Hear the Ancient Wisdom. Charles Ringma
Communion is sharing in Christ present with us under the elements of bread and wine. And as such, Christ is truly our spiritual food and drink.
Reflection
Only speak the Word, Lord, and I will be healed.
Romans 8:5–6
March 13
Nature and Grace
The movement of what is natural in us leads only to the self. The dynamic of grace invites us to reach out in love to the other. What is natural to us turns in on itself. Grace is always expansive in its generosity.
To suggest that there is only a singular movement in us is to deny both the witness of the biblical story and the reality of the human condition. We are capable of great good and disastrous evil.
What is clear is that the human being, far from being centered and whole, is instead a conflicted creature. There are contrary forces in the human heart.
Thomas à Kempis understood this well through his own reflections on the biblical story, his own life, and his formation of novices in the
religious life. He writes, “nature accomplishes everything for its own gain and profit [and] does nothing without receiving recompense. . . . Grace, however, seeks nothing temporal, asks for no reward other than God Himself.”72
All of this is not to say that naturally we can’t do good. We can and we do. But we are also still on about ourselves. Grace brings a new dimension, however. This is living life out of a deep gratitude because we have been loved into a new existence and have been redeemed by the Christ who gave his life to gain our freedom and healing.
Prayer
Lord, may my life be marked by your grace and my gratitude, and may I live for your glory and the blessing of others. Amen.
Psalm 61:4
March 14
God’s Protection
The Christian life is lived not simply by worship and obedience, but also by God’s sustaining goodness and protection. And, therefore, think of Christ as a shield before and behind you.
The life of spirituality begins in faith birthed by grace. Grace is the life-giving action of God’s goodness in our lives. The impact of this
goodness is the movement toward relationship, renewal, and healing.
Living the Christian life also has to do with participation in the Christian community and in practicing the spiritual disciplines. This
empowers us for the journey of growth and for the challenges of witness and service.
But there is also more to the Christian life. An underlying theme is not what we are and do, but what God does in holding us safe.
St. Augustine understood this. He writes, “But see, O Lord, we are thy little flock. Possess us, stretch thy wings above us, and let us take refuge under them. Be thou our glory; let us be loved for thy sake.”73
This is a prayer. It is a prayer we are invited to pray all of our lives. And it is a prayer we pray not only for ourselves but for the church both local and universal. It is a prayer that recognizes our vulnerability and our need of God’s protection and care.
Prayer
Lord, you are the giver of life. Grant us the power of your Spirit to sustain us in the journey of faith. May you hold us, even when we have no sense that we are being held. Amen.
John 17:15–16
March 15
In the World; Not of the World
Christians are fully a part of the world. They too work and play, make things and rest. They too are born and die. But they are also strangers and pilgrims, for they have set their face
towards the heavenly city.
Just as a person who has lived cross-culturally no longer fully belongs to his or her homeland nor to the host country, so Christians do not
belong wholly to this world nor have they as yet entered heaven. They are in-between, or more correctly, in-both. They have already tasted something of the age to come while they are called to live in and serve the world for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.
The early Christians knew something about this strange status. The author of the Epistle of Diognetus writes, “They share their food, but not their wives. They are in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They live on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven.”74
This in-between and in-both status means Christians can never fully give their full support to a particular political or economic ideology. It also means Christians are able to relinquish things rather than cling to wealth or power, as if these are the whole meaning of life. Further, it means Christians are out of step with the dominant values of a society. Therefore, they are the true subversives, for they see a different world—the world to come—beckoning and groaning towards fulfillment.
And they are to live in the present, anticipating and praying and waiting for what is yet to come.
Thought
To be out of step with the world’s agenda is not the place of security. It is a place of insecurity. But it is a step towards a new world.
Ephesians 4:25–28
March 16
Works and Virtues
One cannot truly be great if one’s life is based on pride. One cannot truly be generous if generosity is based on self-
aggrandizement. One cannot truly be loving if love is some form of manipulation.
There are the things we say and there is the way we truly are. There are the things we do and at the back of those lie the values and motivations that move us.
This highlights that we are complex creatures. It also recognizes that what moves us is as important, if not more important, than what we say or do.
The desert father Abbot Agatho once said, “If an angry man were to raise the dead, because of his anger he would not please God.”75 Such a person would, of course, please others. They would think he was a saint. They would think he was like Jesus and a man of power and virtue. But there is more to the story of a person than simply his or her achievements or abilities, for God looks at the heart.
Thus what moves us is of great importance. Are we motivated by love, even if we are not perfect? Are we moved to bless the other person, even though not everything we say or do is helpful? Are we energized to follow Jesus, even if there are detours in the road?
The mark of a person of maturity, wisdom, and integrity is that what he or she seeks to do harmonizes with one’s deepest intentions to live to the glory of God and the well-being of others.
Reflection
When the movement of head, heart, and hand are one, a person is truly integrated.
Psalm 139:1–3
March 17
A Deeper Knowing
We are often only too aware that we really don’t understand ourselves and we really don’t know what it is we are hoping or looking for.
There is a basic theme in the biblical story that, if understood well, is a source of great joy and comfort. Simply put, the theme is that the God who has created us, redeems us in Christ, and beautifies us through the Spirit, is the God who knows us better than we know ourselves.
St. Anselm knew this well. He writes in a prayer for enemies, “Hear me always with your favor, not according as my heart wills or as my mouth asks, but as you know and will that I ought to wish and ask.”76 In other words, this father of scholasticism and Archbishop of Canterbury in the eleventh century asks that God will know him beyond