Members One of Another

Romans 12:4-5

For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:

So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

We often think that the little things we do, the small lives that we live, have no great impact on the world.  And perhaps we don’t… most people will not be like a tsunami, altering an entire shoreline in just a few minutes of time.  But… that great and powerful wave is made up of individual drops of water.  Without tiny drops of water, there is no tsunami.  Without small, individual lives, there is no great and mighty force.  When one person unites intentions with another person… and then another… and then another… the largeness of their impact on the world multiplies.  Together we are strong. We may think that our one drop is of no consequence, and certainly our one drop is not the one that did the ultimate deed – because the ultimate deed is not done by any single drop.  All are needed together.  If one defects or strays or stays behind lazily, then others may follow, as is the course of things in life, and then what?  The strength is diminished, the impact altered irrevocably.

And even one tiny drop alone has an impact – though it may not be noticed by the world… or even by the drop itself.  One single drop dislodges one single grain of sand on the shore – and the shore is changed.  One person, fully alive, can move a person sized island.  For even one atom, well directed, can change other atoms.  At the atomic level, this is change profound.  Just so, one person’s thought, well directed, can change other persons’ thoughts.  At a personal level, this change is likewise profound.  It should never be taken lightly.  One person’s thought aimed outward at another can be as useful as clean energy… or as destructive as a bomb.

As we are all connected one to another, like members of one body, we each have the ability to affect another and, so, the whole.  It takes the entire human body to willfully move one finger – the brain, spinal cord, nerves, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and even the respiratory and circulatory systems are needed for this movement, the immune system to allow the body to be healthy enough for such movement, and the bones to hold together and the skin to stretch.  Not to mention the imagination and will to inspire and initiate the movement of that one little finger.  One tiny and seemingly insignificant act of kindness to another human being is not only good because it may inspire another such act – it can actually change the entire day of that one person, allowing him or her to be open to receive something of great impact that he or she would not have been able to receive otherwise.  It can be life altering.

A small, seemingly menial act, like helping a man clean up the coffee he spilled himself, can remind that man that there is kindness and gentleness in the world, that he isn’t left alone to fend for himself in a cruel and hostile world, as he had been feeling.  And then, when his estranged wife calls him an hour later, hinting again that she may like to talk things over and try to heal their relationship, he will not be defensive, like he usually is, and he, refreshed in believing in goodness without even remembering why, will be moved to respond gently and generously.  And the one who helped the man clean up his spilled coffee that day will never know that a family was eventually healed and children returned to a stable and loving home.

One drop in an ocean.  One member in a body entire.  This is the truth of one, small human life, profoundly powerful.

Christina Chase

 

A Narrow Pit

Proverbs 23:27-28

For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.

 

(Yikes.)

A woman is not an object.  She is neither to be possessed nor used, bought nor sold.  Any that should seek a woman for his own sake, as a treasure box for his own wealth or a vehicle for his own pleasure, will never be able to dig deep enough to find what he wants, will always be thirsty in his confined pursuit for satisfaction.  It’s a never-ending maze in a darkness that blinds, deafens and numbs those who repeatedly bump against the walls.

 

This trap is set by selfish desire and ensnares all who indulge.  And the trap is not avoided by proper obedience to rules of conduct or any willed restraint for fear of losing health, wealth, or sanity.  A woman can be objectified without lying a hand on her, without coming into any contact with her flesh.  From afar, minds dig into her, pulling piece by piece, thoughts salivating over the stripped carcass of a meal.  And no guilt and no punishment sets anyone free.

 

A human person is a wondrous creature of flesh and spirit married as one.  There is no disjointing of one from the other.  As glass is a fusion of earth and fire, so, too, a human – a man, a woman – spun from the hands of God.  To objectify a person is to shatter both humans, both the luster and the target of lust, it is to un-create, to destroy, that whom was created by love.  With and in love a human comes into being and only with and in love can one be fulfilled.  To heed anything other than love, to aim lower than the heart, is to be stuck in a ditch, to flounder in a narrow pit.  For the heart of the person is the core of her being, the essence of her reality, the seat of love, the seat of God, wherein human and divine abide as one.

