Witness

Exodus 20:16

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

My neighbor needs me.  Nope, I don’t live in a commune or some other kind of cooperative.  I live in a house on over an acre of land, which abuts four other properties, with a house across the road.  Though this sounds congested, the trees bordering the property make my home private, and the road is quiet and peaceful.  I can go days without even glimpsing sight of any of my neighbors.  The town picks up our garbage and plows our road and there isn’t even a sidewalk or common mailbox space to keep clean together, or shared fences to maintain.  And, yet, I profess that my neighbors need me.  Why?

My neighbors need me to be honest.  They need me to not accuse them of things that they haven’t done, like stealing my Wi-Fi or trashing my yard.  They need me to not call the police to their doors for some contrived reason or blame the litter in the road on them, even though I know they didn’t do it.  They need to be able to trust me because we live on the same spot of earth, sharing lawn and trees and air and road.  Keeping this in mind, I see that everyone is my neighbor, for we all live on the same earth, sharing flora and fauna, sun and air and water.  My fellow human beings need to be able to trust me, for our common Creator has entrusted me with my own unique space in one particular slot of time.  What I do with that space in that time has consequences on everyone around me, near and far, as a pebble dropped into the center of a pool causes ripples that stretch out to the shore.  Those nearest me feel the effects soonest and most strongly, but even the ever decreasing waves can be felt in further places and more distant times.

This is not merely a call to better ecological awareness and to actively reducing my carbon footprint on the planet.  No, this is about the fullness of the truth.  (For I don’t want anything less than fullness of life.)  And the full truth is that I affect people by simply passing by them in the mall or on a sidewalk in the city.  My presence beside someone in a restaurant or a church pew can have an influence on that person’s day – and, yes, even on that person’s life.  A miserable demeanor or attitude can be contagious and set people out with a bad feeling, though they might not even know why, and cause them to fall into meanness themselves.  Thankfully, a joyful demeanor or attitude can likewise be contagious and set sensitive people out with a positive outlook, spreading good feelings and actions.  This isn’t overstating anything.  We humans are sensitive creatures and we pick up signs and stimulations from the others around us as naturally as we absorb nutrients and toxins from food.

My neighbor needs me to testify to the truth.

Perhaps, I feel this reality more acutely because I am so very noticeable among others in a crowd.  I am never the person who blends into the background causing no reaction whatsoever.  Not only am I in a wheelchair, which is different than most people, but I am also crumpled in that chair by severe scoliosis that causes my head to rest sideways on my left shoulder/hunchback.  Not a pretty picture, I know.  I may be the most deformed person that some people will ever see in person.  And if I were a negative type of person, wholly self-centered, living a “woe is me” existence, then the people whose eyes inevitably fall upon me would have a sense of miserable sadness and that melancholy would stick with them for the next few minutes, or even hours or days, of their lives, affecting their thoughts, words, and even actions.  Happily, I am naturally a positive type of person (though sometimes self-centered) and I live a grateful and joyful life, loved and loving.  I know for a fact that strangers who just look at me can feel uplifted somehow, having more optimism and appreciation for the goodness and beauty of life than they had a moment before.  To share one story:

One day, after Mass, a man, who was just visiting our parish and saw me for the first time as I sat across from him, came over and told me that my smile was exactly what he needed that day.  He said that he was going through a rough time and feeling low, but seeing me all crumpled and crippled, obviously intelligent enough to know how bad a shape I was in – and, yet, genuinely smiling, genuinely taking in everything around me with appreciation and gladness – this, he told me, was like a wake-up call for him.  My presence snapped him out of a funk and reminded him that life is inherently good and beautiful and that he had many blessings for which to be grateful.

