Sometimes the way before me seems
daunting, perhaps even overwhelming. I
sense in myself that which would ward off the adventures that are offered to
me; a temptation to succumb to fears and lethargy. I recognize it for what it is and it slinks off
to hide in a corner hoping that having seen it I will be satisfied with understanding
it and not take action to counter it.
“Be gone adversary! (hypagay
satana!)”.
In a literal rendering of a Psalm I
find that prayer is the only safe way to meet the challenges ahead of me, “But
as for me, I am prayer” (Psalm 109:3).
Not merely praying, but at times of stress and great challenge to let
prayer and the Presence of God so dominate my being that I can put my fears and
lethargy aside. To be prayer in this
sense is to hide oneself at the very outset in the Presence of God.
Let me give you some basic
principles for dealing with the problem.
O bone Jesu,
exaudi me.
Intra tua
vulnera absconde me.
Ne permittas me
separari a te.
O good Jesus,
hear me.
Within Thy
wounds hide me.
Suffer me not
to be separated from Thee.[i]
To be
hidden in the wounds of Christ is to live in His forgiveness. The starting place in every spiritual
adventure is the acknowledgement that we are fundamentally needy. The Psalmist says, “I am a man who has no
strength,”[ii]
and, “I am shut in so that I cannot escape,”[iii]
and again, “I am helpless.”[iv] But more than that is the personal awareness
that comes from contact with the Holy, “I know my transgressions, and my sin is
ever before me.”[v] So very often our human experience teaches us
that we need a hiding place; that is, if we are spiritually aware, and those
who are aware know that they need a hiding place.
If there is anything that will hinder
adventure it is the sense of our own inadequacy and sinfulness; for that reason
“Within Thy wounds hide me, Suffer me not to be separated from Thee.” If we are
to take the adventure before us it is necessary to be hidden in the wounds of
Christ. “Intra tua vulnera absconde me. Ne permittas me separari a te.”
Let me share with you four axioms about the nature of love:
“Love cannot be lazy.”[vi]
“Idleness
is the enemy of the soul.”[vii]
“We cannot live
in love by being lazy.”[viii]
“Love is
meant to be lived to the full, not denied.”[ix]
It is not
enough just to consider the axioms about the nature of love and laziness. There are times that what is needed is a
decision, and an effort, to counter the inertia that would hinder us from
taking the next step in our adventure, so let me add one further axiom about
action:
“Do two
things every day that you don’t want to do, just for the exercise.”[x]
That is a small thing but it actually works. Doing one thing isn’t quite enough to break
the inertia. Doing three things might actually be a little too much challenge
when we are stuck, but doing two things every day just for the exercise is
something within our reach..
The prophet Jeremiah drew many of his insights from the
world around him. We read,
“The word that came to Jeremiah
from the LORD: ‘Arise, and go down to
the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ So I went down to the potter's house, and
there he was working at his wheel.[xi]
Have you
ever watched a potter at work? Strong
hands mold the clay as the wheel spins.
If the potter feels a lump in the clay that will spoil the pot, the
potter will take a potter’s knife and scrape the clay off the wheel and move it
to a side board where he pounds and beats the clay until the lump is worked
out. If the lump cannot be worked out
with reasonable effort the potter throws it aside in a pile of clay to sit for
a while before attempting to once more to pound the clay out. Jeremiah observes:
And the vessel he was making of
clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel,
as it seemed good to the potter to do.[xii]
Often our
lives are marred by our own willfulness and we need to be remade; that is the
very essence of the work of redemption.
It is also the nature of human beings to resist being remade. After all who enjoys a good pounding, lumps
or not? Here let me add a caution. Even if we don’t care for the idea that God,
as the Good Potter, will pound out our lumps, don’t worry, life will do it
anyway. That’s just the way things
work. The human tragedy is our
propensity for stubbornness. Some people
never surrender to the pounding of either God or life; they are like clay that
is ultimately thrown into the refuse pile, never to be picked up again. The Lord, through the prophet Jeremiah, doesn’t
want us to miss His challenge:
Then the word of the LORD came to
me: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do
with you as this potter has done?’ declares the LORD. ‘Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand,
so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.’[xiii]
You might
find this all very alarming. What helps
me is knowing that He who offers to remake me, both created me and knows me
thoroughly. Again the Psalmist says,
O LORD, you have searched me and
known me! You know when I sit down and
when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and
are acquainted with all my ways. Even
before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay
your hand upon me. [xiv]
An interesting example of God’s
redeeming and transforming grace is in St. Paul’s letter to Philemon. A slave named Onesimus has run away from his
master Philemon who is a leader in the Church in Colossae. Onesimus name means “useful”, but he was a
useless and rebellious servant. Onesimus
ends up in Rome where Paul is living under house arrest. Paul writes:
I appeal to you for my child,
Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he
is indeed useful to you and to me.) [xv]
Paul enjoys
the occasional word play, he says, that formerly he was Achrestos (Useless) to
you, but now he is indeed Onesimus (Useful) to you and to me. The intent of Paul’s letter is not that
Onesimus be returned to slavery, but that Philemon will both forgive him and free
him. The challenge for Onesimus is
getting out the door and heading for Colossae to meet with Philemon. Onesimus received God’s forgiveness first,
and then the forgiveness of Philemon; but we should not underestimate the risk
that was involved.
We also see in Paul’s letter to
Colossae that Onesimus is charged with sharing with Tychicus the responsibility
of telling the Colossians about the activities of Paul, and he calls Onesimus,
“our faithful and beloved brother.”[xvi]
His restoration places him in a new
position with a new adventure, living as a free man and taking a responsible
role in the life of the local congregation.
That took both courage and the grace of God.
What was necessary for Onesimus to
take the adventure before him? He had to
face his inadequacies and sinfulness. He
had to hide himself in the wounds of Christ and live in forgiveness. He had to do two things he didn’t want to do;
he had to go out the door, and he had to go all the way to Colossae to meet
with Philemon.
A Prayer of
Self-Dedication
Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to thee, so
guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be
wholly thine, utterly dedicated unto thee; and then use us, we pray thee, as
thou wilt, and always to thy glory and the welfare of thy people; through our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
[i] The Anima Christi
Anima
Christi, sanctifica me.
Corpus
Christi, salva me.
Sanguis
Christi, inebria me.
Aqua
lateris Christi, lava me.
Passio
Christi, conforta me.
O
bone Jesu, exaudi me.
Intra
tua vulnera absconde me.
Ne
permittas me separari a te.
Ab
hoste maligno defende me.
In
hora mortis meae voca me.
Et
iube me venire ad te,
Ut
cum Sanctis tuis laudem te.
In
saecula saeculorum. Amen
Soul
of Christ, sanctify me.
Body
of Christ, save me.
Blood
of Christ, inebriate me.
Water
from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion
of Christ, strengthen me.
O
good Jesus, hear me.
Within
Thy wounds hide me.
Suffer
me not to be separated from Thee.
From
the malignant enemy, defend me.
In
the hour of my death, call me.
And
bid me come to Thee.
That
with Thy saints I may praise Thee
Forever
and ever. Amen
[ii] Psalm 88:4
[iii] Psalm 88:8
[iv] Psalm 88:15
[v] Psam 51:3
[vi] Jan van Ruysbroek
[vii] St. Augustine
[viii] St. Benedict
[ix] Dom Anselm
[x] Attributed to Abraham
Lincoln
[xi] Jeremiah 18:1-3
[xii] Jeremiah 18:4
[xiii] Jeremiah 18:5,6
[xiv] Psalm 139:1-5
[xv] Philemon 1:10-11
[xvi] Colossians 4:7-9
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