The Joy of Children

We have a new refugee family in our parish: Gregory and his wife Mary, their three children, and Mary pregnant with their fourth. Gregory is about 33 years old. They lived before in Idaho (for one year) and just arrived in Wheaton this week. Gregory told me that he asked his son David (age 5) if he missed Idaho and wanted to go back. (This was 2 days after they arrived.) David replied, "No dad, I have too many friends here."

In fact, when I was at Gregory and Mary's apartment I saw a gaggle of kids, barefoot, washing this way and that in front of the apartment, like the ebb and flow of a tide. The kids could find plenty to occupy themselves with on the concrete sidewalk, and in the small apartment, climbing on furniture and exploring, and generally creating a commotion!

Gregory came here to be with his brother and nephew. He said there were few Burmese families in Twin Falls, Idaho. He is happy here. Judging from his kids, I could see why. I could see a real community forming, and who wouldn't want to be a part of that! I told Gregory how happy we were to have him in our parish community of St. Michael, and in our town of Wheaton!

One always finds commonality with others through children, who are a common denominator for all. To be pro-life is to be pro-children, to see all kids as a great blessing from God, made from love.

Listen to Stevie Wonder, "Isn't She Lovely?"

Listen to Whitney Houston, "Children are our Future."

Listen to Martina McBride sing "In My Daughter's Eyes"

Listen to Celine Dionne, "My Precious One"

Chen

Towards the late OT period the concept of chesed (see post of March 5th) begins to lose its legal and contractual sense and morphs into a tone of “pure favor and grace”. Balthasar points then to a word more consistent with the idea of this later period, chen, which he goes on to describe as “the element of favor, of the bestowal of a favor … the idea of a kindness to which no one may lay claim”.


He goes on, “Do I find chen with you? Means: Will you turn your favor freely in my direction? Ruth finds chen with Boaz, David with Saul and with Johnathan; Joab finds chen with David when his request for the return of Absalom is granted. When Hadad flees, he finds chen with Pharaoh; Esther finds chen with the King.”

This idea, used at first with respect to human relationships also was used in the sense that chen could be the quality through which one obtains favor for himself through charm or lovliness. However, God is able to bestow his favor on whoever he chooses without respect to person. The idea of chen is not a part of the covenantal relationship and cannot be an expectation of man. Again, quoting Balthasar:

“The same is true of rachamim, ‘mercy’ … a reaction that man in hope attributes to God; he cannot actually (in terms of the covenant) presuppose that this exits in God, but he needs it bitterly when he must find God’s forgiveness for himself as a sinner, and the re-establishment of fellowship with him. God himself says that he feels this compassionate mercy for Jerusalem (Zech 1:16). The initial reference of the word (chen) is wholly to human feeling … and may have originally meant the act whereby the father expressed his definite will to acknowledge the newborn child. …it is used of God as the one who has mercy on Israel and especially of the poor, the widow and the orphans in Israel.
In this way, the covenantal relationship between God and the people takes on an inner richness, light and warmth. A sphere of common life and fellowship is opened up: man has the right of access to this because he has affirmed the covenant, but the contents and extent of this sphere cannot be calculated …”

Man affirms the covenant through, “… fear of the Lord, which is the basis of all wisdom … [and] places man only in that distance of reverence which permits true and unlimited intimacy with God.”

How Silly!

In his poem "In Memory of W. B. Yeats" W.H.Auden compliments his fellow poet, saying: "You were silly like us. . ." Mike Casey explained that the word silly has connotations of innocence. I looked up the word and found also that its derivation is from a word for "happy, blessed."

I saw a friend of mine on Sunday at church and I asked her how her marathons were going. She already has run one in each of the 50 states, and said her friends are now going on to 100 marathons. Annette told me, "I think I'm done with that silliness."

I reminded her that the "silliness" she had already engaged in was a blessed part of her life. Yes, she said, she had to agree with that.

So maybe the silliness should continue?

Listen to Bruce Springsteen, "Born To Run"

The Sounds of Freedom

Perhaps Yeats' most famous poem is The Lake Isle of Innisfree, in which he describes the yearning he feels for the freedom of a life far from the "pavement" of the city, a life with nature in a "bee-loud glade." The poem speaks to the desire of each of us to "arise" to the spiritual.

In the last stanza Yeats says that "always night and day" he hears "lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore" in his "deep heart's core."

I am reminded of my own experience of standing at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, gazing into the vast expanse, hearing the waves lap the shore. My thought: I am standing on the edge of mystery.

Richard Wilbur expressed the same thought in his poem, "For Dudley:"

All that we do
Is touched with ocean, yet we remain
On the shore of what we know.

