The
wind these past several days has been incredibly intense. During my
retreat last weekend at St. Benedict's Monastery, there were periods of
strong wind as well, serving as a backdrop for one of my most important
realizations. While at the monastery, I attended one of the liturgies,
as is my custom whenever I visit. While I enjoyed very much the
Eucharist, and the sense that God is truly present
within matter itself (represented by the bread and wine), I had even
more difficulty than usual enduring the formality of the surrounding
ceremony. In my tradition - that of the Invisible Church of the
Contemplative Spiritual wing of the Radical Reformation - each moment of
the day and each encounter with the people and landscapes we meet
throughout the day is itself regarded as a "liturgy." I therefore have
extreme difficulty with formal ritual ceremonies that were designed
millennia ago and which are still carried on in basically the same
manner as they always have. In my tradition, spontaneity is of utmost
importance. It was therefore with quite a bit of interest that I read
the following passage by John O'Donohue in a book that I bought at the
monastery bookstore:
"One of the most exciting metaphors for the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is that the Holy Spirit is like the wind that blows where it will. This is a radical insight into a Judaic world that [during Jesus' time] was bowed down under the weight of rampant legalism. There were hundreds of rules which wearied the conduct of life. Without this perspective on the society in which Jesus worked, we will fail to appreciate how subversive his vision and presence actually were. It would be like coming to live in a society run by the ultra right who bring their cold metallic concern to bear on issues. They have the tendency to rigidify all natural things ; the attempt to turn that which is instinctive into that which is deliberate. One of the terrible deficiencies of most fundamentalisms is that the actuality and spontaneity become frozen. The flow and risk of life get totally managed and programed into categories . . . But 'The Spirit blows where it wills' is a kind of hymn to spontaneity. The Spontaneous is a vital spiritual force. There could be a new theology written from the perspective of spontaneity. The spontaneous has a secret kinship with the unknown; like the unknown it lacks predictability and is surprising . . . At this depth there can be no ideology or program."
From "The Four Elements: Reflections on Nature," in the chapter on 'Wind.'
I'm not claiming that the Catholic Mass is in any way fundamentalistic. However, I realized this past weekend that I am indeed most interested, in the words of Jean Pierre de Caussade, in "the sacrament of the present moment." And that moment is - and always will be - innately spontaneous.
Photo: Hallett Peak in a windstorm; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; April 7, 2014
"One of the most exciting metaphors for the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is that the Holy Spirit is like the wind that blows where it will. This is a radical insight into a Judaic world that [during Jesus' time] was bowed down under the weight of rampant legalism. There were hundreds of rules which wearied the conduct of life. Without this perspective on the society in which Jesus worked, we will fail to appreciate how subversive his vision and presence actually were. It would be like coming to live in a society run by the ultra right who bring their cold metallic concern to bear on issues. They have the tendency to rigidify all natural things ; the attempt to turn that which is instinctive into that which is deliberate. One of the terrible deficiencies of most fundamentalisms is that the actuality and spontaneity become frozen. The flow and risk of life get totally managed and programed into categories . . . But 'The Spirit blows where it wills' is a kind of hymn to spontaneity. The Spontaneous is a vital spiritual force. There could be a new theology written from the perspective of spontaneity. The spontaneous has a secret kinship with the unknown; like the unknown it lacks predictability and is surprising . . . At this depth there can be no ideology or program."
From "The Four Elements: Reflections on Nature," in the chapter on 'Wind.'
I'm not claiming that the Catholic Mass is in any way fundamentalistic. However, I realized this past weekend that I am indeed most interested, in the words of Jean Pierre de Caussade, in "the sacrament of the present moment." And that moment is - and always will be - innately spontaneous.
Photo: Hallett Peak in a windstorm; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; April 7, 2014
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