{"id":20457,"date":"2021-09-06T10:43:53","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T14:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20457"},"modified":"2021-09-06T10:46:38","modified_gmt":"2021-09-06T14:46:38","slug":"20457","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20457","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bubmt0bSc4U\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Richard Rohr&#8217;s Daily Meditation<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>From the Center for Action and Contemplation<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/email.cac.org\/t\/d-l-abdlkl-tlkriywur-r\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.cmail19.com\/ei\/d\/B5\/179\/6E8\/020858\/csfinal\/LifeasParticipiation_CM-9900000000079e3c.jpg\" alt=\"Image credit: Manuel \u00c1lvarez Bravo, Figuras en el Castillo (detail), 1920, photograph, Wikiart.\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Week Thirty-Six: Life as Participation<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Being Instruments of God<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Almost twenty years ago, I gave a series of talks called&nbsp;<em>Great Themes of Paul: Life as Participation<\/em>, which I still think is one of the most important sets I ever made. Paul\u2019s conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3\u20136) was dramatic and utterly life-changing. In my opinion, the resulting insights from this initial experience became central to all he taught for the rest of his life. While most of us experience many smaller transformations throughout our lives, the result should be the same. With only a few updates to my language, this is how I described it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before conversion, we tend to think that God is&nbsp;<em>out there.<\/em>&nbsp;After transformation, God is not&nbsp;<em>out there<\/em>and we don\u2019t look&nbsp;<em>at<\/em>&nbsp;reality. We look&nbsp;<em>from<\/em>&nbsp;reality. We\u2019re in the middle of it now; we\u2019re a part of it. This whole thing is what I call&nbsp;<em>the mystery of participation<\/em>. Paul is obsessed by the idea that we\u2019re all already participating in something. I\u2019m not writing the story by myself. I\u2019m a character inside of a story that is being written in cooperation with God and the rest of humanity. This changes everything about how we see our lives. If we\u2019re writing the story on our own, we think we\u2019ve got to write it right. We\u2019ve got to be clever, we\u2019ve got to figure it out. If anything goes wrong, we\u2019ve only got ourselves to blame. That\u2019s a terrible way to live, even though a high degree of Christians do. And I would call that bad news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The good news is a completely different experience of life. A participatory theology says, \u201cI am being used, I am actively being chosen, I am being led.\u201d It is not about joining a new denomination or having an ecstatic moment. After authentic conversion, you know that&nbsp;<em>your life is not about you; you are about life!&nbsp;<\/em>You\u2019re an instance in this agony and ecstasy of God that is already happening inside you, and&nbsp;<em>all you can do is say yes to it<\/em>. That\u2019s all. That\u2019s conversion and it changes everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This idea of participating in the goodness and continual unfolding of God\u2019s creation reminds me of the prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi that begins, \u201cMake me a channel (or instrument) of your peace.\u201d &nbsp;I remember being so delighted when I learned my last name, \u201cRohr,\u201d is the German word for \u201cconduit\u201d or \u201cpipe\u201d! As I\u2019ve often said, I\u2019m just a mouth in the Body of Christ. That\u2019s my only gift. Before talks I try to pray that God will get me out of the way so God\u2019s message will get through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking back on my life, I can see that God did everything. God even used my mistakes to bring me to God and God\u2019s wisdom to others! I hope this week will inspire you to look at what has happened when you also said yes to participating as God\u2019s instrument in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Participating in Original Goodness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Everyone and every thing is created in the \u201cimage of God.\u201d This is the objective connection or \u201cdivine DNA\u201d given by God equally to all creatures at the moment of their conception. The philosopher Owen Barfield (1898\u20131997) called this phenomenon \u201coriginal participation.\u201d [1] We could also call it original innocence, unwoundedness, or use Matthew Fox\u2019s brilliant term, \u201coriginal blessing.\u201d As Genesis 1 clearly and repeatedly states, creation is good. So how do we first see and then practice this original goodness?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul gives us an answer. He says, \u201cThere are only three things that last: faith, hope, and love\u201d (1 Corinthians 13:13). In Roman Catholic theology we called these three essential attitudes the \u201ctheological virtues,\u201d because they are a \u201cparticipation in the very life of God.\u201d They are given freely by God, \u201cinfused\u201d into us at our conception. In this understanding, faith, hope, and love are far more defining of the human person than the \u201cmoral virtues,\u201d which are the various good behaviors we learn as we grow older. For all of their poor formulations, Orthodox and Catholic Christianity still offer humanity a foundationally positive anthropology. We are made out of the faith, hope, and love of God\u2014to increase faith, hope, and love in this world. If you have a negative anthropology, as some Reformers, and many cynical Catholics do, even a good theology cannot really undo it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the very beginning, faith, hope, and love are planted deep within our nature\u2014indeed they&nbsp;<em>are&nbsp;<\/em>our very nature (Romans 5:5; 8:14\u201317).&nbsp;<em>The<\/em>&nbsp;<em>Christian life is simply a matter of becoming who we already are<\/em>&nbsp;(1 John 3:1\u20132; 2 Peter 1:3\u20134). But we have to awaken, allow, and advance this core identity by saying a conscious yes to it and drawing upon it as a reliable and Absolute Source. Again,&nbsp;<em>image<\/em>&nbsp;must become&nbsp;<em>likeness. We must participate in the process!&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I offer these words from Ilia Delio who draws her insights from her deep study of the Jesuit scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881\u20131955):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Teilhard held that God is at the heart of cosmological and biological life, the depth and center of everything that exists. . . . Our nature is already endowed with grace, and thus our task is to be attentive to that which is within and that which is without\u2014mind and heart\u2014so that we may contribute to building up the world in love. Every action can be sacred action if [it] is rooted in love, and in this way, both Christians and non-Christians can participate in the emerging body of Christ. . . .<\/p><p>Our lives have meaning and purpose. . . . We either help build this world up in love or tear it apart. Either way, we bear the responsibility for the world\u2019s future, and thus we bear responsibility for God\u2019s life as well. [2]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words,&nbsp;<em>we matter<\/em>. We simply have to choose to trust reality, which is to finally trust both ourselves and God. They must work as one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"336\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/image-1-500x336.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20458\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/image-1-500x336.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/image-1-300x201.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/image-1-768x516.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/image-1.png 1838w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Rohr&#8217;s Daily Meditation From the Center for Action and Contemplation Week Thirty-Six: Life as Participation Being Instruments of God Almost twenty years ago, I gave a series of talks called&nbsp;Great Themes of Paul: Life as Participation, which I still think is one of the most important sets I ever made. Paul\u2019s conversion on the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20457"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20457"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20460,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20457\/revisions\/20460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}