CONTEMPLATIVE ACTIVISTS
Dear Friends in Christ:
A good friend once told me that he thought that clergy were called to be contemplative activists. I would go even further - I believe that all Christians are called to be contemplative activists. I recalled my friend's words when we celebrated the Feast of St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury in the late 10th century and one of three bishops who are described as "contemplatives in action" in Lesser Feasts and Fasts.
We usually think of contemplation - if we think of it at all - as something done by cloistered nuns and monks. While contemplative prayer is a central part of monastic life, many Christians outside monastic communities, clergy and laity alike, make contemplation a regular part of their prayer life. (If you haven't taken part in the contemplative prayer group at Christ the King Seminary led by Fr. John Mergenhagen, you're missing a wonderful opportunity.) For me, and this may not be a traditional way of describing it, contemplation is prayer that increases our ability to see the world clearly, to see it as God sees it. In contemplative prayer we step away from the busy-ness of the world, not to escape the world, but to see it with God's vision. And what God sees is not simply what's there already, but also what is coming into being. In contemplation we open ourselves to new possibilities, to the always-new reality of the Kingdom of God in our midst. In contemplative prayer we catch glimpses of the new things that God is doing in this world. And it's those glimpses, those signs of the Kingdom that prompt us to act. If God is doing a new thing, then I want to be part of it, I want to get in the action.
We have seen over the past fifty years - if we have the eyes to see - signs of the Kingdom on the pages of our newspapers and on the evening news on television. And there are some signs that never make the news, but are no less real. Here are a few of them:
- The Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education.
- The courage and perseverance of civil rights activists who worked - and continue to work - to end injustice and segregation in the South and the North.
- The breaking down of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet empire.
- The end of apartheid and the first all-race elections in South Africa.
- The heroic actions of first responders at the World Trade Center on September 11.
- The day in and day out work of staff and volunteers at soup kitchens and homeless shelters.
- And the list could go on and on.
In his inaugural sermon at his home synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus took as his text familiar words from the prophet Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." (Luke 4:18-19) As Jesus looked at the world in which he lived, he saw that world as the Father saw it, saw those situations of oppression where God's message of freedom was to be proclaimed, saw suffering people to whom he could bring God's healing love, and saw people who were lost whom he could find and bring home into the Father's love. As Jesus was sent into the world, so are we sent. That same Spirit is upon us and we are called, as contemplative activists, to proclaim the Good News of God's Kingdom of love and justice.
Your brother and priest,
Daniel+
