Walden Pond

Today we had our day of recollection for September and instead of going to a retreat center or staying at the shrine, we went to spend a day in the woods and on the beaches at Walden Pond. The weather was great- ~70 degrees and mostly sunny- and the park was not too crowded before mid-afternoon, so it was the perfect time to be there and see the earliest autumn colors.  

Our meditation was on the prayer of Christ- his prayer, his teaching on prayer, his hearing our prayer, and how we join his prayer.

The most profound portion of my meditation was how Jesus receives and responds to every prayer of faith, whether aloud (Jairus, Bartholomaeus, the Canaanite woman, St. Dismas) or silent (the woman with the hemorrhage, the friends of the paralytic, the repentant prostitute).

I also recommend to anyone spending some time reflecting on a section about the prayer of Mary from CCC 2617 : "this is Christian prayer: to be wholly God's, because he is wholly ours" (cf. Song of Songs 2:16) and CCC 2618: Mary's intercession at the wedding in Cana "is the sign of another feast- that of the wedding of the Lamb where he gives his body and blood at the request of the Church, his Bride." Further explication about why the Magnificat of the Theotokos must also be our song gave me much to consider about growth in the virtue of humility.

I also read the full interview of Pope Francis recently released by Jesuit publications and really appreciated some of the insights into spiritual and apostolic life. Some of the Pope's personal insights really spoke to areas of growth in my life, particularly his points about magnanimity ("That means being able to do the little things of every day with a big heart open to God and to others"), discernment ("an instrument of struggle in order to know the Lord and follow him more closely"), and theodicy ("God has revealed himself as history, not as a compendium of abstract truths;" "God is always first and makes the first move"), among many other insights ("The vow of chastity must be a vow of fruitfulness;" "We must always consider the person... it is necessary to accompany them with mercy").  

 

 We passed through Concord and Lexington on our way back to Boston. Unfortunately we did not have time to stop and see the Minutemen Memorial or Lexington Common, but that might happen on another weekend some time this fall.

Contemplatives and Missionaries

"Be contemplatives and missionaries"- one of Pope Francis' exhortations in his address to seminarians and novices in July, in which he urged the men in formation to 'pastoral fruitfulness' and to avoid the trap of sterility that comes from not embracing pastoral paternity. "Go out of yourselves to proclaim the Gospel, but to do this you must go out of yourselves to encounter Jesus."

He began his talk focusing on joy as essential in the spiritual life: "wherever there are consecrated persons... it's the joy of following Jesus; the joy that the Holy Spirit gives us, not the world's joy." 

But this joy is not "the inebriation of a moment" that comes from possessions, power, or admiration; true joy "is born from the encounter, from the relation with others... from the gratuitousness of an encounter... to feel loved by God, to feel that to him we are not numbers, but persons; and to feel that it is he who calls us." 

"There is no holiness in sadness." (cf. St. Teresa of Avila)

Addressing the cause of lack of joy, he focused on celibacy that is lived badly."The root of sadness in pastoral life lies in the lack of paternity that comes from living the consecration badly." 

"The vow of chastity does not end at the moment of the vow... it's a journey that matures... [and] when a priest is not the father of his community... they become sad." A consecrated life lived well should be fruitful and joyful from sharing the life found in Jesus.

He called us to build good communities that foster fraternal love by avoiding gossip, often "the most common short prayer.. but such a community is a hell! Behind gossip... are envies, jealousies, ambitions. Not to speak badly of others; this is a beautiful path to holiness!"

Authenticity was another theme: he urged formators to be exampled of coherence to young people, especially in poverty, and challenged us to be more transparent with confessors, always. 

"This transparency will do you good, because it makes one humble... tell the truth, without concealment or dissimulation" and to be faithful to one confessor and not go on "a pilgrimage to confessors to conceal truth." 

"Open the door to grace with this transparency!"

He also reminded us of the importance of daily examination recommended by saints and spiritual masters as indispensable to the spiritual life. I can attest to this from my own life- I have found there is a tremendous difference in my spiritual life when neglecting the Examen even one day. It is the loss of a unique encounter. Just as one would not go home and skip a rapprochement with a spouse or parent after a difficult work day, this encounter with God is central to the life of prayer.