The Communities of New Skete

Scripture Readings: Am 8:1-7; Col 3:12-17; Lk 16:1-9

Reflections from a Monk

This is one of my favorite Gospel passages, in part because it troubles so many people. How in the world could Jesus Christ praise dishonesty? But is that what this gospel lesson is all about? No! This lesson, that advises the children of light to learn from the children of this world, is about so many things! Yes, its about dishonesty and honesty. But its also about how we handle money and possessions; its about how we deal with sudden changes in our lives; its about how we handle personal disasters; it’s a parable challenging complacency; it’s a story about being caught red handed; turned inside out its an allegory about how we prepare for the kingdom of God. But before all those things, and we could easily find more, the Gospel lesson is about the first step we all must take when we face challenges analogous to that faced by the “dishonest” steward.
The steward sees his situation and asks himself the question, “what am I going to do?” However, everything that happens after he asks himself that question flows from an unstated action he takes before he asks that question. It’s the necessary first step. And what is that? It can be described in a phrase we associate with our consumer oriented culture, or as stated here, from the children of this world. Think of any commercial peddling some product, making a pitch that is dripping with urgency, challenging you to act now so that you can: “Own it!” But the phrase “own it” isn’t used only when talking about physical possessions. It also can mean owning what I have done and who I am. That’s the key. Of course the sequence is reversed: in the commercial you must act so that you can own it; for the dishonest steward he must own it so that he can act!
The steward’s actions are reported back to his master. Isn’t that so often what happens in life? We mess up (it may be inadvertent or intentional), someone notices and exposes it and we’re caught “red handed” so to speak.
Now what?
Deny it?

• “I didn’t do it, someone else must have messed around with the books to make me look bad.”
• Justify oneself?
• “Of course I did it, if you were in my shoes you would too!”
• Blame someone else?
• “The bookkeeper must have fouled up.”
• Excuse myself?
• “Well I was so busy I didn’t notice!”
• Defend oneself?
• “I was just about to review the books.”
• Claim incompetence?
• “My files are so messed up, I just need time to straighten it all out!”
• Collapse into a heap of self-pity to avoid the consequences?
• “I’m so bad, please forgive me, I’ll never do it again!”
• Beg for mercy?
• “If I lose this job I’ll be destitute, my family will starve, we’ll be thrown out of our home!”

Oh, there are so many possibilities, but the Lord praises the dishonest steward because he took the honest path, he knew what he did and he owned it! Then from that position of freedom, he calculated what he needed to do to move on. All the other options just noted make matters worse and don’t solve anything.
I am reading a novel by a Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe entitled: Things Fall Apart. The tale is about a Nigerian village in the 19th century and early in the novel it happens that on a market day, a woman from the featured village goes to the market in the neighboring village and is murdered. To avoid war, the customary law requires that someone from the other village has to die as compensation. So, a young boy from the household of one of the men responsible for the murder, is taken to the village and made a temporary ward of the family of a highly respected man. This man, compensating for the weakness of his father, is portrayed as a very strong man who may feel compassion but dare not show it. This young boy is forgotten by the village elders and becomes a welcome part of his new family, even calling his step-father “father” and becoming a close friend of his son. The man grows fond of the boy but seldom shows it. Three years pass by, then the village elders come to the house to tell the man that the Oracle of the Hills and Caves has pronounced that the boy must die. The boy is told that he is being taken back to his home village. On the road the boy is thinking of how he’ll be received when he gets home, reminiscing about his parents and siblings as he carries a pot in his hands. But he notices his step-father has fallen behind the group, he gets scared, and then the man behind him raises his machete and strikes the blow. The pot falls and breaks in the sand and the boy screams, “Father, they’ve killed me” as he turns to run towards his step-father, who, dazed with fear raises his machete and cuts him down. He was afraid to be thought weak. It takes days for the man to recover from the shock of this event. He must go on with life, and he does. This man is a tragic figure. But like the steward, when he looked at what he had done, he owned it, did what he had to do, and moved on.
If we can see the gospel parable as an image of the pathway to the kingdom of God, then preparing for the Kingdom is, in part, about owning one’s own story. The steward was facing an audit of the accounts he had been responsible for, how appropriate as we enter the tax season. The audit had implications for the rest of his life. We all face audits of our life during life, not just at the end of life. When an audit comes, then like the steward, we are called to openly face the reality so that we can move on. It may not be all that pretty, but its honest. Then, with God’s help, the pathway is opened to new life and possibilities. If we understand the larger Gospel message that God loves the sinner, not the sin, then we see that the outcome, or final judgment, is not about cleaning up the past, its about unconditional love. As applied to Achebe’s story its about love for the innocent boy and the tragic man. For the steward, its about seeing the good even in what appears to be bad.
The Psalmist has it right, no matter what has happened: “God’s love lasts forever.”

