Spring 2008
Kansas Monks
Sitting at the feet of Jesus The shared search for freedom By Prior James Albers Vocation Director Pope Benedict XVI, at the beginning of his encyclical Spe salvi (“Saved by Hope”), released before Advent last year, speaks of the virtues of Faith and Hope being synonymous. To this idea he adds, Faith is not merely a personal reaching out towards things to come that are still totally absent: it gives us something. It gives us even now something of the reality we are waiting for… Faith draws the future into the present, so that it is no longer simply a ‘not yet.’ The fact that this future exists changes the present; the present is touched by the future reality, and thus the things of the future spill over into those of the present and those of the present into those of the future. The Holy Father said this Faith allowed early Christians to abandon the material substances that sustained them in the present world for a “substance” that endured. This abandonment of self provided a new freedom that “is revealed… in the great acts of renunciation, from the monks of ancient times to… those of our contemporaries who enter modern religious Institutes and movements and leave everything for love of Christ, so as to bring to men and women the faith and love of Christ…” While reading the Pope’s encyclical, I used for Lectio a passage from the gospel story of Martha and Mary. A parallel was drawn in my prayer between what Pope Benedict
was offering and what the gospel shared. Martha moving busily about the house makes preparations for their time with Jesus, while Mary sits at the Lord’s feet listening to what he has to say. And we know that when Martha asks Jesus to encourage Mary to help with the tasks at hand, he responds, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” Martha is so caught up in her routine as host she loses sight of what choices she has before her. God, in Jesus Christ, is in her presence, and she fails to realize the need to dwell in that presence. As monks, we are called in our search to be in the constant presence of Christ. It is there that we develop a very personal relationship with him through our prayer, work, and above all in listening for his response. This is the freedom of which Pope Benedict speaks: to renounce the things of the world, along with our anxieties and worries, so that we can freely choose to be in the presence of God. God invites us into this presence, bringing us “new freedom” where “things of the future spill over into those of the present.” In this we are given a deeper relationship with God on our pilgrimage to Calvary, and beyond, to Easter and eternal life. God sent his only Son to save us by his Passion and death; to show us through his own life that our lives have meaning; that God loves us; that despite all our failings, no matter how dark, he cherishes us as his sons and daughters;
that our sacrifices have purpose; that we each have dignity; and that death is never the end of who we are. The daily interior struggle that we each live with is that we ache for “something more.” It is a natural longing for happiness, but we recognize that we can’t be happy alone. We need common life together. We long for that communion in the Body of Christ, that friendship with one another in Christ’s presence. And that is what Mary experienced in the opportunity to sit at the feet of Jesus; the fulfillment of that ache for “something more.” This is the longing of the monk, a shared search for Christ in community—friendships with confreres that lead us to communion with God. Our challenge comes in discerning when God is calling us to sacrifice more, to renounce ourselves to have the freedom to be in Christ’s
presence, to turn away from our own desire and embrace the will of God. Our challenge is to have the courage and humility to ask for the grace to seek out those moments, and throw ourselves into them. God encourages us to dethrone the distractions that keep our hearts restless and empty. If we strive to be in Christ’s presence, to make room for the real King, he’ll do much more than fill the void. He’ll make us what he intended us to be: saints. So let us live our journey not with anxiety and worry, but in peace, refocusing our lives on that which really matters eternally—friendship with God. May we each have the courage and humility to seek God’s will for us, and the strength of good habit to follow it. May we find that Easter hope leading to our salvation and granting us true freedom in Christ our Lord. 9
