Contemplative Consciousness Necessary Foundation for Justice and Peace

This week the Metropolitan Association of Contemplative Communities welcomed a presentation by Sr. Arlene Flaherty, OP of CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES entitled Sent to Heal a Brokenhearted World. Her first presentation to this group of contemplative nuns concerned Justice and Peace: God's Creative Design. The second talk focused on the issues of immigration and human trafficking. We were more than amply rewarded for our time and attention.

Sr. Arlene is a most effective, knowledgeable and impassioned voice for the cause of peace and justice. It may be wondered why nuns whose lives are centered on contemplative prayer would want to be informed concerning the particulars of these tremendous issues. Sr. Arlene immediately answered such a question. "The need for contemplative consciousness must be considered as the supportive underpinning for active apostolic work for justice and peace." Contemplative consciousness in daily living implies deep listening to and deep receiving of the Word of God. Contemplative nuns model this level of consciousness for the Church and the world. Contemplation and justice are interwoven with life in God and God's original design which is marked by justice and peace, which can be expressed as right relationship. Right relationship brings about the restoration of God's creative design. What is necessary for this restoration is not only change in human structures but also the conversion of hearts and minds to a condition beyond self-centeredness and self-interest. Monastic community life is the living representation of a spiritual consciousness of the reality that we are all one in God. Our practice of right relatedness is an expression of peace and Justice, the antidote for the suffering created in our world by a mistaken sense of unrelatedness. Sr. Arlene stated, "The mission of religious is to restore the memory of relatedness." Our capacity to sit in silence cultivates the ability to be in union with the One. This is a tenet of all major world religions.

SOME STATISTICS:

1/2 of the population of the world lives on less than $2 per day

1 billion people live on less than $1 per day

96% of all cases of HIV Aids are in sub-Saharan Africa

Disease, armed conflict, immigration issues and the globalization of the economy play the largest part in creating the reality which leads to such statistics.

After a discussion of all these issues and viewing a very alarming video on human trafficking we spoke of the ways that even contemplative nuns and monks can promote the cause of peace and justice. Primary, of course, is the life of prayer and living a model of peace and justice in our communities. But we spoke too about the subtle but important influence we can have on those who come into our monasteries when we present them with coffee and tea purchased from a provider of 'fairly traded' goods. Equal Exchange is one such provider. Here is their commitment statement: "We pay a fair price to the farmer, trade directly with democratic co-ops, supply advance credit and support sustainable agriculture." Yes, these goods cost more but it is only these 'real' prices which provide a decent wage and profits to the poor. Placing the Equal Exchange sign next to your coffee pot makes a statement, may open a discussion, and lead to a deepened consciousness of right relatedness. We can participate in whatever way possible in World Aids Day, December 1, 2007. Catholic Relief Services can provide a complete Candlelight Vigil Service. We can also raise our level of consciousness in all of our purchasing decisions. Sr. Arlene said we were doing just the right thing by making our habits since the global economy is currently responsible for great in justices created by the apparel industry in manufactured abroad.

In a plan called Solidarity Will Transform the World, Sr. Arlene asked that each of communities agree to pray for a Catholic Relief Services in a particular area of the world. We gladly agreed. I urge you to consult their website http://www.crs.org/ for more information concerning immigration, the Iraqi humanitarian crisis and the hidden but growing traffic in human slaves.

"We are the consciousness of God."

Teillard de Chardin

Madeleine L'Engle 1918 - 2007 Author of Young Adult Fantasy and Personal Memoir

Photo L to R: Sr. Margaret Banville, OSsR, Madeleine L'Engle, Cornelia (from Seattle), Dorothy Wildhagen (Redemptoristine Postulant), Sr. Mary Catherine, OSsR, Sandy Johnston at Mother of Perpetual Help Monastery, 1984.

A number of religious congregations purchased of inherited property along the Hudson River around 1900. South of us the Marist Brothers maintained a novitiate in an impressive mansion. Further south the Episcopal Order of the Holy Cross built their monastery. The well-known author of young adult literature, most famous for "A Wrinkle in Time", Madeleine L'Engle presented an annual writers workshop at Holy Cross through the 1980s and 90s. In 1984 two sisters from this monastery took part in her workshop and introduced her to the res of the community. It became her custom to plan for afternoon tea at our monastery during each of her workshops thereafter. On each occasion she brought along some of her students and all joined the community for Evening Prayer after a time of wonderful conversation. During the 90s I was a lay associate of the community here and was therefore able to wrangle an invitation to a couple of these most pleasant and illuminating conversations with the tall, elegant, very spiritual and very down to earth author and her interesting friends.

My introduction to Madeleine L'Engle's work did not come through the famous A Wrinkle in Time or other titles in her fantasy genre series. I met her in her autobiographical trilogy, The Crosswicks Journal, consisting of Circle of Quiet (Book 1), The Summer of the Great Grandmother (Book 2), and The Irrational Season (Book 3). The first is a reflection on the ordinary life and its extraordinary implications. The second caught me first as it told so movingly of the experience of caring for her mother and accompanying her in the process of her death. The last is probably the most overtly spiritual of the three as it explores the varied stages of her life and her roles as professional woman, wife, mother and grandmother.

