannot do, how they serve life, and how they should serve life. Abortion, for example, as a means of birth control is unnecessary and robs one person of an essential good (life) in favor of a more limited good, personal freedom. Capital punishment is no longer needed to protect society. Unregulated capitalism appears to be more and more a cancer exhausting the sustainable capacity of nature rather than an engine of human progress and flourishing. Humanity itself has grown so large that it has become a “force of nature” that is overtaking natural systems and threatening the very existence of other creatures and humanity itself.
 
To recognize and honor the crucial and life-giving function of law, we will have to give-up our indifference and consider seriously what commandments we are breaking and, worse, teaching others to break as well. It is so easy to become sloppy in how we live, how we care for our home, our neighborhood, and even how we think. Then we start to “bend the rules” because of some circumstance. That will lead to “breaking” the rules. Eventually, we will be able to justify the habit of breaking the rules and, before we know it, we have become a liar, or a thief, a racist, sexist, narcissist.
 
We need to be ready and able to step-up and give an account of how we understand law and the importance of law. Some people enter our country illegally because they are trying to escape a horrendous and dangerous living situation and they want a better life for themselves and their families. Does this breaking of an immigration law cancel the command given to us for hospitality, care, and compassion?
 
There is an amazing freedom that comes with radical conversion but rather than stripping away from us any adherence to the law, it liberates us to see, affirm, and create right relationships that will advance dignity, justice, and peace for all.

March 26, 2019

We need to explore and examine generativity – fruitfulness – to move “from me to mission.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus encourages us to reflect on forgiveness and generativity. Jesus had just outlined a process for forgiveness (Matt 18:15-20): if a person wrongs you, approach them alone first, if they do not repent, then bring two or three witnesses, and, if that too does not work, then take your grievance to the whole community. Peter asks – “How many times must I forgive my brother?” Peter offers the number seven, believing he was being generous, but Jesus brushes it aside “not seven times but seventy-seven times.” Peter was calculating but Jesus answers with the limitlessness of God’s mercy. Mercy is the place the Kingdom of God inhabits.
 
Jesus puts away Peter’s balance sheet of sin and forgiveness and proclaims the Kingdom of Mercy through a parable. A king wants to settle the accounts with his servants. One servant owed a tremendous amount of money – so much that there was no way to pay it all back. The king decides to sell his servant, all of his property, and the servant’s family, as payment towards the debt. The servant humbles himself before the king, praises him, and begs for patience. He will pay back the king “in full.” The king is moved with compassion and forgives the debt.
 
Just moments later, the servant finds someone owes him a small amount of money, and he attacks him, demanding repayment. His pleas for patience and promises are ignored and the servant has the man thrown into prison.
 
The final movement of the story is when others, who witness what has been done, tell the king, who then holds the “wicked servant” accountable. The point is clear; you have received mercy; therefore, you must be merciful.
 
Forgiveness is an act of the will informed by the limitless mercy of God as a service to truth, justice and freedom. Prayer, when we lift-up to God the hurt and pain we have suffered, will clarify for us the truth of the injury we have suffered, not making any more of what it was nor any less, and help us see our need, desire, and vision for right relationship. It takes courage and discipline to fast, give-up, the pull of revenge (power over) and victimhood (power under) and inhabit the truth. Showing-up, giving freely from your personal resources to do good beyond yourself, gives the other person a chance to see themselves, and what they have done “in the light” and to change their ways.
 
Generativity. Forgiveness is a quality of being that breaks the chains of revenge and victimhood and cultivates humility and repentance within ourselves and others. Today, let us lift-up a soul-felt gratitude for the mercy God has given to us. Let us give-up any lingering positions we have, an established point of view that justifies our stance and attitude towards another, that smell of revenge or victimhood. Let us step-up and be a free and loving presence in the world willing and able to speak the truth with love, heal broken relationships, do justice, and make peace.

March 25, 2019

Handmaid of the Lord

In today’s Gospel, we hear the story of the Annunciation; the story of the angel Gabriel coming to Mary, proclaiming her the Mother of Jesus, and Mary’s fiat, her “yes.”
 
Mary’s response of wonder, humility, and self-awareness will serve us well in our own journey of Radical Conversion.
 
