L.J. shares the following reflection on Sunday's reading from the Gospel according to Luke:
Paulo Coelho tells the following story in his book Stories for Parents, Children, and Grandchildren. “A teacher took his disciple to a lake. ‘Today, I’m going to show you what true devotion means,’ he said. He asked his disciple to wade with him into the lake, then he grasped the boy’s head and held it under the water. The first minute passed. In the middle of the second minute, the boy was struggling as hard as he could to free himself from his teacher’s hands and return to the surface. At the end of the second minute, the teacher released him. The boy stood up, heart pounding, gasping for breath. ‘You tried to kill me!’ he screamed. The teacher waited for him to calm down and said: ‘I wasn’t trying to kill you; if I had been, you wouldn’t be here now. I just wanted to find out what you felt when you were under the water.’ ‘I felt as if I was dying! All I wanted was to be able to breathe a little air.’ ‘Exactly. True devotion only appears when we have only one desire and we will die if we cannot achieve it.’” Singular desire and sheer determination come together in what Jesus calls perseverance.
There comes a time when we want to give up on living a holy life. We feel we don’t have the strength or the courage to continue. Holiness is not easy because it’s all-consuming. Holiness happens in daily life as we make choices for God alone. Holiness appears as we make these choices day in and day out. Living the Gospel is difficult, at least in part, because it is nonstop. There are no breaks from being holy. God is everywhere in everything, always urging us to love.
What makes a person holy? Connecting to God and staying connected to God makes a person holy. Hence, Jesus teaches us in the Gospel to persevere. He says, “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” At some point, every spiritual discipline dries up. Emotions do not always go along for the ride when we practice the Gospel daily. Our love for God, though, deepens and grows as we persevere. As we remain faithful to God in daily life, we get closer and closer to God. Thus, persevering in a spiritual discipline, especially when it seems futile, is the key to growth.
At the heart of the Gospel lies the imperative to die to self. Jesus teaches us to become poor in spirit, to empty self, to become nothing. In a single moment, this is rather easy. We allow our minds to clear. We then rest in an interior nothingness. We rest there with the attitude of faith, hope, and love. The issue Jesus is raising here with his teaching on perseverance is to practice nothingness all the time. Not just nothingness, but constant and consistent interior nothingness is the point.
The medieval mystic Meister Eckhart offers us encouragement in our commitment to live the Gospel every day, in season and out of season. In Sermon 68, Eckhart preaches, “No one should think that it is a burdensome thing to come to this point, even though it sounds serious and significant. It is true enough that is it somewhat difficult at the beginning when one is separating oneself from self and from all things. But when one has made some spiritual progress, one discovers that there has never been a lighter, more delightful, or more joyful life; and God is very concerned always to be present to such a person and teach him or her…Never has a person longed after anything so intensely as God longs to bring a person to the point of knowing him. God is always ready but we are very unready. God is near to us but we are very far from him. God is within us but we are outside. God is at home in us but we are abroad.” God is our holiness, so we can accept being poor and limited while still persevering in our connection to God. The key is to renew our practice as we notice we are turning our attention away from God in the present moment.
Therefore, don’t give up. God can and will lead you to divine union. In fact, God cannot wait to do so. God is overeager about it, frantically waiting for you to open your heart to know the divine mystery now. All that is needed is your consent, your presence. More accurately, all God needs is your daily, minute by minute, moment by moment, consent. It can be done. Look at the lives of the saints. All were sinners. All repented. All did things they regretted. Still, they put their hope and faith in God. They sought God alone, and they did so without either hesitation or indifference. You are in good company. The saints echo Jesus who tells us to persevere. Keep praying. Keep loving. Keep living the Gospel. God is with you; God is within you. Keep going!