One of the simplest, and most profound things I have read which sticks in mind is taken from the Daily Roman Missal, a contemplation on the Second Luminous Mystery.
The greatness of God lives at the level of ordinary things.
This I find particularly meaningful as relating to an experience I had, one Christmas Eve in the mid 1980’s while living in Memphis, TN. I was attending Christmas Eve Mass at The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. I had arrived early so that I could enjoy the choir’s performance ahead of Mass and was sitting in a pew alone. While listening to the performance, a young man sat down next to me. I thought nothing of this until I notice how deeply he was struggling. Tears filled his eyes as he hung his head and openly sobbed. I had no idea what troubled him. However, his pain was clear. With every fiber of my being, I knew that if I were to reach out to him, lay my hand upon his arm, and simply let him know, he is not alone, he would find some level of comfort, perhaps only for a moment. Just a very simple, “ordinary thing”, letting him know that someone cared, that he was not alone. The power of a simple act of compassion offered by a stranger to a stranger. Nothing we don’t do every day through a handshake, a nod of the head, a smile. What could be more appropriate, more Christian, more humane than in the House of Our Father, than to simply acknowledge the needs of my brother in Christ? Rather, I did nothing. I sat next to this struggling soul and simply turned a blind eye. My inaction is one of the deepest regrets that, to this day, I carry with me. I failed him and I failed to live as God asks.
Hear what the Lord Jesus Christ saith:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
I look back and am still unsure as to why I sat actionless. Perhaps my inaction revolved around a lack of knowledge, a reticence to become involved, a weakness of spirit or a lack of humility.
As a Christian, as a Catholic we are called to live by three theological virtues infused by God. These virtues are the very foundation of our moral life. They define the very essence of our actions. Faith, Hope, and Charity. Of these Charity is the greatest of all. Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.
I often look back at this encounter and am deeply saddened knowing that I failed to be charitable. I recall what is said in Mathew 25: 40-43
And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'
The Lord was present that day, sitting next to me in the pew, head hung low, weeping and I did nothing. I simply sat in silence. Rather than offering even the simplest act of compassion, a caring look, a handshake, a word of comfort, a very “ordinary thing”, the simplest act of charity, I looked away. And he rose from the pew and quickly left. I was cold, callus and uncaring. I did not greet God where he was, present to me in this young man.
Every day the Lord comes to us, most often in the simplest and most ordinary ways. When our spouse comes home from a hard day and is looking for the comfort of a listening partner. When our children come to us with a school paper, hoping to share their excitement over a good grade. When a parent is in need of our company or a helping hand. When a homeless person is in need of some spare change. We are called to be present, to be compassionate, to be charitable. We are called to follow the example that Jesus Christ set for us and commands of us, to love thy neighbor as thyself.
As you know, this past September I made my final oblation in association with Holy Cross Monastery. It is as an Oblate I hope to better live my faith through the Benedictine charism and promises of Obedience, Stability, and Conversion of Life.
The first paragraph of The Rule of Benedict reads:
Listen carefully, my child, to my instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice from one who loves you; welcome it and faithfully put it into practice.
I have always felt a strong pull to something more, something greater, yet something ordinary. I am discovering this “something” as an Oblate and through putting the Benedictine practices into action. I do not want to be that person who, on a cold Christmas Eve, sat in the pew and turned a blind eye to my brother.
We as family are offered a unique gift. A gift that I far to often take for granted. We are offered the great gift of one another. Sometimes ordinary. Sometimes geographically distanced. Not always seeing eye to eye. Not always an easy relationship. But always family. Always held close in thought, and in prayer. Always loved! Seldom do I express that love but it is always held in my heart.
As with my failure of charity with that young man on that Christmas eve in Memphis, I have also frequently failed each of you. Some far more than others. I have been cold, careless, distant, unsympathetic and perhaps on occasion, intentional in my failings and have caused you pain.
As Benedict says in the prologue of The Rule,
we’re all at the beginning—all the time.
I ask that through forgiveness of the pain and hardship that I have caused you, a renewal and strengthening of the bond of family, a new beginning can emerge.
It is in this spirt, the spirt of charity, that I offer my love to each of you.
Merry Christmas,
Send Comments: boniface@oblate.info