So a guy is walking down the street in New York City when he is stopped by another fellow who says, “how do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The first fellow replies, “practice, practice, practice”. Okay, old joke I know but it is true that for any great thing, we must practice. So why do we treat our spiritual life any differently?
I remember all of those years ago, 45 now, when I discovered that the Eternal loved me, was alive in me and cared about me that I was told that I had been changed in the twinkling of an eye. I assumed that meant that since I was changed and “saved” that was it, I just had to live a good life and it would all work out. Sadly, so many sermons teach that, so many prosperity gospel preachers teach it. If you are good enough, worthy enough in your behavior you will have all you need. Christ Alone!
I have spent the last 20 plus years getting over those old teachings. I hang out with monks, follow their Charism (their way of doing things and seeing the world) and try to conduct my life a different way. I am learning that the key word is actually “try”. Like getting to Carnegie Hall, I must practice. In my world as a lay Cistercian, it means the liturgy of the hours, lectio divina and being part of not one but two spiritual communities. I have to practice seeing the world and others the way the Eternal does. I have to discipline myself to get up a little earlier and practice my lectio. Being spiritual does not come naturally to any of us. Not me, not you, not Jesus, not the Buddha, not Mohamad, not anyone. Being a civil rights activist did not come naturally do Dr. King or to Gandhi.
I have to practice my faith, daily. I have to practice being joyful and faithful and attentive to the lives of others. I am no different than anyone else, I grew up knowing that church happened on Sunday. It doesn’t just happen, first of all. My experience as a minister and that of my minister daughter has taught me that Sunday is crafted to have the greatest impact on lives. Mass is the same, for the same reason. Worship happens all the time, but to have the most impact, you have to practice. Paul wrote about this, though you might not notice it in this context.
Paul said that he asked God three times to take away his “thorn in the flesh” but all God said was “My grace is sufficient for thee”. I think God was telling Paul (and me) to just keep practicing, keep doing what you are called to do, just keep loving God and your Neighbor as yourself and let grace happen. That is why we practice the faith, practice lectio, practice seeing others as the Eternal sees them because when we do we give Grace a chance to happen.
I am tired of hearing preachers, well meaning though they might be, making the spiritual life out to be something that just happens to us. In my “Jesus Freak” days (yeah I’m that old) I was guilty of doing the same, of handing “tickets out for God” (gospel tracts by the dozens). What I finally figured out was that I was pushing people to see that they had been given a great gift and then leaving them to open it and explore it and make it their own. That is what so many modern preachers are doing, telling people about this great gift that they have already been given and then leaving them to expect to know how to use what is inside without training them or without them practicing.
I must practice every day. But it is a labor of deep love. Like my profession for the last 38 years, I have practiced social work and teaching until, without my really noticing, I have become rather good at it. My deepest prayer is that I shall have many more years to practice the spiritual life. No where is it more important to be a life long learner than at the feet of the Eternal.
TMM