disruptive grace

Following our entering through the ‘door of sanctuary’ with virtue, Abbot Christopher suggests we need to lay a floor of silence. The Abbot recommends a period of silence in the morning and another at night – effectively book ending our days with silence.

Catherine de Hueck.Doherty has this to say about silence and the ‘desert place’:

“If we are to witness to Christ in today’s marketplaces, where there are constant demands on our whole person, we need silence. If we are to be always available, not only physically, but by empathy, sympathy, friendship, understanding and boundless caritas, we need silence. To be able to give joyous, unflagging hospitality, not only of house and food, but of mind, heart, body and soul, we need silence.
“True silence is a suspension bridge that a soul in love with God builds to cross the dark, frightening gullies of its own mind, the strange chasms of temptation, the depthless precipices of its own fears that impede its way to God.
“True silence is the speech of lovers. For only love knows its beauty, completeness, and utter joy. True silence is a garden enclosed, where alone the soul can meet its God. It is a sealed fountain that he alone can unseal to slacken the soul’s infinite thirst for him.”
[from Poustinia by Catherine de Hueck.Doherty]

The need for silence and holding our tongue is prevalent through out the ancient scriptures, particuarly in the Psalms and Proverbs (and also the book of James).

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely O LORD.
[Psalm 139:1-5]

We do not need to prove our existence with our many words, or prove ourselves to God with our mouths. We are free to be silent in his presence. As wonderful as it is to produce sound and meaning with our bodies, we are not defined by these actions.

When asked about how she prays Mother Theresa replied, “Mostly, I listen”.
The frustrated interviewer then asked “Well then what does God say?”
“Mostly he listens.” She replied.

Be still and know the LORD is God.

For the life caught up with following Jesus, the inward journey and outward journey are linked and find energy and momentum from each other — like a pendulum swinging back and forth. Both motions orientated around the fulcrum of God, but one expressing that relationship outwardly in love and service to others and the other dealing with the need for growth, healing and transformation in ourselves. One cannot function fully without the other, if we are to be people who bless others we must be the kind of people are are capable of naturally blessing others. In the words of Jesus:

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

[Luke 6]

Among our group of friends, there is a desire to be people who love and bless others, in order to do this we must be transformed inwardly. Advent is approaching and has traditionally been a time for reflection, but in modern times it has been bombarded by the busyness and hype of the festive season. Abbot Christopher Jamison suggests that we live in a consumer society which can only find peace by “getting away from it all”; however, we actually need to find sanctuary in the midst of our lives, seeing that transformation can come from within. Sanctuary is not a consumer commodity that can be bought, or merely attached to a life that is continually engaged in strife. Peace by its very nature must be just and deal with our relational life. Spirituality is inherently relational.

Abbot Jamison writes in the book, ‘Finding Sanctuary’ that the door way to sanctuary is virtue. He uses a passage from the rule of St Benedict to help us locate this doorway, he then suggests putting “I” in the passage so to make a statement to live by:

I do not act in anger or nurse a grudge
I rid my heart of all deceit.
I never give a hollow greeting of peace
and I never turn away when somebody needs my love.
I speak the truth with heart and tongue.

If you find it hard to read, read this in the morning and at night, Abbot Jamison suggests, consider your life in light of it. Celebrate your successes and consider your failures. Let it slowly, day by day, make the journey from your mind to your heart, until they start to shape your day and its relationships.

LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy mountain?

Those whose walk is blameless,
who do what is righteous,
who speak the truth from their hearts;

who have no slander on their tongues,
who do their neighbors no wrong,
who cast no slur on others;

[Psalm 15]