Called to Reconcile

Lent is a season of grace, and I found that I had not prepared anything special for this lent, as a way of sharing an insight or two with the people I am committed to share the spiritual insights. So as I gave a thought to what I would like to do during this lent, so that I could share the same with some others. Coincidentally, the theme that had been ringing in my mind for the past couple of days, as I kept turning the pages of The Shack, was on reconciliation. Perhaps this is one of the most important and significant graces that we could seek from God during the season of Lent. To be reconciled and to reconcile! That is it. It might sound quite simplistic, though the implications of this phrase is far reaching and can turn our life topsy-turvy, if only we allow ourselves to be touched and shaped by the power that is within and without.

I said this is one of the most significant graces we could seek during the lent; one would understand why I said, if we recall to mind one of the two formulations the priest utters as he applies ash on the forehead, Repent (which can be paraphrased as ‘Be reconciled’) and believe in the Gospel. It is an occasion for us to turn to God. But some years ago, the 35 General Congregation of the Jesuits talked about the four-fold reconciliation, which I found quite meaningful : Reconciliation with one self, with the neighbors, with the earth and then with God. This is a wonderful chain of relationship which we need to settle, and for that we need to begin with ourselves. Let me briefly present what the four-fold relationship is calling us to, and how we could respond with greater amount of generosity and openness during the lent.

When we talk about reconciliation, most often we tend to look at our relationship with others, as if we are perfectly in peace with ourselves. If we find it hard to be reconciled with our neighbors (and subsequently with the earth and with God), it is probably because we are not in peace with our own selves; there may be several unreconciled aspects, unredeemed casualties, and unmitigated bargains. There are persons who might have hated their bodies after a bitter childhood experience, and the bitterness might be preventing them from being their true selves. I would like to see myself in the place of Lazar, after Jesus resuscitating my life, and I emerging out of the tomb, and I hear Jesus telling me, unbind him and let him go free! This is a difficult and painful task, to free ourselves from all the false security and hope, and take a leap in faith. The quality of our mission as agents of God’s reconciliation depends on the quality of our reconciliation with our own selves.

Reconciliation with our neighbors is the second level, and it obviously is based on the first level, and here we look at others not as separate entities, but as extension of our own selves. If I have great love and appreciation for my own self, then that would also impel me to have the same kind of appreciation and love for my neighbors. In the novel, The Shack, it takes quite a bit of trouble on the part of the Holy Trinity to help Mack be reconciled with the people who had ill-treated him (his father at his childhood) and the man who had caused cruelty to his daughter Missy. One way how we could enter into reconciling with our neighbors is by climbing down from the seats of judgment that we feel comfortable with. When we look at others as weak and fragile human beings, just like our own selves, then it might not be impossible to forgive others and relink the cycle of relationship with them.

The third layer of reconciliation is a notion which is of late in origin; it is only since the past ten to fifteen years that we have begun to look at this area of our need to be reconciled. No human person can claim innocence of what is happening in the world around. Morally each one of us is responsible for the plundering and decimation of the earth and her resources. We have shamelessly defaced the earth, and are already facing the dire consequences of our stupid actions. We need to remember that each and every action of ours has a repercussion on the face of the earth. Reconciling with the earth invites us to honor the responsibility that God had given to the human beings as the custodian of the earth and not to plunder her resources as if she were an object to be used and abused. St Ignatius of Loyola taught us to find the footprints of God in each and every atom of the earth, and Gerard Manly Hopkins found the earth “charged” with God’s presence. It is time that we take a close look at our relationship with the earth, and cement the union if we had caused division.

The fourth layer obviously is oriented towards our reconciliation with God, the master of the universe; this would be possible only when we have reconciled with other three lower levels. No wonder Jesus told his disciples to place their offerings at the altar and first go and be reconciled with those who might have had a grudge against them. The wonder of this level is that if we had been faithful to be reconciled with our broken selves, our errand neighbors and the bruised earth, then God will take the first step to reach us. Did not St Augustine remind us that God is closer to us than we are to him? How do we know that we are reconciled with God, and that God had taken us close to his heart? If we experience certain amount of peace and tranquility deep within us, then these are the signs that God has reconciled us to himself. In fact, this is the only stage where we do not need to do anything to be reconciled with God, because here God takes the first step to be reconciled with us (cf. 2 Cor 5:18).

The four stages complete the full “circle of relationship” that Young talks about in The Shack, and the fourth stage takes us back to the first level, where we are authentic to our own identity as the true children of God, and enables us to look at the other as extensions of ourselves, and to find the footprints of God in nature, and recognizing him as our ultimate yearning and thirst, the one for whom our heart longs for. It is time to make the circle complete by looking into ourselves and making amends.

Today is the Day (Lent 4)

One of the greatest evils that many a good and virtuous men and women easily fall prey to is procrastination. With all good intentions, these men and women begin to postpone the good work they have thought of and planned for. But by the time they get into action, much of the efficacy of the action is lost, and the work remains just a meaningless action. We have also heard about jurisprudence, that justice delayed is justice denied. We love to wait for opportune moments to embark upon our ambitious plans and projects, and quite often we are surprised to note that the delay often costs us a lot.