 

God invites life to dwell within the matter God created, an invitation of love.  God’s mind is for the other, God’s gift of self is unconditional and complete.  Generosity… Compassion… Respect.  To truly love is to love as God loves, for we are only able to love because God first loves us.  To love a woman, then, is to see her and not merely to look at her – and to will to be seen by her.  And in this vision, one sees God’s precious beloved one in whom dwells – not pleasure, possessions, power, or honor – but the universe.  Not for the sake of the one who sees, but for the sake of the one who is… for the Other.

Christina Chase

They Went Out

Mark 6:12

And they went out, and preached that men should repent.

How do you recognize when you have done something wrong, something that you should not have done?  Is it by the consequences of your action?  I know that, sometimes, when I say something rude or a little mean to a loved one, he or she will look at me in such a way that I know I shouldn’t have said what I did.  When I see the hurt I have caused or – more usually and powerfully – when I hear the hurt and anger in the response pouring out on me, then I am sorry.  Then I wish that I could take back what I said and, since that is impossible, I apologize and seek mercy.

But… Is something only wrong if it directly causes something unwanted to happen to me?  What if my loved one is able to disguise the hurt I have caused, or keep their anger or disappointment in check?  What if I don’t “feel” the unkindness or rudeness of my words or actions in the responses they generate?  Will I still be able to recognize my wrongdoing?  If I yell at someone who is confused and slow at an intersection a mean and dirty name, blaring my horn and flipping my finger, will I feel sorry about my actions later?  If the person doesn’t abruptly jump out of the vehicle and chase me with a gun, will I even think for a second that I shouldn’t have let my anger and impatience cause me to go on the attack?  What is it that encourages me to be kind and discourages me from being mean?  If the answer is merely a desire for reward and a fear of punishment, then, surely, I am living at a very low level of existence, a very base way of life.

 

I’ve never wanted to be ruled by infantile desires and fears.  “When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things.”  (1 Corinthians 13:11.)  This doesn’t mean that suddenly I became a very grave and sober person.  It means that I grew and I learned – and when we learn certain things, we necessarily become changed.  For example, when my youngest nephew was a little less than two years old, he learned to call my father by a name that he could recognize and to which he would respond.  The first moment this happened, his little face lit up with joy – and it was like his little world had become new.  He grew closer in his relationship with his grandfather then, wanting to follow him everywhere and do everything with him.  And his grandfather, in turn, perhaps became a little more attentive.  You could see the little boy’s increase in intimacy and affection.  He had learned something and his life was forever different.

 

As another example, once I learned numbers and could easily do addition and subtraction, I could no longer claim ignorance in monetary matters.  If something cost twenty dollars and I only had ten to spend, then I knew that I couldn’t afford it.  When I learned why vegetables are healthy, I could no longer avoid eating them without knowing that I wasn’t doing the best that I could for my health.  In the same kind of way, when I learned about the true depth and beauty of love, I couldn’t so easily take loving relationships for granted… or ignore the power of God Incarnate sacrificing Himself on the Cross.  And in knowing how much God loves me, knowing what divine love is… I grew closer in my relationship with God and with the people God has placed in my life by wanting to love them likewise.  It’s like God called out to me by my true name, which allowed me to recognize my true self and, so, to be able to live truly.  And to live truly is to truly love.  He knows my name and I know His and this new knowledge changes everything.

Christ Jesus said that whoever welcomes one little child welcomes Him (Matthew 18:5).  This is not because of the idea that a child is innocent and pure, but rather because a child has nothing to give in return.  In human life, and in Jesus’s historical time especially, a person will invite people to his house knowing that those people will invite him to theirs in return.  Like we often do in giftgiving: if a person gives us a gift, then we give one to them.  But if we know that someone will not be giving us anything for Christmas, then we often don’t give them anything either.  Greater is it to give a gift to someone without expecting anything in return.  In the same way, to receive a child into one’s house is to take on a responsibility for that child’s well-being.  Though the child can be cute and sweet, he or she can be a burden more than a boon.  Yet, we are to receive everyone lovingly, without desiring any reward for ourselves.  And, so, to welcome Jesus into our lives, to truly receive him into our hearts, we must not do so based on an expectation of eternal reward in heaven.  Yes, Christ makes promises to those who love him, but – to love him is to give ourselves to him freely and unconditionally – not for our sakes, but for his.  That’s true love.

