Recognizing God in Each Other

Recognizing God in each other

“He who recognizes a king in disguise treats him differently from he who sees before him only the figure of an ordinary man and treats him accordingly. Likewise, souls who can recognize God in the most trivial, the most grievous, and most mortifying things that happen to them, honour everything equally with delight and welcome with open arms what others dread and avoid.”—Jean-Pierre de Caussade in The Sacrament of the Present Moment (HarperOne, 1966).

I know people like this who seem to treat everyone equally. One person is no more important than another. All are human and divine simultaneously. They seem to see the Holy Spirit, the God, the Christ in each person they meet. They do not merely look at a person's outer appearances, political stature, wealth, or power. Christ indeed modeled this approach for us.

My experience teaches me that we cannot see Christ in our neighbor, because we cannot see Christ in ourselves. Consequently, we project onto others our unchristlike behavior that we do not realize is really within us.

How do we change? Along the way, someone comes into our life who treats us as if we contain a divine spark, the holy within us—that is, they react to us with love. It is as though a spark has been lit. A light, a lightbulb, goes on inside of us. We begin to believe we are loved.

So, our mission as spiritual friends is to seek the light, the Christ, in each other.

I remember talking to a spiritual friend about a family member I struggled with. She helped me by asking me, “Tell me something good about her. Something she does well.”

My experience has also shown me that I cannot see Christ in someone else when I live in fear. I realized this recently when attending a meeting at which I was uncomfortable. I wanted to look good. However, I did not know precisely what they expected of me. I was fearful that I might make a mistake. As an introvert, I only interacted with people I knew. I only had concerns about what people might think about me. Was I making a good impression?

At our next meeting, I hope to connect more effectively with others. My plan is to pray for each person who will be there, just before the meeting, asking that we see Christ within each other. I will let you know how it goes.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

 

Speaking Lectio Divina and the Jesus Prayer

 Speaking Lectio Divina  and the Jesus Prayer

“The meditatio [meditation part in Lectio Divina] is done not with one’s mind, but with one’s mouth. When the psalmist tells us how he loves to meditate and finds it sweeter to his palate than honey from the honeycomb, is he talking about meditation merely as an intellectual exercise? I like to think that he is also talking about the constant recitation of God’s law—so he meditates as much with his mouth as with his head.”—Anthony de Mello in Sadhana: A Way to God (Liguori, 1998).

contemplation Jean Francois. Portaels

De Mello also offers a unique method to practice the Benedictine Lectio divina. He suggests we read Scripture (lectio) until the word or phrase resonates with us, and then stop (meditatio) and constantly repeat the word with pauses. In this way, we pray not only with our minds, but also with our bodies. Then, when we feel saturated with the word, we stop and enter into prayer (oratio). He also suggests expanding the exercise to chanting, perhaps with others, along with large segments of silence.

De Mello adds an extra dimension to the Jesus Prayer by imagining Jesus with each word, saying his name with each breath, and finally hearing Jesus call us by name.

De Mello tells the story of the significant guilt of a man who barely misses his father’s death. My experience is that this is often an impetus that brings many people to spiritual direction. I am constantly amazed at how God works. God calls us back even—and maybe even especially—by those who have died. God calls us through the good and challenging times of our lives to connect with those who can guide us into spiritual practices that lead us back to God.

De Mello calls us to live intimately and fully in the present moment, to become part of the grand mystery of God’s love for us and all creation. The present is where we meet God; it is also where spiritual exercises like Lectio divina and praying the Jesus prayer carry us.

Gentiles Who Saved Lives in WWII

The Righteous Gentiles of World War II

carl Lutz

“Lord of the Exodus, who delivers your people with a strong hand and a mighty arm: Strengthen your Church with the examples of the righteous Gentiles of World War II to defy oppression for the rescue of the innocent through Jesus Christ.”—Collect of the day: The Righteous Gentiles, July 16, in A Great Cloud of Witnesses (Church Publishing, 2016).

Holy Women, Holy Men was a trial expanded calendar of commemorations of saints authorized by the 2009 General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which included many modern people of faith and apostolic action. It was revised to become A Great Cloud of Witnesses (2016).

The people remembered on July 16 are the thousands of Christians and people of faith who saved Jews from the Holocaust. One of them was Carl Lutz, an Evangelical Christian Swiss Vice-Counsel in Budapest. Lutz negotiated with the Nazis for the deportation of over 60,000 Hungarian Jews to Palestine, probably saving more lives than any other person.

Lutz had gained permission to issue emigration papers for 8,000 Jews to Palestine. He interpreted it as applicable for 8,000 families, saving thousands more. A 2014 American film, Walking with the Enemy, tells of Lutz’s work with Pinchas Rosenbaum in Budapest during the German occupation of Hungary. Lutz also established seventy-six safe houses to hide Jews in Budapest, including the now famous Glass House, all of which the diplomat declared as Swiss territory.

There is another documentary about Lutz called The Forgotten Hero. I honestly believe each of us is given many moments to make a difference in the lives of others. The challenges may not be as dangerous or risky as Lutz’s on the international scene, but in our own environment, they may still demand courage.

It is essential to see how creative people who came before us made changes and found loopholes in systems that were beyond awful, when there seemed to be no way out. I can only believe this was the work of the Holy Spirit in the worst of times. May we pray that the same Holy Spirit will work in us today.

[See Carl Lutz, International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, www.raoulwallenberg.net.]

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/