The section on the vows in the 1818 Rule is followed by an exploration of the various ways in which the Missionary must strive to “BE”. In doing so, he always come back to the “true north” – the point on which the compass or GPS of the Missionary has to be constantly focused.
It has already been said that the missionaries ought, as far as the weakness of human nature allows, to imitate in everything the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, the chief founder of the Society,
and that of his Apostles, our first fathers.
1818 Rule, Part Two, Chapter One. Regarding other principal observances
Today, Eugene continues to urge us to maintain this focus:
We achieve unity in our life only in and through Jesus Christ.
Our ministry involves us in a variety of tasks, yet each act in life is an occasion for personal encounter with the Lord, who through us gives himself to others and through others gives himself to us.
CC&RR, Constitution 31
T.S. Eliot touches the heart of the same reality in his “Four Quartets:”
At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance. T.S. Eliot
“We achieve unity in our life only in and through Jesus Christ.” and “Our ministry involves us in a variety of tasks, yet each act in life is an occasion for personal encounter with the Lord, who through us gives himself to others and through others gives himself to us.” The beauty and grace of the Constitution. The words, I dare to say God in the words, go straight to the heart and touch and recognize each other with us, who we are in God. I know it sounds poetic but I can find no other way of saying it – for it is more than just going to the heart and lightly touching it – the words, the truth and life of those words not only touch but recognize and become part of us, of me. The “ALL” that Eugene speaks of, his “ALL” for God – it is again there. Our personal encounter with God, with the Lord – through others, back and forth. This is the Body of Christ – we are all one in God through each other – the connection that is there is vital and if broken the we feel “broken” and in pain, missing a vital part of ourselves.
And Eliot speaks of that “point” and the “dance”. That being in the “now”. Time threatens to stand still if I but let it. My heart, my very being is taken, caressed and enveloped as I move back and forth into the now – the dance.
Sometimes these writings awaken a part of me that seems to be waiting to burst forth. The words somehow touch a place that holds incredible joy and life. I am so very grateful.
He is poem that spoke to me of that state of stillness in which the example / Jesus and the apostle are able to be seen and followed will little stirring from the ego.
Mirror Pond on Mount Taibo in Shanxi
By Hsu Yun (1839 – 1959) Zen Tradition
The water and my mind have both settled down
Into perfect stillness.
Sun and moon shine bright in it.
At night I see in the surface
The enormous face of my old familiar moon.
I don’t think you’ve ever met the source of this reflection.
All shrillness fades into the sound of silence.
But now and then a puff of mist floats across the mirror.
It confuses me a little
But not enough to make me forget to forget my cares.