It seems to me that the effect we have on others is stronger if we are people of faith because our presence is deeply rooted in Presence, and our joy is more than just a passing smile.  Perhaps, also, the effect is felt most strongly on people who are struggling with faith.  To whom much is given, much is expected.  As a believer, I believe fully and deeply in the goodness of God and God’s Creation – I have utter faith in the goodness of being itself.  Through Christ, I have an eternal perspective and know that all works out for the good through God – my hope is in divine and endless mercy and, so, is never squashed.  And, knowing that I am infinitely and particularly loved, I am free to give love, and loving kindness, to everyone around me.  I know the truth and the truth has set me free.  If what I were to portray and give out to the people around me was doom, gloom and meanness, then I would, in effect, be bearing false witness to life itself.  Sure, I may honestly be feeling like crap one day – but, knowing that it is just one day and having deep faith, hope, and love in and for life and the joy of goodness, for me to lead other people into misery and melancholy would be a deceitful act on my part.  My neighbor needs me to testify to the beauty and goodness and joy of life itself – crippled and crumpled as its forms may be – and to the power of love.  For that is the fullness of truth.

                                                                                                                       Christina Chase

Do Ye

Luke 6:31

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

 

The Golden Rule

applies to king and fool,

and lies at the heart of true living:

What you want

is what you should be giving.

 

But how can you give what you don’t possess?

Love is all you need,

don’t give or desire anything less.

What things you have, share with those who have not;

and if you lack in things, then share what you’ve got –

eyes that see beauty, ears that hear pain,

A heart that wills to pump forth loving

kindness, again and again and again…

 

For love is the heart of every Man,

formed by the Eternal Spark –

to those who have lost the inner flame,

be a candle in the dark…

Would you will to dwell in the darkness and cold?

Then, go, rekindle their fire – be generous, be bold.

Christina Chase

 

Out of the Ground

Genesis 2:9, 15

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

 

In the garden

every good thing grows,

all that is pleasing to the body and the mind;

A wellspring of abundance and beauty,

petals and grains, fruit, nectar and spice.

And male and female came together in peace

in the gentle sighing of evening, night’s starlit nesting,

flesh yielding tenderly to the fruit of love.

In the garden

is innocence and purity of heart,

but also, on the fringes, the doubting serpent lurks;

A self-interested blindness that closes in the senses

and renders the beauty into gain.

The garden unguarded let’s suspicion in

and, without the sense of sacred, wordless, guileless love

is cheaply bartered for lust.

In the garden,

humans lost what humanity is

and shielded themselves from each other’s hearts;

Hiding in the shadows, on the edges of beauty,

unable to see what is Divine.

Exiled from one another by the war of want,

longing and pining for more and more,

we neglect the garden that is All.

For, in the garden,

crying tears of blood,

the clear, pure stars sending dew upon His pain…

A heartbreaking rendering

of innocence to the weight of sin…

As God knelt down, His tender human flesh upon the ground,

and ate all our bitterness, our sorrow, fear and hate –

In the garden,

the Divine wellspring

swelled in the heart of a human being;

A restoration, a new creation,

in the crushing exultation of self-giving love.

And we are given sacred hope, faith and love yielding forth,

the Divine One’s human flesh becomes the Tree of Life

in the garden, anew.

 

 

Give Glory to Him for the Hour

Revelation 14:6-7

And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Waiting for the end of the world?  Waiting for some calamity to strike – a meteor, nuclear war, Facebook filing Chapter 11?  People hold up signs saying “The End Is Near” and expect Doomsday to meet them around the corner.  But, the world doesn’t have to end, the earth explode, for the hour of the Lord to come.  That hour is right now.  And now.  And now.  And – yup, here it is again.  Because time and space belong to the eternal and infinite Source – to “the ultimate reality that everyone calls God.”[1]  This is His house.  He’s already here.

If we wait for man-made apocalypse or the natural expiration of our solar system – or even if we wait until we are on our deathbeds because of terminal illness or old age – until we think about eternity, ultimate reality, the human soul, and what lies beyond this life, then we aren’t fully living.  We are not fully human, fully alive, unless we look beyond ourselves – not only beyond our own personal needs in the giving of love and charity, but also beyond our own skins, beyond our own eyeballs.  We did not create ourselves.  We did not bring ourselves into being.  There is an Uncreated Creator, an Uncaused Cause.  As the poet Rumi says,

“I didn’t come here of my own accord, and I can’t leave that way.

