Fully Engaging That Which Is Already Present

I recently returned from a powerful week-long pilgrimage to Chiapas, Mexico, with the group from Spiritus Christi. You’ll hear me write a lot more in upcoming days about some of what I experienced there, but for today’s purposes, I want to talk about the Spanish language.

I took Spanish in high school and college and even spent 3 months in Spain during my university years. As a result, I had pretty good conversational fluency back then. The operational words are “back then.”

So last week, when I was immersed in a Spanish speaking culture, I wished that I had kept up my language practice over the years. I could get by, but I often struggled. And when I’d hear people who could easily move in and out of both languages, I wished that I could do that too.

And yet that wish was not accompanied by any work. 

I think this is a bit of what we might hear in today’s readings.

Jesus is speaking to his inner circle of followers and tells them in Luke 17 that “things that cause sin will inevitably occur.” He goes on to warn that we need to be careful not to be the vehicle for that sinfulness (if you don’t like the word sin, substitute the word harm instead). And just as soon as he says all that, he then launches into a teaching on the need to keep forgiving people who may have wronged or harmed us.

His followers – probably realizing the difficulty of the teaching Jesus just offered – said, “Increase our faith!” 

Instead of just saying, “Of course I will!” Jesus’ response to them seems a bit odd. He says that famous line, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.’”

There are a lot of ways to interpret this passage, and, of course, I’d love to hear your thoughts. But what strikes me today is not that Jesus was critiquing their faith (or ours) so much as their desire to maybe have the faith without the work – kind of like my “I wish I spoke better Spanish…” Like Jesus would just wave a magic wand and say, “there, now you have more faith!”

Last week, George Dardess (who is an amazingly faithful commentator on this blog and a gifted theologian/minister in the local Catholic diocese), mentioned Thomas Merton in his comments. Merton was a Trappist monk, writer and theologian and was, perhaps, one of the most influential spiritual voices of the 20th century.

Merton focused a lot on “contemplation” as an essential tool to our faith life and introduced many in the Catholic world to this concept and practice. He called it a light (or a lamp) that would illuminate our minds but also would show us its workings (which is not always very pretty!). He also emphasized that it is a practice that we can get better at – but that it requires work and discipline. In short, there are no shortcuts. We need to put in the reps.

On thing I love about Merton’s theology is that he says that the sacrament of baptism gives us ALL WE NEED in the faith life, and I would imagine that this is aligned with what Jesus was saying as well. It’s not that we need MORE of anything. We just need to learn to use what we ALREADY have in a different way (this is what the Buddhists often call ‘skillful practice’).

If I apply this to Jesus’ teachings today, I am guessing that he could say the same to us. Yes, it is challenging to forgive others when they have wronged us. Yes, it’s hard to see God’s work in the world sometimes. Yes, it’s a struggle to believe that God is paying attention to our lives. But we do not need more faith in order to meet those challenges. We need a different kind of faith – one that is grounded, solid and developed over time and with practice.

And contemplation is the workout space for this kind of faith.

Now I am no Merton scholar (so others may be able to say a lot more on this), but one thing I also love about Merton is that he’s a realist when it comes to the faith life. He says that as we more deeply engage in the discipline of contemplation, we need to be prepared that “illumination does not always result in feelings of lightness, freedom, or joy. Every soul is hindered and obscured by its attachments to created things. As a consequence, when God’s light touches the soul, it can cause pain rather than immediate comfort.” (Taken from an excerpt from his 1950 book What is Contemplation?)

He goes on to say that at this point, “Many souls choose to turn back at this moment, reluctant to continue without tangible reassurance. They do not wish to believe without seeing, nor do they want to relinquish control and proceed in blind trust. The cross becomes a stumbling block, and the soul feels unable to continue further along the path.”  Lastly, Merton says of our spiritual disciplines, “Do not aspire to spectacular experiences.” 

But I want spectacular experiences…(said in a kind of whiny voice…)

So instead of reading today’s gospel as a form of shame or a put down from Jesus about what we’re not able to do, what we’re not doing or how we don’t have enough faith, I think we need to read it as an invitation from him to say, “You know that you will be able to do some pretty amazing things if you learn to harness the faith that you already have…But it is going to require you to commit to the practice. It’s not just going to be automatically given to you. This is a faith that you need to work for, and it’s not always going to feel like rainbows and butterflies…”

So I would submit that if you and I are going to skillfully face the challenges in front of us these days (and there are many!), we will need more contemplation in our lives. 

One simple method that I have come across lately (which I am trying to practice) comes from Rev. Adam Bucko which is called the Incarnation Method of Prayer (which focuses on ‘contemplative prayer for just living’).  You can access the free pdf guide here.

It’s a pretty basic and grassroots practice that helps me ground myself and also intentionally connect with a receptivity to God’s work in my life and the world so that I might more easily align with that (rather than aligning with harm). So far the results have been somewhat un-remarkable – which I credit to the user and not to the method! – but I am starting to feel a shift.

As we take in Jesus’ words today, may we feel not what is lacking in our lives but, rather, that which is already present – awaiting our full engagement.