Scripture Readings:Is. 27:12-13,28:5/17; Eph. 2:13-22: Luke 13:10-17

Reflections from a Monk

I remember when I was about four Jimmy Thornhill lived across the street from us. I saw Jimmy’s grandmother bent over and energetically sweeping their front walk every day; but I also noticed that when she was finished and walking back to the house she remained bent over at the same 90 degree angle. So she really could not look up, and barely ahead, but mostly down at the sidewalk and grass.

Now I can very well imagine the woman in today’s Gospel, invisible down there below eye level in the surging crowd around Jesus. How painful to watch her bumping into people’s hips and backs with her lowered head and back. But you know, she was there! She was present, and I suspect listening and struggling to see!

We know that so many in the world cannot raise their own sights above material and personal concerns and difficulties. How many times I’ve listened to someone telling me that where they grew up people seemed to think you were crazy if you did a good turn for someone — or bothered with church and religious things. So many have become alienated from their awareness of the rich spiritual and religious insights, feelings, and dimensions of life. I was recently moved by the sadness of this, when I read some lines from the ancient Greek poet Sophocles:

Youth’s beauty fades, and maturity’s glory fades,
Faith dies, and unbelief blossoms as a flower;
Nor will ever you find, upon the city streets
Or secret places of the heart’s own love,
One wind blows true forever.

In striking contrast to this, at the half-way point of our Divine Liturgy we express a central image in the Hebrew prophets and psalms, in the message of Jesus, and in St. Paul’s epistles: we say “Let us lift up our hearts!” “We have lifted them to the Lord!” Then we exclaim: “Let us give thanks to the Lord!” This elevation of our attention brings with it a heightened joy of spirit. It guides our brains and inner senses to see more clearly what is true and good, what is truly beautiful and attractive, what is worth living and dying for, and what lasts forever.

In our gospel this morning, the leaders of the temple were frantic at the healing action on the day of rest, and choked with rage and envy. They celebrated the Sabbath rest literally, legally perfect, but they missed its meaning. They were spiritually bent over and facing downwards and took no notice that Jesus actually had fulfilled the Sabbath perfectly! He called out, “Greetings, friend, yes—you there, bowed down with anxieties, shame, envy, anger, frustrations, depression, and fear—arthritic with the burdens of mistakes, bad judgment, and even offenses against heaven and earth. ‘Come to me, you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest!’ ” Mt. 11:28

And then… as Cyril of Alexandria said: “Those who seek the Lord without ill will are the ones who can see the glory and splendor of the Lord’s works!” Just as everyone had been released from the bond of work on that one day a week, so was this woman released now from a bondage of many years—the painful results of ankylosis spondylitis. Jesus freed the woman to drink from the fountain of life, just as everyone those days, he said, unties their ox or donkey, whichever they had for transportation, and leads it out from the hay manger for it to get a drink of water.

“The Sabbath was made for human beings and not human beings for the Sabbath!” 6:1-11? The Lord used both his head and his heart to see the greater and the higher truth. He wanted people to see the highest truth! The truth was his authority in front of those temple authorities! And of course we are invited to follow in his footsteps.

A World War II story shows this in a very different way: A group of soldiers fighting in France brought the body of a buddy to the village church. They asked whether they could bury him in the cemetery there. The pastor asked them whether or not their fellow soldier had been baptized and was a Catholic. They said to their knowledge he was probably not a Catholic, and they could not say for sure that he had been baptized. Well, the priest said, he really can’t be buried in this specially consecrated ground. So the men buried their buddy outside the fence of the cemetery and went back to the war.