Whoever brought me here, will have to take me home.”

And earlier in the poem, My Soul Is from Elsewhere, Rumi speaks the timeless human question:

“Who looks out with my eyes?  What is the soul?

I cannot stop asking.”

Neither can I stop asking and never should I cease to plunge myself into the Mystery of Being.  The Unmoved Mover stirs my heart with restlessness until it rests in the arms of the Beloved One, Infinite/Eternal Love.

And angels fly in the midst of heaven, beyond the seeing of my corporal eyes, with the message from the foundation of Creation – What is, is.  Do not be blind.  Too willing to shut off any detection of the spiritual, lest we know that the end is here.  The end that is the beginning – not like the pointless going around of a circle, or a nifty Jedi/Zen trick of the mind.  What truly is, is, always was and always will be.  Eternity isn’t something after.  Eternity is here and now.  And, to the One Who is the Source of All Being, the key moment is eternally now.  The moment of import, the moment that impacts my immortal soul, is now.  It was never waiting for me at the end of my days or at the End of Days.  My home, my true self, my eternity, was always where it should be, though I may not possess the eyes to see.

The glory of life is that it is given.  To thank and celebrate with the Giver is to revel in the gift.  “The glory of God is Man fully alive”[2]– let’s not wait until our beautiful bodies splash back into the pool.  As we are sent forth, let us leap up in joy and praising, giving glory to the Hour of the Lord as God glories in our eyes wide open, our souls full throttle, the message of the angels received.  The love given given in return.  Home.

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[1] Saint Thomas Aquinas

[2] Saint Irenaeus

Dead, Being Alone

James 2:17-18

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Here, in these writings, I try to explore the deepest mysteries of life, seeking answers to the everlasting questions rising up from the human heart.  Nothing that I write here is disingenuous.  I love truth too much to write about anything other than what I honestly believe.  Here, in words that I have chosen, I lay out my faith, inviting others to share with me what God has given.  If there is deep and eternal truth expressed through any my words, it is the truth that comes from eternity, from the Source of all Being and the Source of all Grace.  Being human, I am but a reflection of that truth.  Created in God's image, I reflect.

 

If the faith about which I write is true faith, honestly my own faith, than I will not only reflect upon the truth in my mind and heart with words, but I will also reflect the truth out into the world with my whole self.  Actions speak in ways that mere words cannot.  My deepest desire is to love Truth Itself, Beauty Itself, Love Itself, and so, to love God – to love God with all my heart and with all my soul, with all my mind and with all my strength.  Christ pleads with me from the Cross, begs me to be like unto him, to love as he loves – utterly and completely.  What am I willing to give, what am I willing to do, for the sake of love, for the sake of my beloved?  I should be willing to thirst… to be fatigued, to even be in agony if that’s what it takes in order to truly love.[i]

 

How do I love?  The poor are among us, all around us: the blind who need help in order to see, the deaf who need help in order to hear, the immobile who need help in order to move.[ii]  There are strangers to be welcomed and outcasts to be forgiven; there are wounded to be healed and sick to be cared for; there are hungry to feed and homeless to shelter; and there are those who find themselves imprisoned – by crimes of their own doing, by addictions, mental illnesses, or by loneliness – who need to be visited.  Do I take the time and effort to go out of my own way to help my fellow human beings in need?  Too often, I’m afraid, my answer is no.  Many times I won’t even go out of my own way to be of assistance to my loved ones who are struggling right next to me, because I think that they deserve to suffer a little for some offense that I’m holding against them.  In those times, am I not seeing splinters in the eyes of others while being oblivious to the beam in my own?[iii] 

 

And if I won’t get out of my own way in order to take action and help someone in need, then I will never put myself in Christ’s way.  I will never find myself on the road upon which he walks, so that I may ask for what he wills and receive his blessing -- and thank him.[iv]  When I pass from this life and hope to step into the next, I might call out to Christ and say, “Lord, Lord!”  But he may say to me in response, “I never knew you[v]… For I was hungry and you didn’t feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me drink, I was naked and you didn’t clothe me, a stranger and you didn’t welcome me, sick and you didn’t care for me, in prison and you didn’t visit me.”[vi]  And, oh, the deep, painful sorrow I will feel cutting into my heart... for then I will suddenly recognize all the opportunities that I had in my earthly life to meet Christ face-to-face, to be with him and to love him tenderly, generously, selflessly, with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and all my strength... and I did nothing.