I have discovered that the “carrot and stick” approach is not the best way to teach people about Jesus.  Making people afraid to break a rule lest they suffer eternal hellfire does not foster divine love.  But… making people calculate the ways that they can be rewarded with eternal paradise doesn’t foster divine love, either.  My English teachers always told me, “Show, don’t tell.”  And that is precisely what God does through His Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ.  God gives us His Holy Word through Scripture – through words, by telling.  But, He also gives us His Holy Word made Flesh through Christ – through actions, by loving.  In much the same way, Jesus’s disciples went out and preached so that others could recognize their own wrongdoing: untruth, unlove.  And they did this, not only by words, by telling, but also by actions, by showing.  They showed others what true love is, what divine love is, in Jesus Christ, and loved them as He loved.  Then, knowing how God intimately loves them, they were able to truly repent, to truly turn away from selfishness and sin and fully embrace truth and love.

Like Saint Francis said, “Preached the Gospel always; use words when necessary.”  Love is the way… the truth and the life.

Christina Chase

Graven Image

Exodus 20:4

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Who is like unto God?

“The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” we are told in the Hebrew Testament of Scripture.  And St. Paul tells us that this Fear of the Lord is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  But is it right to fear God?  For God is love, so why would anyone fear an all loving deity?  This fear, however, is not the kind where we walk around covering our heads, fearing that the Lord will smite us if we even think an unkind thought.  It is, however, awful in that we are filled with awe when thinking of God, when fully aware of who God is and who we are. 

 

Before any human being, before any tree, reptile, or bit of living slime came into existence, GOD IS.  The Unmoved Mover, the Uncaused Cause, the Uncreated Creator, Who is “the ultimate reality that everyone calls God.”[1] [emphasis added.]  And we are not God.  We exist only because God loves us and chooses to bring us into being – loves us so much, that He creates us in His divine image with spiritual souls, intelligence, imagination, and free will.  Though we are given this great privilege, we are nothing without God and completely dependent upon God, Who is the infinite, eternal Creator and Master of the universe.  To know this, then, to know our place in the universe relative to the Infinite/Eternal One, is to truly have a Fear of the Lord – filled with tremulous awe, down-on-your-knees wonder and adoration – the only way in which we can begin to have true wisdom.

 

There is, of course, no earthly image that can fully depict the limitlessness of God.  There are no words that we can use to precisely and completely describe who God is with all of God’s attributes.  The One that we call God is infinite and cannot fit into the workings of our earthly brains, tongues, ears, eyes, or fingers.  If we truly had a Fear of the Lord, then, perhaps, we could appreciate this truth and live our lives accordingly.  But, we are creatures of the earth and we are comfortable with earthly things.  We understand strength when we see an ox pull ten times its weight.  We understand gentleness when we feel a tender caress on our cheeks.  We understand “good” in the sweetness of ripe fruits and the beauty of healthy flowers and flesh, as we understand “bad” in the bitterness of poison and the ugliness of a body beaten to death.  And we seek to understand God in these earthly ways.  But, no thing is like God.

 

When we want to fulfill the divine image in which we have been created, when we want to do godly things, it is wrong to seek the strength of mighty beasts or the beauty of exotic blossoms.  It is in finding the beauty and strength within us, spiritually, the health and goodness of our souls, that we come nearer to God.  Spirit and truth.  This does not satisfy the hunger of our eyes, ears and other organs for a material focus for the whole of our worshiping selves.  Too often, however, we labor for that which is not food, that which cannot satisfy our whole selves because it is merely material, merely earthly, and not the fullness of Creation.  No creature is better than the Creator – the First comes first, always and everywhere, or everything is out of order. 