We human beings care notoriously known for delaying good actions, and that is why it is said that we should do good works at the very moment we conceive them. There are things which cannot be waited. We should use our conscience to get going, and the season of lent is a reminder which tells us, we cannot wait for too long. The story of Doctor Faustus (based on the medieval play by Christopher Marlowe) is a bitter reminder for all of us to realize that if we wait too long, we would lose the battle; even our bitter appeals to the devil for a minute, or a few seconds would be in vain.

In the Old Testament, we hear God giving ultimatum to the people of Israel to return to him; the people of Nineveh had 40 days to repent and return to the Lord; but if the people were to wait for 35 days to get over and they would do the needful on the last five days, it might be too late for them. But in our case, we do not know how many days we have been given; who knows before our conversion, our time may run late. And hence the urgency that the season of Lent comes with is real and we cannot take it lightly. Today is the favorable time, says prophet Joel, and are we listening to him?

Lent is a season which calls for concrete action; we cannot write pages after pages of resolutions which we would consider putting into practice after the Lent. However noble a resolution be, if it cannot be put into concrete action, then in vain is it. After listening to the cries of our neighbors with empathy, we are called to plunge into action immediately, and here each one will have to estimate what he/she is called to, without comparing one with the other. This action alone can lift the brother and sister who is steeped in pain and sorrow and provide the much needed solace and comfort.

Lent is not a season of high and noble ideals, but is a season of concrete action, where the body, mind and spirit jointly embark upon acts which can benefit humanity at large. When my action and sincere efforts are targeted at my neighbor with utmost empathy can bring down the blessings of God and of the whole of creation. It is also an invitation to live in the eternal present, in com-union with the God of Now, because it is only in the present moment that we can truly encounter God! The action can proceed only when we have listened to the cries of our brothers and sisters with hearts, with empathetic sentiments! This action will again take us to deeper listening and the cycle will go on endlessly, taking us into deeper realization of God's presence in our midst!

Nurturing the Neighbor (Lent 3)

Lent is a beautiful occasion for us to ask ourselves, who is my neighbor! Actually the question that is often on the tip of our lips is nothing new; there are thousands of seekers ahead of us, who have asked the same question, and some 2000 years ago, Jesus had already answered this question with a story, the parable of the Good Samaritan! Here in this story we shall find the elements of the previous two notions, of listening to one’s inner spirit, expressing unconditional empathy, and it leads to yet another level of making the other person as an extension of oneself. The good Samaritan does not see a stranger on the road, but a reflection of himself, part of his own Being. He could not help but reach out to him with spontaneous willingness to suffer.

If there is so much of division, conflict, violence and bloodshed in the world, the most important reason why these things happen is because we have not known who is the other! We are used to looking at the other as someone outside of me! Martin Buber made popular the notion of ‘we’ and ‘they’ and we have cleverly managed to look at ourselves as different from the others. Linguistic groups, religious sects, ethnic communities, thrive because they convince the masses that “we” are different from “they”, and that they cannot sacrifice their group identity at the expense of the other, and that would only lead to their suicide, so they are brainwashed, and the result is conflict, violence and bloodshed.

The Vedas had taught us to look at us as ‘aham brahmasmi’ (I am Brahman), and if I am Brahman, then what about the other? Of course everyone is Brahman; the Greeks had proposed the theory of ‘demigods’, that everyone is an extension of God, or part of Godhead. If I see God in the other person, would I dare to cheat him, look at her with lustful eyes, attempt to rob the little he has, shed his blood in order to rob the house? The very moment I look at myself as God, and so are others, then the entire outlook changes, and I cannot do most of the things that I often take it for granted. And that is where the final judgment scene of Matthew 25 makes sense.

What do I think about my neighbor, especially those with whom I do not feel at ease, people who do not entertain my views and ideas, people who think very different from mine, people who often outshine me in several fields? Until I get out of my own self, I would not be entering into the spirit of Lent, which necessarily invites me to get out of my self, in order to enter into another self, the Self of the other. The world unfortunately, has taught us to love our own self, shower the greatest encomium to our own self and its image, forgetting the other persons are but extensions of my own image and likeness, which again is the image and likeness of God himself.

But is it possible for me to look at the other person, especially my rivals and enemies as extension of my own self? It is, and the season of lent may be a good occasion for us to practice this : all that I should do is to look at the other person as a looking mirror; that is all I need to do! Now when I look at another person (and if he is a looking mirror), what would I see? Of course, the image of my own self, and if that is the case, would I dare to harm him or her? Would I dare to rob his/her possessions? Here I would go beyond all narrow categories the world has created for me, the linguistic, regional, religious, cultural, ethnic, everything will come to a naught as soon as I place a looking mirror. Let us carry this mirror wherever we go, and we can be sure, we are safe, and others are also safe with us!