 

Forgive me, my Lord, for all the times that I have forsaken you!  For all those lazy, callous and spiteful moments in my life when I took no action to help you in your struggles.  I, personally, am not physically strong, like Simon of Cyrene[vii], to be able to hold you up bodily – but I do have enough ability, like a Veronica, to wipe your eyes and provide a moment’s soothing.  I can go out of my own way and find you on the road that you travel – on my street, in my community, in my own home – and hold you gently, lovingly, with all that I have and all that I am.  Help me, Lord, so that my faith is not dead and alone, but living truly and fully with you – for you, everywhere that you are.

 

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[i] John 19:28, John 4:6, Luke 22:44

[ii] Mark 14:7, Matthew 9:35

[iii] Mat 7:3

[iv] Mat 8:2-3, Luke 17: 11-16

[v] Mat 7:22, Luke 6:46

[vi] Mat 25:34-46

[vii] Luke 23:26

Setteth Him On a Pinnacle

Matthew 4:5-7

5.    Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

6.    And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

7.    Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

How tempting is it to ask for a sign?  “Lord, if you are really all-powerful, and if you truly love me, then please protect me from harm.”  And when harm comes upon us, we may wonder what we did wrong or why we bother believing in miracles, which we start thinking of as fairy tales. We may doubt the very existence of a loving, omnipotent God.  It’s not like we asked for a large sum of cash or something likewise self-indulgent.  We simply asked that God keep us, His beloved ones, safe.  Isn’t that what a loving father would do and isn’t God supposed to be our Loving Father?

 

I remember when I started the first grade of school.  Because I was wheelchair-bound, I was different than the other kids and more dependent.  I was used to my family members being close by my side and now I would have to spend the whole day without them.  My father was able to take some time from work to ease me into the change.  He came with me the first couple of days of school – there, but not too nearby.  Then, it came time for him to leave me.  It was very difficult for me, I remember being with him and the principal in her office and crying and crying.  I didn’t want him to leave.  I didn’t want to be there all day without anyone that I loved.  I was scared and suffering… But he didn’t stay.  My father left me there.

 

And, of course, he should have.  My father did exactly the right thing, what was truly best for me.  It didn’t take me too long to make friends and, soon, I felt very much at ease in school and liked being there.  Being a child, I had felt that harm had come upon me, something too difficult for me to bear.  But, being more mature than I, my dad was willing to let me suffer because, ultimately, that suffering would lead to something really good for me, something that I would truly enjoy and for which I would be grateful.  He saw something that I, at the time, couldn’t see.  Although I wept for the situation to change, and he had the power, he did not grant me the change – precisely because he loved me.

 

If there is such a difference between what a child sees and what an adult sees, imagine the difference between what a limited human being sees and what infinite, omniscient God sees.  Although the illness that we are suffering may seem too difficult to bear and we weep and beg for it to change, God may not grant the change but, rather, allow the illness and the suffering that goes with it, knowing that, through this situation, we will be able to receive something good, something truly wonderful that we will enjoy and for which we will be grateful.  I know that, for me, this can be extremely hard to fathom sometimes.    As God Godself lies beyond the grasp of my physical senses, I may become overwhelmed by my sensations of pain and grief and doubt whether God even exists.  For my mind might think, surely, if God was real and really loved me, He would relieve my suffering now and get me out of this terrible situation.  Doubt and fear will beset me in the midst of my woe.  This has happened to me before… And, when the physical suffering is passed, I can see more clearly what I have gained by going through it.  Inner strength, compassion for others, calm in the midst of chaos, patience and gentleness are just some of the gifts hidden inside sorrowful and pain inflicting situations.  We can’t always see the truly good things – but God can, and wants the best for us.

