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Page 2 • Faith Today
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By Father M. Basil Pennington
NC News Service
Trappist Father Thomas Mer
ton’s spiritual journey was in
some way the journey of every
man and woman. He shared it
with millions through his
books and articles.
Father Merton always had
deep sensitivity for his fellows.
As a young man it led him to
espouse many causes. He was
even a card-carrying Com
munist for a short time.
Finally he found something
big enough for him:
Catholicism. With his usual
vigor he decided the way to
pursue his quest for God was
to join a monastery.
In his first days within the
monastery, Father Merton,
whose religious name was
Louis, left the world behind in
every way he could. It was
after some years of prayer and
reflection that this changed.
One day he had to accom
pany a visitor into Louisville,
Ky., a rare thing for a Trappist
monk. As he stood on the cor
ner of Fourth and Walnut
awaiting his guest, he suddenly
became aware of the great
beauty of every person passing
around him — a beauty most
didn’t seem to appreciate, least
of all the persons themselves.
Father Merton saw that God
loved each one and was pre
sent in each. From that mo
ment his quest for God and
deep concern for humans
became one. He tried to share
every person’s burden and cry
of hope.
Each of us hears the cry of
the poor, who look to us for
bread and clothes. But the
poor look to us for something
more — the reverence due a
person made in God’s image
and loved by the Father.
But will we see others this
way, even when we are harried
by the events of life? To do ;
so we need to spend suffi- .
cient time looking at
the face of God in
prayer.
Then we will see
God’s face in others
and recognize the
beauty that they
themselves often
do not see. And we will be
able to reflect this beauty back
to them, enabling them to find
their true dignity.
This experience of prayer
enables us to know we have all
- . t h e divine creative energy at
,';!& our disposal. So we will not be
overwhelmed by the magnitude
of the tasks encountered.
This perspective develops
through the Holy Spirit. We
can begin to give him the
space to teach us by allowing
time each day for a listening
prayer.
—Find a quiet moment in a
place a bit apart.
—Close your eyes and turn
to God within.
—Gently repeat his name as
you listen.
Rather soon you will see
some result: greater peace,
greater reliance on God, a
clearer sense of God’s presence
in you and in everyone.
This prayer offers the
perspective needed for serving
God in others. Sometimes we
need more of this space as we
sense we are losing our
perspective or becoming over
whelmed by what needs to be
done in the world.
Other times we will find un
bounded energy and a clear
perception of God in all peo
ple as we expend long hours
in service of others.
A friend or a spiritual guide
who shares our vision can
help us develop this perspec
tive. A guide can help us see
what truly is happening in our
lives and whether we are giv
ing ourselves sufficient space
to listen to God.
Father Merton once explain
ed that he saw no conflict bet
ween the active and con
templative life “if both are
raised to the level of love.’’
Of Father Merton, Loretto
Sister Mary Luke Tobin re-
1, cently commented: “He
a saw contemplation not
as some abstract, other-
worldly act but as
reality, the way
a person lives. ’ ’
W*4-
*■ £ (Father Pennington
is an author and
Trappist monk in
Spencer, Mass.)
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By Katharine Bird
NC News Service
For a single parent, advice on
handling a particularly
troublesome situation came from a
totally unexpected source — her
child. “I couldn’t believe it,” she
said later. “It must be God spoke
through him.”
For the gray-haired woman who
runs a homeless shelter, the face
of God shines through the
careworn, sometimes disturbed
faces of the shopping-bag women
she welcomes each day.
For a traveler, suffering through
a service in a dusty church far
from home, a weary pastor’s
marvelous sermon on forgiveness
brought a glimpse of God.
Paulist Father James Young told
those anecdotes to bring home his
conviction that many Christians
find God smack dab in the midst
of their hectic lives.
“God made the world — he
created us to live here — and we
meet God right here,” said the
rector of St. Paul’s College during
an interview^ at his office in
Washington, D.C.
Though God turns up “in the
most surprising places, in the
most surprising people,” Father
Young tells seminarians, don’t
look for a “dramatic stranger
Praying in
coming to the front door.” Usual
ly God “speaks to us in ordinary
voices.”
The priest particularly likes
psychologist Dr. Joseph Goldbrun-
ner’s description of holiness:
“Holiness is wholeness.” What
Goldbrunner means, Father Young
says, is that the path to holiness
for most people is “life in the
world as fully involved humans.”
It means growth for human be
ings takes place in developing
talents and intelligence and
spirituality by living with other
people. This “brings us closer to
God,” Father Young said.
Working out the tasks of
spirituality “involves learning to
pray on your feet, in place,”
Father Young thinks. It means
“heightening our awareness of
God
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By Father John J. Castelot
NC News Service
Jesus was the perfect agent of
God’s love. Like all the others in
the long line of such agents, Jesus
was deeply involved in human
affairs.
But what other agents of God
became deeply involved in human
affairs? Think back, for example,
to
—Moses. He liberated his people
from oppression and slavery in
Egypt. He guided them through
the desert, forming them into a
people. He gave them a charter,
consisting mainly of civil law that
covered every aspect of their
existence.
—Or Solomon. He was an astute
political administrator, a builder, a
financier.
—And Isaiah. A nobleman, this
prophet was intimately involved
in domestic and international
politics.
Moses and Solomon and Isaiah
felt that in devoting themselves to
human concerns they were
devoting themselves to divine
Agents for t
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concerns as well. For the heavenly £ TI
Father is supremely interested in only
his children. is th
God created the universe, pro- worl
nouncing it good, very good king
(Genesis 1:31). He entered into Pu
relationships with humanity, pro- sharj
mising to lead it to a glorious and
destiny. All c
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devoting themselves to hu
were devoting themselves t<
well.’
God entered our history and
committed himself to it.
In fact, God loved the world so
much that he gave it his only son
(John 3:16). But what world was
it that he loved so much? Was it
some never-never world? Or was
it the world of agriculture and in
dustry, arts and sciences, politics
and commerce, of loving and bir
thing and parenting?
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