In insisting that his Missionaries focus always on the “still point” of Jesus Christ, Eugene wanted to help each Missionary to develop an “inner vision” that would be a source of meaning and of transformation for himself and for others. Richard Rohr sums this up for me when he writes:
What many desire – and some don’t even have the language to express it – is an inner vision that tells them where they fit in the world and what they are here to do, something that is often different from what they do to pay the bills.” On the Threshold of Transformation”
Reading Eugene’s Rule in this light, we can see him using a two-pronged approach aiming at an inner vision with an equilibrium of being and doing. Through his Rule he is inviting them to developing a series of “BE-attitudes.”
Firstly:
In imitation of these great models,
one portion of their life will be given over
to prayer, interior recollection and contemplation
in the privacy of God’s house,
wherein they will dwell together in common.
1818 Rule, Part Two, Chapter One. Regarding other principal observances
Today:
In the prolonged silent prayer we make each day, we let ourselves be moulded by the Lord and find in him the inspiration of our conduct
CC&RR, Constitution 33
This spirit of interior recollection was not meant to be a time of detached monastic contemplation, as our Rule of Life shows:
It is as missionaries that we worship, in the various ways the Spirit suggests to us. We come before him bearing with us the daily pressures of our anxiety for those to whom he sends us (cf. 2 Cor 11:28).
CC&RR, Constitution 32
“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.”
Mother Teresa
it is as missionaries that we worship. How true this is. often times is easy to get immersed into our daily activities as missionaries and focus on our mission (whatever it may be at that instant) and forget that we need silence to gain the energy from God to do these works in the first place.’In the prolonged silent prayer we make each day, we let ourselves be moulded by the Lord and find in him the inspiration of our conduct’ is a challenge that we face as Oblates each day whether it be we are working in the missions, or helping the poor or studying. Yet the Lord is there for each of us to support us and provide us with the energy and help we need and this we obtain during our time of Oraison and that’s where our ‘sixth’ ministry comes into play: the prayers in common. Laudetur Jesus Christus et Maria Immaculata
Another entry into the duality of our life. “This spirit of interior recollection was not meant to be a time of detached monastic contemplation, as our Rule of Life shows:
It is as missionaries that we worship, in the various ways the Spirit suggests to us. We come before him bearing with us the daily pressures of our anxiety for those to whom he sends us (cf. 2 Cor 11:28). CC&RR, Constitution 32”.
I take heart from this. The time of quiet, silence and peaceful prayer – removed as much as possible from the every day hustle of doing is such a gift, a time of just being and it is what fills us and allows us to go out of ourselves and do. I must confess that although I do try to find time for this in my daily life it is most certainly not usually at a particular or special time. It seems to happen when it should and when it is most needed. Before knowing the term “oraison” it was something that I “just needed to do to be okay”.
But I believe and would suggest that as missionaries we are all called also to find or to be open to moments, pinpoints in time, the “still points” in our day-to-day lives, in what we are doing. In fact those very pauses, when time stops and God’s love is a caress that eclipses everything – those times are when we are most connected with all of creation, God, nature and people. It is here that we find in each other the incredible beauty and joy, as well as the pain and messiness of love. Again the “being” (interior) in order to “do”. It has just hit me that they are not really separate at all but are incredibily intertwined. Richard Rohr’s true self nestled within God.
I agree with your quote from Richard Rohr – for he is talking about where our very “life” comes from. It is where our dreams and our drive comes from. I would suggest also that this is not a once in a lifetime state or occurence – it continues to unfold and grow as we allow it. It starts out small and hidden and grows to where it becomes a roaring wind, taking us where it will. Sounds like the Spirit to me.
I love the idea of “BE-attitudes” and look forward to hearing them as we go along.
“God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.”
Empedocles/Pre-Socratic; just have to love Google and Wikipedia. Many others have said this since.
But to truly live in this place is one of awe, content revelation and as Mother Theresa said, calls us to silent. (counter cultural in our plugged in 24/7 life)
The challenge is to (“In him we live and move and have our being” Act 17:28).
It is not in written doctrine or dogmas-something poured into us that bring about change and relationship, but it must be found in the experiences of life. This is where we bring our passion/work/relationships into prayer-resting beside the still waters.
So with in the Oblate Family we do this in Oraison/preferable with others. The call to pray in community becomes for us the container in which we are rooted and able to grow/go beyond to the ends of the earth and beyond.
Thank you Richard and Eleanor for your thoughts-others please join in.
Jack, you talk about “the experiences of life”. Right now I am angry – angry with life, with God actually. My battle is not with the devil, I am beyond that. It is with God.
Coincidentally, I received something in my email today that describes pretty much where I’m at…
” Dear John,
The final task of the spiritual life is the movement from resentment to gratitude, from cursing to blessing, from bitterness to graciousness. And it is a monumental task.
Ron Rolheiser, OMI
OVERCOMING ANGER – THE FINAL SPIRITUAL STRUGGLE
There is a lot of anger in us as we get older. This is not a case of growing angry as we grow older, but of angry people growing older. Psychology tells us that we get our wounds early on in life, but our angers emerge later. When we are young our energy and our dreams are still strong enough to shield us from the full brunt of our wounds, our hurts, and life’s unfairness. I remember, as a young man of twenty, living in a seminary with nearly 50 young men my own age. We were all pretty immature, but strangely we lived together pretty well. Today, if you would put those 50 persons together again in the same living situation we would, soon enough, I suspect, kill each other. We are more mature now… but also full of the angers, disappointments, and resentments of mid-life. Like the older brother of the prodigal son, we are now acutely aware that someone less deserving than ourselves gets to dance and eat the fatted calf.
But this must be understood for what it is, not a sign of regression, but a critical new moment in the spiritual life. As we age and become ever more aware of our wounds, our wasted potential, and the unfairness of life, we come face to face with the final spiritual hurdle, the challenge to become mellow and gracious in spirit. The spiritual task of midlife and old age is that of wrestling with God, namely, of standing inside all of the ways in which life has disappointed and betrayed us and, in spite of that, there, understand what God means with the words: “My child, everything I have is yours, but we must be happy!”
I am not doing very well on the “understand what God means with the words: “My child, everything I have is yours, but we must be happy!” part.