Later when were leaving the area, they stopped by once again to pay their last respects. But they could not find the fresh grave along the fence anywhere. The priest saw them and ran out. He said he could not sleep that first night, so he came out alone and moved the fence so as to include their friend’s grave inside the cemetery.

Jesus invites all who want to live to be included in the new creation he personified. You have to open your eyes to see it, to lift up your hearts with faith and good works to experience its healing. In the church we can taste it and learn to pursue it. Then, as in today’s gospel, we will see God’s grace and compassion at work in the world.

That’s why we can say in a loud voice, Christ is in our midst! He is and will be!

Our Calendar of Worship and Events is now available as link under the section of our blog marked Pages. Please consult this calendar to see our schedule of worship and to learn of new events happening at New Skete.

Scripture Readings: Jer. 31:2-4, 7-9; Col. 2: 8-14; Lk. 2:21, 39-40

Reflections from a Monk

This is the shortest Gospel in the Church Year. Luke simply reports the fact that like all Jewish parents, Mary and Joseph carried out the ritual according to the Law of Moses.
This ritual circumcision is still widely practiced not just in Jewish culture but in many others as well. Coptic Christians still perform it. Despite its obscure history, it is part of Islamic tradition and if you care to look at any encyclopedia it will list many other places and times when it was used.

The Church observes this feast to underline the reality of Christ’s becoming human, becoming as vulnerable as an infant to the mohel’s knife as he would be as an adult to the nails that fixed him to the cross. The ceremony marked the child as part of the covenant.
We find a parallel in the ritual of monastic tonsure. The cutting of hair adds something physical to the words spoken when the monk or nun makes a covenant to enter monastic life. And as in circumcision, a name is given at this rite. In today’s Epistle, St. Paul had an interpretation based not on anatomy but ontology. He warns us not to be still captivated by empty philosophies which today we might identify as materialism, consumerism, sexism, nationalism and even religious fundamentalism of whatever stripe, along with the post-modernist attitude that cedes no reality to Truth and Justice.

Circumcision as Paul writes means to be cut free of the allure of all this in order to realize our union with Christ through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Now we must appropriate in our own actions what was already accomplished by Christ. As we also feast St. Basil the Great today, we will hear in his Eucharistic Prayer to the Father: “He brought us to know you, God and Father, and he made us his chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” It is difficult to remain conscious of this in our daily lives. So no wonder Paul reminds us to take care we do not get captivated by anything that would dull our response ever further. In Jeremiah God tells us “I have loved you with everlasting love” and Paul says, “You have come to you fullness in Christ.

It is good to take stock as we begin a New Year of how to turn these lofty sentiments into action. If you are like me looking back on 2007 I admit that it is often easier to get entangled as St. Paul warns, numbed by a sense of powerlessness that reduces me to a spectator.

I heard a retrospective on a Canadian radio program last night, which highlighted the year’s unsung heroes. In the Bronx two Latino brothers noticed a toddler had crawled out onto a fire escape and fell. It was hanging by one hand, four stories up in a tenement and the only thing they could do was try to catch the child. They did, and one brother was knocked unconscious in the effort, but the baby was unharmed. The other hero was a truck driver who crossed the Golden Gate Bridge every day going to and from work. Midway across the car in front of him started to weave erratically. In the thirty years of crossing the bay he had seen horrible accidents and he was determined he could keep this car from hitting the oncoming traffic. He did by maneuvering his truck ahead and as he did he saw the driver slumped over the wheel. He used his truck to break the out-of-control car and prevented a horrific collision. In their interview with the Canadian hosts both parties fended off the title hero. They said they were just intensely engaged in the moment and were sure they could do something with God’s help.

The key is they acted on grace, they were determined to help the other person rather than be a powerless spectator. We could say with Paul, they came to their fullness in Christ who is love, whose incarnation, ministry, passion and resurrection were all directed to the other. He did not cling to divinity, as Basil’s anaphora reminds us.

A hero is somebody else who acts ‘in the moment” and makes a difference to others. But it’s a word that keeps the action at arms length, just as the title “saint,” but that is precisely what our faith demands of us if we are to come to our fullness in Christ. A new year unfolds before us. Let us not think of it as a year but a succession of moments, moments to be fully engaged, circumcised in heart from all “isms” and ready to respond to God’s everlasting love.