Years later, following the death of her husband, she wrote another memorable and very personal book about her long marriage to Hugh Franklin, who, for many years, played the part of Dr. Tyler on the ABC soap opera "All My Children." The book, Two Part Invention, was a touching and realistic portrait of the marriage and all that was necessary in love and fidelity to keep it intact. Every married woman I recommend it to loved it.

During the 90s I had the great privilege to be invited by a friend to accompany her to a reading by Madeleine and her grand-daughter in her East Side Manhattan apartment. Her charm, her intelligence, her keen interest in every person was all the more evident in her own home.

When we learned of Madeleine's death Sr. Margaret said, "She was a great lady." Indeed. I can't help but think that the character Meg Murray of Wrinkle in Time fame paved the way for J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter.

St. Matthew - The Call of the Common Man

Here is Michaelangelo's impression of Matthew, the tax collector. He is on the run, his account book still in his hand. His full attention has been drawn elsewhere as his muscular body strains to respond to the call of Jesus, "Follow me." There is no doubt about him at all. The Gospel says simply, "...and he got up and followed." Presumably he led the way to his home where he entertained Jesus and his followers giving his new teacher another venue in which to verbally spar with the Pharisees who watched his every move. On this occasion Jesus would also model in their sight his ideal of compassionate service to the other.

Matthew has been about the crass business of the world and has done what that world expected. Jesus presents a compelling alternative. Today I pray for all of the Matthew's of today's world, all going about the business of living in this society, in this culture, with its own Pharisees leading the way. The good looking guy at the top is my own son Matthew. He's an artist. The rendering at the right, the original no more than four by six inches, is his pencil drawing of an historic site in Kingston, New York, the Old Dutch Church. Matthew makes a living setting precious gems in rings of gold and serving as an I.D. inspector/bouncer at a local bar popular with young people. My youngest son tends bar at the same establishment. All on the up and up and in the good graces of the local police. Both have great women in their lives for which I am very grateful. But the 'world' is ever present to them. It leads crassly, demands much, and often presents stumbling blocks each step of the way. Matthew's greatest talents are being subsumed by the need for necessities. Perhaps that is what Jesus saw in Matthew. There was more to Matthew than keeping the account books and doing the dirty work for Roman oppressors. The power and energy for good that Jesus may have recognized were attested to by Matthew's eager response.

I pray that my son Mathew and all the young Matthew's of this world remain open to that other voice, one that calls them to their finest natures, to fulfillment in serving the true self, in contributing to the well-being of society. I pray that the loss of faith in time honored institutions and traditions implied in the oft quoted, "Oh, I'm spiritual. I'm just not religious." has not rendered them deaf to the voice of God speaking out to them in their busy world.

Hildegard of Bingen - Medieval Mystic and Abbess 1098 - 1179 Feast Day September 17

The soul is like a wind that waves over herbs,
Is like the dew that moistens the grass,
Is like the rain-soaked air that lets things grow.

In the same way you should radiate kindness
To all who are filled with longing.

Be a wind, helping those in need.
Be a dew, consoling the abandoned.
Be the rain-soaked air, giving heart to the weary,
Filling their hunger with instruction
By giving them your soul.

When preparing for talks about Hildegard of Bingen, I have tried to think of a modern woman, or man for that matter, who could match Hildegard in the scope of her achievements. We must consider that by virtue of her correspondence with saints, popes, kings and emperors she was a politician; by virtue of her chant compositions for the Liturgy of the Hours she was a musician; by virtue of her vocation and her constant awareness of God's majestic presence she was a mystic; by virtue of the texts of her visionary experiences she becomes a theologian and cosmologist; by virtue of her works concerning medicine and natural history she becomes physician and scientist; and lastly, by virtue of her leadership in the establishment of new foundations of her Benedictine Order she becomes administrator; I could not come up with anyone, male or female, of recent history whose curriculum vitae included them all.

Any Google search will bring you to great sites for more information about this amazing woman.

Feast of the

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Today is a great feast for the Redemptoristine/Redemptorist family or, as we refer to it, the double institute. It is the feast of the Redeemer, Christ Jesus, from whom our Order and the Redemptorist Congregation take their names. We say with Paul, "May I never boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

In addition, today is the feast of our foundress, the Venerable Maria Celeste Crostarosa, who died on this date in 1755, in Foggia, Italy. It is told that she had received Viaticum and then asked the priest to read aloud the Passion as described in the Gospel of John. At the words, "It is finished," uttered by Jesus from the cross Maria Celeste breathed her last.

With the joy of our celebration fresh in memory and with Jesus invitation, "Take up your cross and follow me," reverberating in the passage ways of the heart, our community enters into an eight-day retreat. You may ask, "How do contemplatives enter retreat time?" My prayer is to have it be different time, slower time, more carefree time, to contemplate the face of Jesus, to gaze upon the face of God.

(Should you be interested in how the friendship between our foundress, Ven. Maria Celeste Crostarosa, and St. Alphonsus de Liguori founder of the Redemptorists played itself out just go to Archives in the side bar, click on 2006, and then scroll down to the entry for May 11, 2006.)