Over
30 years ago when I was a seminarian in Cebu, we used to go on excursions
right across to the other side of the island. However, we had a problem
about these outings. There was one of the seminarians, Big Willie,
who was always about 200 meters behind everybody else, and sometimes
we'd have to stop to let him catch up with us. Some objected to this.
Why was he always behind? Why did we let him come on these excursions?
Should we wait for him or just leave him behind? Invariably, we would
have to wait for him to catch up.
I
think this is an image of what is happening to many people in today's
world. It is called alienation. It happens when the rich nations move
on and leave the poorer ones behind. It can happen in marriage or
in religious life. Most religious are very task oriented. We have
so much to do, our schools, our community activities, our prayer.
We are rushing around flat out all the time. If you are flat out all
the time there is a danger of leaving part of yourself behind. The
same can happen in marriage. One or both spouses may be professionally
very competent, always on the go. One day it floats to consciousness
that a void has developed with one's spouse and/or children. The panicky
feeling is at once buried in frenetic work. There is something happening
inside that is not being acknowledged. There is a need to stop to
let one part of me catch up with the rest of me. To let my periphery
connect with my center.
Traditional
wisdom had a way of dealing with this. In the Old Testament the Lord
worked for seven days and then he made a day of rest. In the vacuum
the things that were disconnected came back together again. And then
in secular life or the religious life there used to be a practice
of a vacation, we took a "vacare," we created an empty space.
We took off from our ordinary activities and in that space the things
that got disconnected became reconnected. Unfortunately, today there
is so much pressure that the true idea of vacation is almost lost.
This
comes into our prayer also. We have a very tight schedule and we almost
resent our prayer. It is another duty to be got in rather than a time
in which to get in touch with ourselves.
Today's
Gospel talks about this matter of being connected. We need to be connected
to Christ as the branches are connected to a plant. We need to be
connected to our centers in a mystical way. The idea of mysticism
is off-putting for many but it is really very simple. For most people
the idea of mystical is something that is too high for them. Maybe
it is for contemplatives and the great saints but it is not meant
for me! This attitude is rather a pity, it is a giving up too soon;
it is a failure to be aware of a treasure that everyone possesses
already.
The
basic idea behind mystical is that it is an awareness or relationship
that is without any go-between; it is direct, unmediated. When I receive
the Eucharist my presence to or relationship with God is mediated
through the species of bread and wine. When I reflect on the scriptures
my presence to or relationship with God is mediated through the biblical
stories or words or images. I can easily pass from these to glimpses
or seconds of presence or being to God that is beyond the species
or the word. This is mysticism. The mystics were people in which those
glimpses or seconds were more frequent.
Giving
time to the mystical presence of God at our centers is the antidote
to the alienation that is so frequent in our times. If our lives were
compared to a wheel our activities would be at the periphery and our
centers would be at the axle. They would be connected by spokes, our
activities and our prayer forms. But if the axle was not still, centered,
properly placed, the wheel could not move properly. So too, if our
lives do not have a mystical center there will not be a healthy relationship
with our active lives. There will be alienation.
