PRAYER / Lenten Reflection 2005

MYSTAGOGIA

Caryll Houselander, English mystic, writes in her letters "that the direct contemplation of Christ in [people], in the world ... is the way to him.... [W]e can contemplate him in our own life and come closer to him through it. This means a more intense living and perhaps a more intense dying. I am confident now that the poetry, the beauty of life, which is nothing else but our divine Lord living in human beings, will go on...."

Having journeyed for 40 days through the Lenten desert, today we begin another journey which will last our whole life, and into eternity. We contemplate the poetry and beauty of the risen Christ forever. This period of on-going entry into mystery is termed mystagogia, often the term used in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults to name a deeper instruction of new members between Easter and Pentecost. But entering into mystery, becoming a mystic, continues even throughout eternity. As Karl Rahner, SJ, teaches: Mystery is that which is infinitely knowable. We can never finish exploring the mystery of God, of the incarnation, of risen life in Christ. God is ever and always more. We will never finish knowing God and the one whom God sent (Jn 17:3), for this is eternal life. And it begins now.

We are indeed called to contemplation whether we are monks or mothers, presidents of companies or residents of nursing homes. To keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, our pioneer through life and death, is to contemplate. We do not ask, "What would Jesus do?" Jesus is doing right now just what we are doing. "It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me", Paul writes (Galatians 2:20). Day by day as we contemplate him in ourselves and others, he increases and I decrease. Or at least my self-absorption decreases.

We are indeed called to be mystics, those who peer through the eyelashes, and find God in all things. "We see his blood upon the rose," the Irish poet wrote. All creation, every person is a sacrament of the risen Christ. As we look more deeply into persons (including ourselves), as we discover the depths of poetry and beauty in all creation, we come to experience with our whole being that indeed "the world is charged with the glory of God!" (GM Hopkins, SJ) Alleluia!

A FOCUS FOR LENT

What is your deepest desire for these 40 days with Jesus in the desert? What do you want from God? Take a moment, ask the Spirit to teach you, and listen.

We might focus on Jesus' prayer in the desert and join him in praying, surrendering his entire self to God. We might focus on his hunger and thirst in the desert, and ourselves ask for a deepening of our hunger and thirst for justice in our lives and in our world. We might focus on how he came out of the desert, dusty, dirty and ready for mission, and ourselves receive the ashes which mark us as dust and yet equipped for mission. Notice: we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

Lent is a journey with Jesus, our pioneer from death to life, and to a deepening "plunge" into him as we renew our baptism on Easter. Baptizo in Greek means plunge, or immerse. We do not plunge those to be baptized only into water (an outward sign) but into the very living of Christ (grace) in our world today, Christ living in our sisters and brothers and in every part of creation.

And what of ourselves? When has baptism "happened," really taken hold in your life? When has the ritual, undergone perhaps as an infant, become a fountain of living water deep within you? When have you begun to know that "it is no longer you who live but Christ who lives within you."(Galatians 2:20)? If you are not sure, ask for that realization now, of all that God has done and is doing for you in Christ in baptism. Now we begin the journey through Lent to Easter, to an ever deepening immersion in Christ, through prayer, through hungering and thirsting with him, through giving ourselves to those around us. Let us pray for one another, all who choose to join the School Sisters of Notre Dame in this web-prayer.

Sister Ethel Howley is the Coordinator of Province Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation / SHALOM. "I have agreed to integrate the Lenten readings with the issues of Justice and Peace as we know them in our global community. Since the work for justice is a constitutive element of the gospel, this is one way to live that challenge." Sister Ethel shares her reflections for February 27, February 28, March 1, March 2, March 3, March 4, and March 5.

Associate Suzanne Wright Blackburn is an English teacher/librarian at St. Mary's High School in Annapolis, MD.  She is married to David Blackburn. Suzy contributes reflections for March 6, March 7, and March 8.

Associate Peggy Smith is married to David Smith and is a member of St. Bernadette Parish in Severn, MD. Peg shares her reflections for March 9 and March 10.

Associate Linda Radosevich is a retired secondary-school teacher from Bowie, MD. Linda provides reflections for March 11 and March 12.