 

Our hearts desire what our hands cannot make, what our eyes cannot see.  Spirit and Truth… To grow from the inside out, to know that there is transcendence – transcendent love, strength, beauty, goodness – beyond the limits of what we can see, hear, smell, taste and touch… To know that we know only in part, that the glass is dark, the light is veiled, is to admit that our lives, the entirety of our beings, the entirety of the universe, rests within the will of the Infinite/Eternal One, Who is beyond all imagining… The One Who Is, Was, and Ever Will Be.

Christina Chase

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[1] St. Thomas Aquinas

The Gift That Is in Thee

1 Timothy 4:14-16

14. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

15. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.

16. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

 

Neglect not the gift that is in thee.

Within me is a gift.  Carefully and intricately wrapped in the finest of earthly matter: white bone, red woven and braided tissues, delicate skin.  The gift came from the Giver, who placed it so well in the package of His own crafting that the two became one, as petals and center become flower.  So am I.  Yet, like a flower, I can fail in my opening and reveal not the fullness of myself.  I can wither and die in the bud – not because of years I have not lived, but because of years I have not lived well.  I must be true to the wholeness of myself and give myself wholly to the things that nurture and reveal the gift within.

 

The gift is not my own alone to delight in, selfishly.  It was not given in order to begin and end with my own mortal life span or to remain confined in my own limited space.  Ceaseless and boundless is the gift when it is loved truly and opened fully to love – when I heed my true self and the truth of living that the Giver has given, by loving purely and freely as He first loved me.  To have been given this gift is a great honor and privilege, so much so that the angels and archangels bow down before me… Yet, what do I do?  What do I do with such a treasure, with such a rare and sacred jewel?  I squander it on the finite and fleeting – I do not give.  For it is only in being true to the gift within me and true to the Giver who has so entrusted me that I will know fulfillment and salvation and be lifted up with those with whom I have shared the gift.
 

I’m afraid I do neglect.  When I am quiet, still and serious, my greatest fear is that I will waste the beauty that is me… That I will fail utterly in becoming who I was created to be, in fulfilling my potential, in opening up my gift and sharing it with the world.  Will it die in me?  This wondrous talent which God has implanted in me – for God has implanted wondrous talent in each and every one of us, for we humans truly are fearfully and wonderfully made – will I reck it completely?  I want to give and I want to live fully, truly, deeply and well.  There is a shining soul, radiant in all beautiful light and goodness, resplendent and amazing; this is how God knows me, and God knows how I can fulfill this destiny – but, will I heed?  Will I meditate upon these things and give myself wholly?

 

– And who is it that is listening?  Does anyone hear me?  Yes… the answer is yes… the Listening One always hears…

Christina Chase

He Gave Them Power

Matthew 10:1

And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

 

I’m diseased.  That is, I have a genetic motorneuron disease that has rendered my muscles weak as waste, mostly useless, crumpled me up and left me totally physically dependent on others for my everyday needs.  I can’t eat unless somebody puts food directly into my mouth.

 

I’m also a Christian.  I believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I attend Church every week, pray every day, help people in need as best as I can and share my faith with others.  My faith prompts me to give witness to the power of Christ – and yet this man whom I profess to be God Incarnate, whom I know to be a healer of sickness and disease while he was upon this earth, this Christ I adore has not healed me of my disease.  I have faith and am a good girl – and still I sit in my wheelchair.  How do I reconcile that?  How do I justify that?

 

I don’t.

 

Because I love Christ, I’m not a person who needs scientific proof for everything in life.  I don’t live on the surface of things and my identity is not caught up solely in my physicality.  And, unlike when Jesus of Nazareth walked upon the earth as the seemingly ordinary son of a carpenter, I live in a time when his sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection from the dead has already happened.  His true identity has already been recognized and proclaimed – and I believe in Him.  I don’t need fanfare to get me to the show.  I don’t need sugar in order to do the right thing.