 

It is ungrateful to think that God will always protect me from harm.  One day, of course, I will die – and even this suffering is a passage, a way to something else.  I should not, however, look for harm on my own, for this would be like testing God’s promise to bring something beautiful out of something ugly.  In the Bible, it is said that there will be signs that follow believers – like safely handling serpents.  But, is it not ungrateful to think that God will always protect me from poisonous venom and to prove it by handling venomous snakes needlessly?  To live my life in love is my reason for being.  And, yes, sometimes love hurts.  I am willing to suffer if it will truly benefit someone I love, this is part of life, the reality of love.  God knows.  Sometimes, my suffering even benefits me.  And I trust that God will see us through what comes our way when we surrender in love and gratitude – not when we test and look for signs, for then we do not truly love.

Christina Chase

Will Multiply

Hebrews 6:14

Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

 

In doing genealogical research for my family through ancestry.com, I see how one married couple can have tens of thousands of descendents in less than 10 generations.  Perhaps one married couple had several children, but only one survived to adulthood.  Yet, even that one child yields forth countless more in the family.  I am only one person, yet, over 4000 people have directly contributed to my DNA, to my existence, in less than 400 years of time.  My 10^th great-grandfather, Rev. John Cotton, had no thought of my ever existing – would certainly not have fathomed having a devoutly practicing Roman Catholic granddaughter, no matter how many generations into the future.  And yet, I truly belong to him biologically – without him I, as I am an earthly creature, would not have been born.

This is how reproduction works and it can be scientifically seen and studied.  However, this is not the only way that our actions yield a multiplication of results.  As certainly as one small inheritance, well invested, can secure a dozen more inheritances down the road, as surely as fire started in one corner of a dry forest can spread through the forest entire, so undoubtedly can one worthy thought, lovingly shared, change the thinking of a society.  With care and patience, greatness can be born from something seemingly insignificant.  One man’s writings while sitting in a jail cell of a small New England town can affect the warring politics of India as well as influence, 100 years after being written, the dismantling of the unjust laws of persecution in the southern states of America.  …  And one of countless poor men killed in disgrace by the Roman government, in one tiny corner of the globe, can save the world entire.

There is a saying that a butterfly beats its wings and causes a typhoon to blow on the other side of the world.  How accurate this literal butterfly effect is doesn’t matter for my writing here, but what’s important is that such butterfly effects are not guarantees.  There is no guarantee that one person’s good idea will inspire greatness down the road.  There isn’t even a guarantee that one act of kindness will open countless hearts to love.  It is truly grace, a blessing, for such multiplication to occur.  In the Bible, God promises Abraham that He will multiply his descendents so that they will be at countless as the stars in the sky.  Though Abraham knew he would never see the greatness of Israel, the promise of this future was enough for him.  For he trusted God to keep His promise and he himself did not need to enjoy basking in the fruit – the seed was enough for him.

Biologically speaking, we know that this multiplication of descendents can happen.  But what God promises, as is true with what God gives, is more than mere mechanics.  God’s promise to Abraham reaches out beyond the exponential math of reproduction to include the entirety of humankind gathered into one family in Christ.  And as Christians, we are vehicles for this multiplication when, in, with, and through grace, we heal the wounded and free the enslaved.  Our acts of healing and saving are not necessarily big and obvious – and they are never mere singular events in one finite space of time.  They are the continuation of Christ’s loving, healing and saving act, flowing through us into the future.  Like a fire that burns hot and bright here but low and dim there, it is kept alive by small embers, and it continues to burn and spread.  Although it may jump and fizzle, burn out and rekindle, the consumption will be complete – if God wills.

 Christina Chase

 

 

Behold

Matthew 9:32-33

As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.

And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.

 

Touch my lips to the burning ember,

Heal me Lord, that I may remember

How good it is to be with you.

