ON BEING A DELIGHT

Dear Friends in Christ:

 “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.” (Isaiah 65:18)

It may be hard – even well nigh impossible – for us to think of ourselves as being delightful, especially to God, but I believe that’s how God wants us to see ourselves. God delights in us, even though God knows all our failings, all our sins. James Alison, a Roman Catholic theologian whom I heard at this year’s Trinity Institute, put it this way: “It seems me that the doctrine of the incarnation of our Lord, the image of God coming among us as the likeness of humans, is a strong statement that the divine regard is one of liking us, here and now, as we are.” (On Being Liked, page 107)

I think that one of the challenges of the Christian life, and perhaps most especially in Lent, is to clear away anything that keeps us from seeing that we are each of us a delight to God. One thing that gets in the way is the problem sin, but not just our sins themselves but how we see ourselves as we face those sins, those failings. Do we see ourselves as beloved of God even when we sin, or do we question, when we face our sins, if God could love such a sinner. When I was a student chaplain in a mental hospital, a patient whom I did not know asked me if God could forgive him. I asked him if he had ever murdered anyone. Somewhat surprised by my question, he said that he hadn’t. I assured him that if God forgave St. Paul, who had many followers of Jesus put to death, God could forgive him. I don’t think, more than thirty years later, that my answer was a very good one, but I do think the patient’s question is all too common, even if rarely put into words. All of us have had, at times, the thought that we are unlovable, that God could never love us, could never forgive us. And for some of us, I suspect, that thought is almost a constant companion.

When I attended my first Cursillo weekend, one of the most significant moments came as we were praying with the Stations of the Cross. I saw, perhaps more clearly than ever before, that I was beloved of God. Now, each time I pray the Stations, that awareness is renewed and I come to see myself, at least a little, as Jesus sees me. The renewal of my awareness of God’s incredible love for me is something I need over and over again. I get forgetful. I let life’s inevitable disappointments and my awareness of my failings and sins become a cloud that keeps me from seeing and experiencing God’s love. Mary, a dear friend of mine in Massachusetts, once saw that the cloud was keeping me from seeing God’s love and she left this note on my office door: “Daniel, you are the Father’s amazing gift to Jesus.” When I read her note, I laughed and cried and the cloud began to break and the light of God’s love began to reach me once again.

I hope that our Lenten disciplines will help to break up the clouds that keep us from seeing and experiencing God’s abundant love for us. Some suggestions are in “Keeping a Holy Lent” elsewhere in The Apostle. What is key to keeping a holy Lent is doing whatever it is that helps clear away the clouds, that renews our awareness of God’s love, that helps us to know that we are, each of us, no exceptions, a delight to God.

Your brother and priest,

Daniel