When Gabriel greets Mary “as full of grace” and “The Lord is with you,” she is deeply troubled and pondered the meaning of this greeting. She did not react to the greeting; she absorbed it, took it into heart, and wondered what it might mean. Humble, Mary’s first concern was not herself but the message. Mary, like us, probably experienced times of closeness to God, or moments of grace, but to be told that she was “full” of grace, and that the Lord is close to her, caused her to ponder. Her response is the appropriate human response to God – awe. That wonderful emotion that is a mixture of wonder and fear, humility and curiosity.
 
Did Gabriel read Mary correctly? Was she afraid? That was his word, not hers. She was deeply moved and pondered his message; she did not flee or fight him. He continues with his message – “Behold, you will conceive,” give birth to a son, name him Jesus, who will be great, called the Son of God, he will have David’s throne, and he will “rule over the house of Jacob forever.”
 
The first words from Mary’s mouth is an innocent question. There is no resistance here, no fear, just an honest question. Mary knows how babies are made. She also knows that she is a virgin, that although she is betrothed, committed to Joseph, she has not had a sexual relationship with a man. How can it be that she will “conceive?”
 
Gabriel responds – the breath of God that gave life to the world will come upon you, the creative power of God that created all that is in six days will overshadow you, and you will conceive the Son of God. He goes on to announce that Elizabeth, who was thought barren because of her old age, was in her sixth month, for “nothing is impossible for God.”
 
Her innocence satisfied, Mary matches Gabriel’s proclamation. “Behold,” – see and pay attention to the truth I am about to say – this is who I am, a “handmaid of the Lord” and I say yes, I say amen, I say let it be in and through me, “according to your word.” 
 
As adults, we easily become jaded. We loose innocence and wonder but we excel in the ability to ponder and, hopefully, we have learned something about humility. The truth, however, is the truth. God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, born of Mary, born just like you and me, to save us. God has given us all that he has in his Son Jesus. Mary gave all that she had because her people, and all generations, need to be in right relationship with the God of the living.
 
Generativity asks of us wonder, humility, and self-awareness. Mary, our Mother, teaches us what that looks like. When we are troubled, ponder rather than panic. Let our questions be innocent rather than resistant, or judgmental. Let our fiat, our yes to God, flow from the center of our being. Let us be the “handmaid of the Lord.”

March 24, 2019

Generativity

What is life for? What is the purpose of life? As we grow up, we pick up lessons along the way that attempt to answer this foundational question. Some of us involved in scouting where taught to “leave the place” better than we found it. Perhaps some of the lessons you learned had to do with “family,” or “country.” Those of us old enough to remember the Baltimore Catechism can easily answer the question, “why did God make me?” “To know him, love him, and serve him.”
 
In today’s Gospel, Jesus contrasts death with generativity and the central role repentance plays in our lives.
 
Terrible things happened to some Galileans; Pilate mixed their blood with the Roman sacrifices. Then there was the tower at Siloam that fell on 18 people. How do we understand these senseless, meaningless deaths? During the time of Jesus, people often thought a meaningless death happened to those who had sinned. If terrible things happened to a person, then they must be exceptional sinners. This sentiment is not far from our own “what goes around, comes around” attitude.
 
Jesus says no. The Galileans who suffered at the hand of Pilate, were not sinners any more than any other Galilean. The people killed by the tower were not sinners any more than anyone else in Jerusalem. What gives our life – and our death – meaning is repentance. Repentance is the humility and courage to turn away from sin, turn toward God, and believe in his reign of justice and love.
 
Repentance is what gives life and meaning to life. Telling a parable about the fig tree, Jesus offers himself as the gardener caring for the fruitless tree. Why keep it around? It has not produced any fruit for three years. “Why should it exhaust the soil?” Jesus asks for more time so he can care for the fig tree. He will tend to it, cultivate it, feed it. It may still bear fruit.
 
Our lives are not our own. Our lives were given to us so we can in turn give life to others. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., who was Superior General of the Society of Jesus, gave a celebrated address in 1973 when he spoke about the Jesuits as being “men for others.” Since that time, many Jesuit institutions – especially schools – aspire to form “women and men for others.”
 
How are we for others? Do we respect and honor those who have come before us or do we sit in judgement? Do we give life to those around us or do we just take life, thinking only of ourselves? Do we think about generations to come and work to leave the world better off than we found it? Being women and men for others is a missionary attitude – a giving yourself over to others so they – and you – can live into a better future.
 
This is where we will find the sin that we need to turn away from, this is where we will find God that we must turn towards, and this is where we will envision a future for our children and their children’s children. Who are the others that we are to “be for?”