The spirit was willing but the traffic prevented my arriving on time, when it seemed that all five million residents of the Greater Toronto area converged on Bayview Avenue. Morning prayer was already in progress. Those in residence had enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and after a short break following morning prayer, we assembled in the chapel for Margaret’s address. She was introduced by Sr. Elizabeth with another reminder of the purpose of The Gathering, an introduction to the contents of our registration package which included interesting booklets on retreats in daily life and the monastic tradition. We were encouraged to read and share these. There were also a few housekeeping notes about discussion room locations.
Margaret is a relaxed and inspiring speaker. She has a gift for remembering and telling stories that make a point. Her first was an old one about the modern scientists who went up to see God and tell him he was now redundant. After all, they could now make perfect human beings just by using mud. God’s response was, “Get your own mud!” From this she moved into her first subject, More than meets the Eye. She noted that we are often very good at recognizing the gifts of others, but reticent about or unaware of our own gifts. The modesty that we show may actually be a false one. Somehow we know that God has provided the gifts, but we would secretly still like to take the credit for them. Returning to the image of the night before, she reminded us that the beauty of the agate stone can only be seen when it is sliced open and there is a parallel in our human lives. We can carry on and avoid the pain or we can let God flow through the brokenness. A different beauty emerges when we have been polished.
She told another story of the oyster (which also appears in Wayfaring). It rose to the surface attracted by the light of the full moon and dared to open its shell and capture a sliver of moonlight before returning to the ocean floor. The sliver grew to be a pearl. Stressing that this was a good imaginative concept though questionable biology, she compared the oyster to humans touched by mystery. Billions of years ago a tiny grain held the potential of all the riches of our current world and its teeming life.
She suggested that we share our own experiences of being touched by mystery. Studies have revealed that 60-70% of the population have encounters with mystery that change the way they live. These are part of our real story. She remembered seeing a very early ultrasound of her granddaughter where the baby was about 6 millimetres in length and suddenly realized that she already had a relationship of hope and dreams for her. In the same way we are all part of God’s dream that is still unfolding. Mary was asked to weave a story of humanness, but we also need to discern what might become incarnate within ourselves.
While it is easy to name the major destructive elements in our society and in our lives, terrorism and violence really represent a small percentage. It may be the millions of small acts of spitefulness and pettiness that should be our focus when we try to redeem the world. They can change with millions of equally small acts of unexpected grace.
We proceeded to coffee break and our discussion groups. Mine had an interesting mix of people from diffenent geographic locations and life experience. This was really evident when we shared some of the amazing experiences that had “sliced” our lives and sent us in new and different directions.
Soon it was time for a festal Eucharist celebrated by the Rt Rev’d Colin Johnson, Bishop of Toronto and visitor to the SSJD community, who was also the preacher. The service was preceded by another duo of Dan Norman and Sister Ann and we had another new hymn, the gift of Dan and Sr. Sue, which they urged us to share with our parishes.
Bp. Colin noted his own long association with the order and praised the uniqueness of its past, its focus on the future and the privilege of being its visitor. He praised its connection with a venerable saint like St. john and the challenge of living into the meaning of his writings. One of the strengths of John is his many lenses – his relationship to Jesus as the beloved disciple, his connection to a loving community, and his call to others to believe and have life. John connects the dots. So it is no accident that the Old Testament lesson comes from the beginning of Genesis, the Gospel starts with a beginning as the Word, and the Epistle points to the revelation of the world to come. He cited the wonderful hymn, My Song is Love Unknown, as making the same universal connections of a community reconciled for unity.
He remembered as a young associate how surprised he was to find a community of women in no way cut off from the world, but in engaged with it in love and prayer. The convent was a place to go to find out what was happening in the world and learning how God wins, redeems, loves , forgives and reconciles. It still is.
Bishop Colin left us with four lessons taught to us by St. John; that as the beloved, we too can pass on that love to others; that we can be integrators of disparate things; that we can be life affirming; and that we can live hopefully.
The Eucharistic feast ended and was followed by another one in the Refectory with a lively talking dinner. There was time for a brief walk outside on a beautiful day marred only by construction noise at the hospital where the work area also barred easy access to the pleasant hospital gardens. The tulips along the side of the guest house were celebrating spring and there was a brief chance to follow Margaret Silf’s suggestion to look closely at the small and beautiful details of life around us.
Soon it was 2:30 and we were back to hear Margaret’s second address of the day. First Sr. Elizabeth promoted the new issue of The Eagle, which some will have already received and will await the rest of us on our return home. The new issue will feature the history of the branch houses – including the black history heritage of SSJD who accepted women who were excluded in the US. It also details the recent life profession of Sr. Amy and the celebration of Sr. Constance’s 105 birthday. There was a brief difficulty with the sound system, which made Margaret remember an Anglican rector who instead of starting the service in the usual way, began “There’s something wrong with the microphone”. The congregation responded immediately, “And also with you”.
Margaret started by talking about a problem with the expression of faith – a tendency toward dualism which admits of no exceptions; sacred versus secular, eternity versus time, religious versus worldly – the list goes on. The challenge is to find God in all things and we are not terribly good at it. Celtic spirituality on the other hand talks about “thin places” and “sacred space” where one penetrates the other and there is transformation. She cited her Jesuit friend Gerry Hughes who sometimes offended his listeners by imagining a scenario where Jesus is welcomed into a modern home. Then he brings along his less reputable friends – publicans, sinners, prostitutes – and suddenly the solution is to remove him to a very nice cabinet, with a lace frontal on top and perhaps flowers. Another friend knew she was a Catholic because she genuflected when entering the cinema.
Still another friend, Anthony de Mello likens our perception of the world to that of a fish in water wondering what and where the ocean is, - without realizing that as a fish it is already in it. We are unwilling to listen to the leading of the spirit and in danger of trying to move up and out of it through occasional acts of piety. This is a particular trap for those who view Sunday with a sense of obligation. What we really need to aim for is to be at prayer all the time.How we each deal with the problem is important because one cell affects the whole body.
Margaret particularly commends the Review of the Day, sometimes called the Examen. Ir is not wise to think of this as an examination of conscience or a list of sins, but as a review of the recent 24 hours to see how God is working in us, to sense our presence of God in the created world, and to examine where there has been life giving energy and where energy has been wasteful or destructive. When we can see beauty and missing the mark in our own actions and choices, we will be better able to perceive the same qualities in other people.
Margaret also challenged us to use the “review of the day’ in dealing with broader ecumenical issues and other conflicts facing the church. Different fields are often fenced off to grow different crops well and we may need all of them. The challenge is holding opposites in balance.
We returned to our discussion groups after a tea break – with such a challenging morning, it seemed our energy was lower, but we did start to look at some of the issues of responding to seekers’ questions about “God Stuff. We are supposed to compile some vision for the whole community later and we made a start on a few suggestions here. We also started to pull some ideas together which are still germinating for a skit on Friday night.
Evensong followed with more good hymns and canticles enthusiastically sung. This time we got the silent supper right and life felt more settled. The night is basically free. Some will watch a documentary portraying various religious communities before they take the DVD home and it will give them a chance to ask questions. For most, I suspect it will be an early night, and it certainly will be for a rather tired blogger.
No comments:
Post a Comment