Quoted in Edward Robinson, The Language of Mystery, at p. 5. Robinson explains:

That, in Richard Wilbur's words, is the universal human condition: to live on the edge of an infinity that touches us at every point, but which we rarely explore. All of our lives begin and end in mystery, and though we are generally successful, often for long periods, in finding distractions that will keep our minds off it, there are few who do not from time to time find some sense of this mystery encroaching upon them.

The "background noise" of the quiet lapping of the lake on the shore is a gentle reminder of the mystery that surrounds us. Like the slight whisper of the wind that Elijah hears, our greatest privilege as humans is to hear, and listen to, this lapping. For in it we experience awe before the greatness of the eternal mystery, God. And we experience a sign of our freedom: to be at home in the presence of our Creator, now and forever.

Listen to Yeats read his poem.

Listen to The Isle of Innisfree from the Quiet Man.

Listen to "Going Home"

Cor ad cor loquitur

One tends to distinguish between dis-interested or neutral "knowledge," and human emotion, human love, human desire. One is objective, the other subjective, and the aim is to move from subjective to objective in order to gain true knowledge.

This, of course, is a caricature of how we know and feel. In reality, we live at once on various levels of cognition and feeling, so our knowledge involves and is motivated by both.

This lesson applies to all we do, from science to the humanities, from philosophy to biblical criticism and theology. The idea is to find the personal dimension in what we study, so that heart speaks to heart.

A good example from science is Nobel prize winning biologist Barbara McClintock, who observed that she learned the secrets of corn genetics while loving her corn plants. In love they became almost personal, communicating their uniqueness to her. See her A Feeling For the Organism.

From the humanities, one can't find a higher authority than Goethe:

One cannot come to know anything unless one loves it; and the deeper and deeper and more complete the knowledge is to become, the stronger, more powerful, and livelier must that love, indeed passion, be.

Man lernt nichts kennen, als was man liebt, und je tiefer und vollstandiger die Kenntnis werden soll, desto starker, kraftiger und lebendiger muss Liebe, ja Leidenshaft sein.

Quoted in The Nature of Biblical Criticism, by Robert Barton, at p. 59, n. 66. Barton also quotes Manfred Oemin, "Man kann nur verstehen, was man liebt" (One can only understand what one loves.) Barton says he agrees with Oemin's position that "love is necessary, insofar as it means a commitment to studying this or that text, but that rational detachment is also necessary . . . the two attitudes can coexist; not all love is blind!" Ibid.

And so, as is so often the case, life is not either or, but both . . . and more and more. Distinctions unite in a whole, brought together by love. Heart to Heart.

Listen to "Love Knows No Borders" (James Loynes)

Listen to "How Can I Keep From Singing?" (James Loynes)

Listen to Enya, "How Can I keep From Singing?"

Tragedy and Hope

We experienced a tragedy at our office in Ireland. An employee came to work and hanged himself, leaving behind a wife and four children. He left a note describing his long struggle with depression. How sad for us, for his family, for him.

What can one do in response but pray for God's healing touch for his family. And for him. It's not too late, though he is in God's hands. After all, he was there too while living on this earth.

This weekend I spoke to a friend I happened to see in the park. We spoke about our families, our children, our dreams for them, and the vicissitudes all can expect. She said something I want to remember. She told me that she asked her high school son to pray now for his future spouse, that God would preserve her, protect her, help her grow in virtue and love.

That brought home to me that love is not bound by time. We can love backwards and forwards, so to speak. So I can pray for this man's rescue before his trial, as all can, and does, happen in God's time.

Listen to Cyndi Lauper, "Time after Time"

Listen to Nazareth sing "Love Hurts"

Listen to Bee Gees, "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?"

"Be Compassionate as your Heavenly Father is Compassionate"

This quote from Luke in today's gospel (Lk. 6:36) is a command to be as generous in compassion as God is. Matthew's similar gospel says, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Mt. 5:48). "

Apart from the impossibility of being as generous as God, how can we understand our role in God's compassion? This quote from Cardinal Etchegary in his talk to young people in Rome for the new millenium might help:

The church is asking you to be attentive to the weak and the vulnerable, those in whom Jesus Christ rejoices because they see what has been hidden to the clever and the capable (cf Mt. 11:25). Never forget this criteria, it is the most precious, the most certain, the most concrete criteria which will help you to recognize what Christ expects from you. . . The direction is clear: live poorly as Christ did, live with the poor in order to live with Christ. The renewal of the church always comes as we dare to live a covenant with the poor.

Cited in Jean Vanier, Befriending the Stranger, at p. viii. Compassion is the way to unity in the church and among peoples, the way of holiness.

Listen Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson, "Sunday Morning"