In the flow of love, all thoughts divine,

Speak your words of truth, us two entwine,

That I may be one with you.

Silent no longer, unfettered now,

Free to be yours in my ceaseless vow,

Made sacred by my love for you.

 *            *            *            *            *

The marvel of life, omnipotent Savior,

On dusty roads, in shadowed huts,

we come to you willingly, seeking your touch,

are brought to you faithfully when we don’t know ourselves –

and in the intimacy of your presence, we know  you and are healed:

eyes opened to beauty,

ears opened to truth,

nose opened to fresh purity,

hands and feet and body entire opened to love,

mouth opened to joy.

Christina Chase

Pull Me Out Of the Net

Psalms 31:1-4

1.    In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.

2.    Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.

3.    For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.

4.    Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.

I know what it’s like to be caught in the net of sin.  I know what it’s like to do what I, deep in my heart, don’t want to do, and thereby become ensnared in the chains of consequence.  I want to be free, I want to break the chains of enslavement to the flesh… but I am weak… the spirit may be willing, but the flesh is certainly weak.  And, sometimes… the spirit isn’t even all that willing.

 

I have made a vow.  No, I am not married and neither am I consecrated to a Religious Order, but, still, I have made a vow.  I have taken the leap of faith and given my heart, “credo,” to God.  My relationship with God is one of commitment and devotion to Him, through Christ Jesus, a loving surrender of self to be in union with Christ’s Sacred Heart and the Divine Way in giving myself to God.  Though most of my sentences thus far in this writing have begun with “I”, I know that I am not the beginning, I am not my own source, and neither am I the ultimate end – that is God.  In love I believe, I give my heart, my whole self, to God and I trust in God.  He is my salvation.  He is my Savior.  He is my rock.  He is my strength.  He is my hope…

 

And, so, with a contrite heart, repentant of my actions, fully aware of my weakness, my fallibility, my too often lack of love and fidelity, I turn to God who is my Rescuer, my Salvation, and God hears my penitential cry for mercy.  God does bow down His divine ear to me and hears my sorrow, hears my desire to be healed and made new.  God pulls me out of the snares of sin and stands me on His firm ground, to begin again, forgiven.  God invites me, calls me, to take refuge in Him to find my home, my strength and renewal, in His house, His fortress against all that would trap me, all that would weigh me down with the burden of unlove, the burden of selfishness.  God frees me and cleans me and gives me strength to try once more to walk in the ways of righteousness, the ways of love, faithfulness, and forgiveness.

 

And God wants me to be like Him and do the same for all of His beloved children.  And, yet… how often have I wanted people, even the people that I love, to suffer punishment for their wrongdoings, to hurt, to suffer, even to bleed?  Do I have no mercy in my heart?  If I have actually given my heart and placed my heart into the Sacred Heart of Jesus, into the endless font of mercy and love, then shouldn’t I, too, be merciful and loving?

 

God created everything out of nothing and, even out of darkness, God creates light; even out of despair, God creates hope; even out of wrongdoing, God creates right.  And, so, though I am a limited human being fraught with faults and failings, God loves me and teaches me in my weakness.  God takes pity on me.  From my own experience with sin, from my own falling down on my face in the ensnaring net of selfishness and infidelity, God, in saving me, shows me the beautiful strength and power of mercy, the unlimited rescue and goodness of love.  May I so love as God loves me.  May I, in His Spirit, lovingly strive to set other captives free.

Christina Chase

 

As Thou Art

1 Kings 21:36

Then said he unto him, because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee.  And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him.

 

Instant gratification. 

We see our favorite candy bar in the checkout aisle at the grocery store and, even though it was not our intent or plan to purchase and eat that chocolate that day, we immediately want its deliciousness.  So, we buy it, unwrap it before the bagger has finished packing our last item, and eat it all up while loading the car, before we even drive away.  And, for those few minutes of time, we experience pleasure.  Unconsciously, we develop an understanding that feelings of desire can be instantly gratified with pleasing results and, so, the things that we want for ourselves we get for ourselves – no wondering, no worrying, no waiting.

