The Reverend R. Kevin Daniel sent me this quotation from Father Richard Rohr, a globally recognized ecumenical teacher bearing witness to the universal awakening within Christian mysticism and the Perennial Tradition. He is a Franciscan priest of the New Mexico Province and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation: We don’t come to God (or truth or love) by insisting on some ideal worldly order or so-called perfection, but in fact we come “to knowledge of salvation by the experience of forgiveness” (Luke 1:77)—forgiveness of reality itself, of others, of ourselves—for being so ordinary, imperfect, and often disappointing. Many also have to forgive God for not being what they wanted or expected. One reason why I am so attracted to Jesus and then to Francis is that they found God in disorder, in imperfection, in the ordinary, and in the real world—not in any idealized concepts. They were more into losing than winning. But the ego does not like that, so we rearranged much of Christianity to fit our egoic pattern of achievement and climbing. Isn’t it strange that Christians worship a God figure, Jesus, who appears to be clearly losing by every criterion imaginable? And then we spend so much time trying to “win,” succeed, and perform. We even call Jesus’ “losing” the very redemption of the world—yet we run from it. I think Christians have yet to learn the pattern of redemption. It is evil undone much more that evil ever perfectly avoided. It is disorder reconfigured in our hearts and minds—much more than demanding any perfect order to our universe. Much of the Christian religion has largely become “holding on” instead of legging go. But God, it seems to me, does the holding on (to us!), and we must learn the letting go (of everything else).
FYI: The Perennial Tradition, to which he refers, encompasses the recurring themes in all of the world’s religions and philosophies that continue to say:
• There is a Divine Reality underneath and inherent in the world of things,
• There is in the human soul a natural capacity, similarity, and longing for this Divine Reality, and
• The final goal of existence is union with this Divine Reality.
If you know me at all, then you know that I do not agree with all of this; however, I do recognize that he makes some statements that are worth pondering, statements that do, indeed, have the ring of truth and others that are true for sure. His quote from the “Benedictus” in Luke 1 caught my eye, and I am confident that I saw something that I have never before seen. I hope you will see it, too.
Grace to you and peace!
Mac