Father Richard teaches on parables of things that are lost and found:
Chapter 15 of Luke’s Gospel gives us three memorable parables of God’s mercy: Jesus tells of the shepherd who rejoices at finding a lost sheep, of the woman who rejoices at finding her lost coin (note the feminine image of God), of the father who rejoices at the return of his prodigal son. These are all images of a loving God being true to God’s nature. They are all images of God’s justice.
As we can see from these examples, God’s justice requires God to go beyond Godself and extend love to others. The shepherd doesn’t just wait until the lost sheep wanders back. The woman doesn’t just forget about the coin until it shows up. The father doesn’t just go about his business; he watches the road every day until his son returns so he can go out to welcome him home. God’s love is relentlessly just: God never gives up on those who have forgotten God’s love. [1]
Author Debie Thomas reflects on what these “lost and found” parables reveal about God:
We get lost. We get so miserably lost that the shepherd has to wander through the craggy wilderness to find us. We get so wholly lost that the housewife has to light her lamp, pick up her broom, and sweep out every nook and cranny of her house to discover what’s become of us.
For the record, these versions of lostness aren’t trivial. Notice that the searching in these parables is not a show…. What’s lost is really, truly lost—even though the seeker is God.
Can we pause for a moment and take in how astonishing this is? God faces genuine stakes when it comes to our lostness. God experiences authentic, real-time loss. God searches, persists, lingers, and plods. God wanders over hills and valleys looking for lost lambs. God turns her house upside down looking for her lost coin….
Maybe the most scandalous aspect of these lost-and-found parables is not that I still get lost. Maybe what’s most scandalous is what they reveal about the nature of God…
If Jesus’s parables are true, then God isn’t in the fold with the ninety-nine insiders. God isn’t curled up on her couch polishing the nine coins she’s already sure of. God is where the lost things are. God is in the wilderness, God is in the remotest corners of the house, God is where the search is at its fiercest. If I want to find God, I have to seek the lost. I have to get lost. I have to leave the safety of the inside and venture out. I have to recognize my own lostness and consent to be found….
God looks for us when our lostness is so convoluted and so profound, we can’t even pretend to look for God. But even in such bleak and hopeless places, God finds us. This is amazing grace. And it is ours. [2]
================
| John Chaffee Learning from the Mystics: John of the Cross |
| Quote of the Week:“Souls begin to enter this dark night when God, gradually drawing them out of the state of beginners (those who practice meditation on the spiritual road), begins to place them in the state of proficients (those who are already contemplatives), so that by passing through this state they might reach that of the perfect, which is the divine union of the soul with God.” – The Dark Night of the Soul, Book One, Chapter 1, Section 1Reflection: Beginner. Proficient. Perfect. These are the three stages of faith that St. John of the Cross identifies for himself and for his readers. There is the beginner on the path of faith, there is the proficient, and there is one who is perfect. The Dark Night of the Soul is the process by which God takes the person of faith from beginner into proficient, from stage 1 into stage 2. Why is this important to recognize, to notice? Because the Dark Night of the Soul, if misunderstood, is considered the loss of faith rather than the maturation of it. The Dark Night of the Soul is actually a process by which God systematically takes away every single idol a person might have. According to St. John of the Cross, during the Dark Night of the Soul God takes away the idols of…how moral you think you are,how addicted you are to the emotional or experiential “sweetness” of prayer/church services/worship/community,how proud you might be of your theology or dogmatic precision,and even putting faith in how much faith you think you have.For St. John of the Cross, to do any of these things shows that one is still just a beginner on the spiritual journey. Many well-intentioned churches, not knowing the wisdom of the Dark Night of the Soul, inadvertently encourage their congregants to esteem themselves higher than others for being “more moral” than others, they will validate people that are deeply passionate during prayer/church/services/worship/community, they will approve people that are certain about their theology or dogmatism in “the right way,” and celebrate those who profess the strength of their faith rather than their weakness. Many well-intentioned churches will actually try to insulate and protect people from entering their own Dark Night of the Soul and by doing so, keep people in “beginner” faith! Again, for St. John of the Cross, these are all the symptoms of a person that is still in “kindergarten” Christianity. They have not even progressed into being “proficients.”All this goes to say, idolatry can be sneaky. Idolatry, even of things that sound good or even pious, is still idolatry. To put faith in anything less than the Intimate and Infinite God will always be frustrated and pursuing something that will never be adequate.To seek anything less than infinite union with the infinite God is a finite idol. Prayer: Heavenly Father, clear our hearts and minds of the idols we cling to. We recognize that to put faith in any finite thing or experience, no matter how good or pious it is, is still idolatry. Grant us courage to walk into our Dark Night of the Soul when it happens and to seek out teachers and guides that can walk us through that season of faith. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen and amen. |
| Life Overview of St. John of the Cross: Who Were They: Juan de Yepes y Alvarez, later known as Juan de la Cruz (John of the Cross) Where: Born in Fontiveros, Spain. Died in Ubeda, Spain. When: June 24, 1542-December 14, 1591 Why He is Important: Understood as a prime example of scholasticism and spirituality. What Was Their Main Contribution: John of the Cross is most known for his commentary on his own poetry, of which the Dark Night of the Soul is one of a few main texts. He was jailed and beaten by his religious superiors and escaped to only then write some of his most enduring work. |
