Looking After One's Self
I am sure all of us, at some stage in our life, have felt exhausted. We may have had a busy week, or it maybe the result of abnormal exercise, or we have been trying to balance a sudden rush of demands upon our life. Whatever the cause, it feels great, doesn't it, when you can finally sit down, close the door, turn off the phone or laptop – and simply be.
Such moments also highlights the importance of having clear boundaries on how we manage our time and availability. Such boundaries are important and necessary, if only to keep us, and our relationships, healthy. However, the demands of work, family, or the organisations we belong to, and commitments we make, often demand first place in our life. The result is that the lines between meeting our own needs, and meeting the desires of others, get blurred – and one day you wake up and realise you feel exhausted and taken for granted.
In my last Blog, I wrote of how Jesus and the disciples were caught in a sudden storm that often arose on the sea of Galilee. The seasoned disciples who were used to sailing on that lake seemed to forget they were seasoned fishermen, and rather than relying on their sailing skills, they were overwhelmed by a sense of impending danger and death. The author of Mark's Gospel uses the story to remind the reader that in Jesus we also may find healing, new life and hope in the face of the struggles and fears we may face. This is something the author of Mark's Gospel continually reminds us as he records one story of human need after another. And in each unique situation Jesus was able to meet and resolve that situation and need. However, Mark wanted us not just to read his Gospel – but to also include our life story into the text, so that we also might live with the promise of new hope and new life. For God will never abandon us either, regardless of who we are or what we have done. This is also the key point Mark is making – and it is all part of the Gospel's Good News!.
Joan Chittister once made a similar observation in her book, “Sacred by Struggle Transformed by Hope”. She wrote:
If struggle is the process of evolution from spiritual emptiness to spiritual wisdom, hope is the process as well. Hope, the response of the spiritual person to struggle, takes us from the risk of inner stagnation, of emotional despair, to a total transformation of life.
There is no failure except in no longer trying; no defeat except from within; no really insurmountable barriers save our own inherent weakness of purpose...
There is a capacity of the human heart to persist. We endure not because there is no struggle to obstruct it but the struggle sharpens its focus and makes clear its meaning. (https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/)
I believe life can be like that for all of us. The challenge when faced with Life's seeming impossibilities, is to learn endurance – for there is no easy escape. We may be stretched to the limits of our endurance; we may be challenge to the core of who we are – including our faith. This is what the Gospel writer is reminding his disciples and us also.
Yet God does not abandon us.
Something I have found helpful in making sense of this 'Gospel Hope' – especially in times of change, uncertainty and transition – is the framework offered by Creation Spirituality.. Creation Spirituality offers us Four Paths or Four Ways of Being. They are referred to as Via Positiva; Via Negativa; Via Creativa and Via Transformativa.
Via Posativa reminds us that God is in everything – a belief that also lies at the Heart of Franciscan Spirituality. When we are able to comprehend this truth, it widens the door of our perception, enabling us to begin to see and comprehend that everything is holy, because everything is a carrier of God. We discover that God is in fact the unifying field in which holds everything together.
Via Negativa reminds us that if God is in everything then we are never left alone. Jesus is still present and will always be 'our Way' even in the difficult, hard and painful moments that Life may throw at us – especially in these moments of darkness.
Via Creativa: Meister Eckhart (1260-1328), the German Theologian, philosopher and mystic, was once asked by an inquirer: “Then what is it that will remain (in these times of struggle and testing)?” And he replied: “That which is inborn in us remains.” Meaning, that which we give birth to from out of our depths (of suffering and struggle) will be that which lives on after us. Because what is born from within us will include our most intimate moments— our intimacy with ourselves, with God, with the Creative Spirit, and with others. Because when we recognise these moments of profound intimacy we are also drawn very close to the Divine presence within us, and we are also able to see and share the Divine presence with he community in which we live. For this reason, our Creativity becomes our prayer and our praise.
Via Transformativea: This fourth path reminds us that if we have experienced God in the joys and blessings of life; and if we have known the presence of God in the darker moments that life throws at us; and if we are able to weave these darker parts of ourselves, (including the stories we may not like so much about ourselves); then we enable these creative actions to become a renewing and transforming presence in our world — especially in the areas that seek compassion and Justice.
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