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Exploring the word

31 Jul 2011 - Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

CERTAIN SCRIPTURE PASSAGES can make us feel rather foolish. Listening to the prophet today we realize we’ve all been thirsty—and yet have, at times, obstinately and self-destructively refused to “come to the water.” More often than we’d like to admit, we’ve squandered our resources on “what is not bread” and can’t hope to sustain us. “The hand of the Lord feeds us,” the psalmist insists; that doesn’t imply that you and I come to the table of plenty to be fed. Imagine being one of the 5,000 gathered before Jesus at that fateful hour by the Sea of Galilee. Your stomach is growling after a long day of teaching, and food is freely being offered around. Would you pass the basket without taking something from it? What an absurd choice that would be! Yet we do these things and some even more ridiculous. Because the banquet of God’s word is before us, full of rich fare, and we may ignore it. The sacraments are offered lavishly for our help week after week, and we may say: later. The community of faith gathers with its centuries-old deposit of faith, and we may choose to be lone rangers on the God-quest. What will separate us from the love of Christ? Paul asks. Not the deep life-crisis; not a worldly threat; not cosmic powers; and not even death. The only thing that can separate us from Christ is self-will—a thing that Paul does not mention in his list of dangers. Christ will not separate himself from us, but we can choose to separate ourselves from Christ, and it’s a relatively simple uncoupling. “The only thing that burns in hell is self-will”: So asserts the Theologia Germanica, an anonymous 16th-century document emerging from the same spiritual movement that produced the mystical theologian Meister Eckhart. Hell doesn’t have many fans these days, at least in its popular rendering as an eternal fiery torment. But when self-will pits itself against God’s will, we’re about to get burned, no matter what you care to call it. Jesus chose his Father’s will above his own and is now united by that common will for all eternity. When we separate ourselves from Christ, we’re making a far different choice. That demonstrates the remarkable autonomy of human freedom: You and I can do what even angels and principalities can’t do, what even death is unable to achieve. Jesus puts his very life in our hands, but we can refuse it. He passes the basket of plenty, but we can decline the invitation. He offers us love that’s stronger than death, but we can, if we insist, look elsewhere. 18th Sunday us from Christ is self-will—a thing that Paul does not mention in his list of dangers. Christ will not separate himself from us, but we can choose to separate ourselves from Christ, and it’s a relatively simple uncoupling. “The only thing that burns in hell is self-will”: So asserts the Theologia Germanica, an anonymous 16th-century document emerging from the same spiritual movement that produced the mystical theologian Meister Eckhart. Hell doesn’t have many fans these days, at least in its popular rendering as an eternal fiery torment. But when self-will pits itself against God’s will, we’re about to get burned, no matter what you care to call it. Jesus chose his Father’s will above his own and is now united by that common will for all eternity. When we separate ourselves from Christ, we’re making a far different choice. That demonstrates the remarkable autonomy of human freedom: You and I can do what even angels and principalities can’t do, what even death is unable to achieve. Jesus puts his very life in our hands, but we can refuse it. He passes the basket of plenty, but we can decline the invitation. He offers us love that’s stronger than death, but we can, if we insist, look elsewhere. Related scripture links A healthy approach to fear: Matt. 10:26-31; Luke 12:32; John 6:20; 1 John 4:18 Jesus on material concerns: Matt. 6:25-33; Luke 12:22-31 Our reconciliation in Christ: Eph. 2:14-18; Col. 1:19-20 Time cannot separate us: Heb. 13:8 Jesus is the power above other powers: Phil. 2:9-11; Col. 1:16-18 Sufficiency: John 4:13-14, 6:35, 8:12, 11:25; 2 Cor. 12:9-10; Phil. 4:19 Catechism links No charge for grace: CCC 2121 Eucharist: CCC 1322-1336, 1397

Authors Alice Camille

Bread separate from christ paul Hell meister eckhart self-will God's will

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13 Mar 2022 - Second Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

Make ready for the Christ, Whose smile, like lightning, sets free the song of everlasting glory that now sleeps, in your paper flesh, like dynamite. —Thomas Merton I never spoke with God, / Nor visited in heaven; / Yet certain am I of the spot / As if the chart were given. —Emily Dickinson Some people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow and to love him as they love their cow—they love their cow for the milk and the cheese and the profit it makes them. This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort. —Meister Eckhart

thomas merton Emily Dickinson meister eckhart

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09 Oct 2022 - Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough. —Meister Eckhart While the world changes, the cross stands firm. —Saint Bruno I used to believe in God. Now I believe in God alone. —Gustave Thibon

meister eckhart

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12 Nov 2023 - Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

God is not found in the soul by adding anything, but by a process of subtraction. —Meister Eckhart The Wisdom of God . . . comes forth, reaching from "end to end mightily." She wills to be also the unseen pivot of all nature, the center and significance of all the light that is in all and for all. —Thomas Merton, "Hagia Sophia" Because this coming lies between the other two, it is like a road on which we travel from the first coming to the last. In the first, Christ was our redemption; in the last, he will appear as our life; in this middle coming, he is our rest and consolation. —Saint Bernard of Clairvaux The times we find ourselves having to wait on others may be the perfect opportunities to train ourselves to wait on the Lord. —Joni Eareckson Tada

meister eckhart thomas merton saint bernard of clairvaux

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22 Sep 2024 - Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

God is not found in the soul by adding anything, but by a process of subtraction. —Meister Eckhart Love the children first, and then teach them. —Saint Mother Theodore Guerin

meister eckhart mother guerin

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