 

When our monthly check on our bank account reveals a lower-than-expected dollar figure, we lament over how fast money disappears.  When our next visit to the dentist reveals a cavity in need of filling, we groan with dread of the impending pain and bill to pay.  And when our clothes start to fit a little too tightly on our bodies, we become upset and frustrated, wondering what lengths we’ll have to go to in order to lose some weight – a gym membership or that tedious new diet people are talking about?  A lottery win would solve our first problem.  A filling then and there to get it done and over with would help us at the dentist’s office.  And buying new clothes would cancel out our third problem.  Because we’re used to instant results and getting what we want.
 

The results of that impulsively acquired candy bar go beyond the immediate feelings of pleasure.  What if we experienced those consequences as instantly as we taste its deliciousness?  What if the candy bar cost three times as much and, as soon as we put it in our mouths, our teeth would hurt and buttons pop?  I’m guessing that we would think twice about grabbing the chocolate the next time we saw it beside the cash register.  And what if this was true about more than just edible treats?  What if the second we told a white lie to our employer, we got fired?  What if the first time we took our frustrations out on a loved one in unkindness and unfairness that dear person left us and never came back?  What if, in walking past someone who has fallen without assisting to pick him up, we found ourselves beaten in an alley by thugs with no one in a cold, selfish world answering our cries for help? 

 

In the Bible we hear stories of instant punishment.  When God is disobeyed, the earth opens up and swallows the wrongdoers or storms of fire rain down on the heads of the unjust.  This thought terrifies us, but also delights us, in a way.  For we understand the language of instant gratification.  We want to be able to get what we want, when we want it.  And we imagine God being like us in this – if He wants to smite us for our wickedness, then He will smite us cold, sending a lion to slay us or turning us into pillars of salt.  For this is the kind of instant gratification that we want against our enemies, against those who we see as hurting us or as standing in the way of our own glory.  But, though God, in His Divine love for us, reaches out to reveal Himself to us in the language that we understand, He is not as petty and impatient as we are.  Throughout time, God has led us by the hand like little children, teaching us in ways that developing humans are taught, with instant reactions to our actions so that our little minds can make the connections between cause and effect.  But, we do not remain undeveloped forever.  There comes a time (in history as well as in our own individual lives) when, if we are to be fulfilled as human beings, we must understand to the best of our abilities the wide range of connections, the vast consequences of every small act.  We are called by God to see that we are connected, in the present, to both our pasts and our futures and that we are connected, always, to one another.

 

Nothing exists in a vacuum of time.  Nor in a vacuum of space.  Everyone and everything relates to each other, is connected.  Like it or not, everyone and everything leaves a mark of some kind.  We are not little islands living lives of little bubbles of time.  No one is isolated or removed from the interweaving of reality, for life is whole.  And we are all inextricably linked to our one, common source that flows all through us – “the ultimate reality that everyone calls God.”[1]

Christina Chase

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[1] St. Thomas Aquinas

Exercise Lordship

Mark 10:42-45

But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them.

But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:

And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.

For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

 

Here in the United States of America, the people form the government.  We choose representatives and elect officials to whom we give authority to establish and enforce laws.  We also give them the authority to develop and manage entities and programs to promote national security and to help the poor and the needy.  Those elected or appointed to government positions who have the most responsibilities nationally have higher statures than others – like the President, who is the chief executive officer of the federal government.  It is easy for a President of the United States, or for a Senator or member of the House of Representatives with extra clout, to see himself or herself as a person of great importance and great authority.  But no one in the government, not even the Commander-In-Chief, has any kind of authority except what the people have chosen to give.  We the people have placed the President and the members of Congress in their positions and have given them the responsibility of working on our behalf.  They are our servants.  They are not our masters.  And when any of them act with a kind of self conceit, as though they have all the answers, as though they are entitled to act the way they do, as though whatever they do should be acceptable to us because they are the ones doing it – well, then it becomes clear that they just don’t get it.  The one who is given the most authority and responsibility is the one who is the servant – they serve at the pleasure of the people.