 

I live here, part of the terrible beauty of God’s complex Creation and I see both the beauty and the terror of what God has made… of what God has given.  We are, indeed, “fearfully and wonderfully made.”[1]  I am a creature of body and soul, made in the image and likeness of God, sanctified by the Incarnation of Christ and born anew through him by his Blood.  God’s body, Christ’s body, was and is important in intimately and infinitely uniting God and Man, in yielding forth at-one-ment and making manifest true love.  My own body is important because through it I can particularly marvel at the glorious splendor of God’s power in all the universe… My body is important because with it I can sooth the distressed and heal the afflicted and nurse the developing… My body is important because in it I experience what it is to love and to be loved as a free willed human being with the ability to reflect the divine.  My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, the Power of the Most High, and I care for myself, physically and spiritually, because I am one of God’s precious Creations and, through me, God acts upon the Earth.  What does it matter if my legs cannot walk so long as I dance with joy?  What does it matter if my breathing is labored and weakening so long as I sing with love?  Sure, it would be nice to be able to walk and to be physically strong, but I don’t need an obvious miracle to heal me.  I’m already healed.

Christina Chase

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[1] Psalm 139:14

Ready Always

1 Peter 3:15

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

 

Why do I believe in God?  Why do I believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?

 

I don’t believe out of fear.  For the whole of my life, I’ve never wanted to be a fool, to think that I was right about something and then find out that I was wrong.  I want the truth.  I always have and I always will.  That was why I became an atheist.  The idea of God seemed so obviously made up by human beings that I couldn’t think of continuing to try to have faith – unless I was afraid.  Was it fear that led me to want to believe in God?  The only way to find out was to give into my doubts, to give all of my skepticism sway and deny the very existence of God.  After I was sure that I had rid myself of all habits and tendencies toward belief in the supernatural, I discovered that I wasn’t afraid.  The fear of death and dying did not cripple my happiness, nor did the fear of living a puny and meaningless life take away my appreciation for life itself.  I would make up my own happiness and my own meaning – and that would be enough.  I didn’t need faith in God.  And I didn’t want faith in God.
 

But, then, everything changed.  Well, nothing changed in reality.  I simply became aware of the fullness of reality – simply and profoundly.  Infinity and eternity are real… the infinite and eternal Source is actual… and this is Present Presence beyond all telling, beyond words and images, beyond imagining.  I didn’t invent this.  We didn’t make up Absolute Being – It is.  Though I didn’t want this knowledge and fought against it, I couldn’t deny – without being a fool – that that which we call God is real, is true.  The truth is the truth.  One can’t run away from one’s feet.  That’s why I know that God exists.  Because I just know.  And the reason that I believe in God is that I love… I love life, always have and always will, with or without the knowledge of God’s existence – and so I know, I know that The Infinite/Eternal One who is the Author of Life is the Author of that which draws my love… Draws me, in creating me and in calling me toward.  So, “credo” – I give my heart, I believe in God.

 

I did not come to faith in Jesus Christ by knowing with certainty that Jesus of Nazareth is God Incarnate.  My knowledge of Jesus as the God-Man is not the undeniable kind of knowledge like I had when I discovered that “the ultimate reality that everyone calls God” exists.  There was a risk that becoming a Christian would make me a fool – I could be wrong about the Nazarene.  But… Just as contemplating silence had filled me with the awareness of the awesome Presence of God, truly “fear of the Lord”, so, too, contemplating the humility of God, most clearly expressed, manifested, in the Mystery of the Incarnation, yielded forth in me the same awe, the same “fear”.  It is not a fear to make one tremble in anxiety over one’s safety, rather it is a fear to make one tremble in awakening to one’s true reality in the mind of God.  Hard to explain… Anyhow, I freely chose to take the leap of faith.  “Credo”, I give my heart – I believe in Jesus Christ.  

 

The more that I learn about Christ, the more that I come to know Him by sharing my life, myself, with Him, the more that I discover that Christ is.  Always and everywhere is the Son of God, the Divine Word – Who was made flesh for my infinite and eternal joy.  God becomes a human being and sanctifies humankind – God believes in me, the Sacred Heart is given to me, and I am received within the Love that draws me.  I am fully and truly myself in the beautiful leap, in the faith, in the giving of my heart, my core, my soul, my whole and very being to Absolute Being Who is Love, to the One Who IS.

Christina Chase