 

With much disappointment, I consider the actions and words of congressional members and of the president as they are working through a federal shutdown and trying to keep our government from defaulting on its loans.  It no longer seems to be about a difference in opinion or ideas, but rather a simple difference in political parties.  Victory for them, it seems, is for the other party to be blamed for any bad things that happen.  In other words, our public servants in the federal government seem perfectly willing to keep their paychecks and benefits, to keep their jobs, while discontinuing the paychecks or even ending the jobs of the people that they are supposed to serve – as long as it looks like it’s entirely the fault of the guys from the other party.  And I say – Really??? 

 

It’s as though their job is to engage in a competition to see who is the greatest among them.  They are too busy pointing fingers and puffing themselves up to actually do the work that needs to be done in the government.  We did not elect them and we do not send tax money to pay their salaries in order for them to vilify a political party while raising their personal clout within their own political party.  True Independents can work just as hard for the American people as a Republican or Democrat – and maybe even better because they won’t waste time trying to suck up to their party leaders while denigrating the other side’s leaders and supporters.  Both sides are guilty of this juvenile behavior, make no mistake about it, and I’m sick of it!  And I’m not the only one.  But I’m not going to resort to name-calling and pointless ranting.  I’m reminded, instead, of the limitations of government itself.

 

We, the people, have become too complacent with our Democratic Republic.  We have fallen into the trap of those who want to be counted as among the greatest by seeing high-ranking officials in government as people separate from us, almost in a class above us.  Yes, I know that we talk smack about them and do a lot of finger-pointing and denigrating ourselves, but we seem to do it because we have fallen into the error of thinking that we need to choose sides.  Do you agree with the Republicans or the Democrats?  And if one chooses the Democratic Party, then the Republican Party is seen as a joke, a disgrace, a terrible plague.  If one chooses the Republican Party, then the Democratic Party is seen as a joke, a disgrace, a terrible plague.  It’s like we think we’re spectators at a football game, choosing sides, sending out chants, holding up signs – but not actually in the game.  But, not only is it vital to remember that the working of the federal government is not a sport or a game, it is also vitally important to remember that we are not spectators.  We are the leaders of our society.

 

In everything that we say and in everything that we do, we are setting an example, forming a path upon which others will walk.  And as they walk, they will shape that path as well.  We, the people, are the government, are the elected officials within the government, are those who have been given leadership roles in the government.  They are human beings just like us.  We are human beings just like them.  Next election, when the choices on my ballot are people who care more about their stature or their party than about the job that needs to be done, then I am going to write in the name of a person I know who is honest and kind, who is reasonable and mature, a person with integrity.  Because, if you think about it, the people who run for public office are the people who really think that they should be there – so we only get to choose from people who are already full of themselves.  Now, yes, I know that there are exceptions.  There has been and are some very good public servants who truly have the interest of the people at heart and who don’t resort to juvenile, bipartisan games no matter what the cost to their own stature or clout among the rest of them.  We need more people like that.  And perhaps the best way to start changing the government is by changing ourselves. 

 

Let’s lead by our own examples.  Let’s not make discussions of what’s going wrong in our nation’s Capitol all about who can make the best joke or most cutting remark about this party or that.  There are only 535 members of Congress, plus 1 president and 1 vice president – and there are over 314,165,191 people in the United States.  If the majority of us in our country devoted ourselves to being honest, reasonable, mature and selfless, then that small percentage of us who we send to work in the government will have a much better chance of acting the same way.  If we only take care of our own – our own selves or our own family members or our own political parties – then we should not expect our representatives to act differently.  The president, the senators, and the representatives are a reflection of the people – after all, the people become presidents, senators and representatives.  And now it’s like they’re holding a mirror up to us – and it isn’t pretty, is it?

 

The only real and true greatness comes through humble and selfless service to others.  If we the people don’t know that and act accordingly, then the government we form will be likewise ignorant – and selfish.

Christina Chase