Ora et Labora

I have a deep desire to see transformation in people’s lives and in the lives of communities and society as a whole.  But how can I know what that transformation looks like when I am myself completely immersed into that broken society?  Check this great quote from Thomas Merton:

mertonTrue solitude is the home of the person, false solitude the refuge of the individualist.  The person is constituted by a uniquely subsisting capacity to love – by a radical ability to care for all beings made by God and loved by Him.  Such a capacity is destroyed by the loss of perspective.  Without a certain element of solitude there can be no compassion because when a man is lost in the wheels of a social machine he is no longer aware of human needs as a matter of personal responsibility. One can escape from men by plunging into the midst of a crowd.

So there are several kinds of solitude, and several types of social engagement.  True solitude aims to reorient one’s self from the opiates and poisons of society’s evil side (by the way, I’m not chatting about it much in this post, but I absolutely believe society is a mysterious blend of good and evil).  But there is an escapism that we see in lots of parts of our culture that functions to serve the individual.  The retired businessman after working tirelessly for decades now moves to Ft. Lauderdale to fade away into shuffleboard and iced teas (when his wisdom is needed the most!).  Or consider the spiritual nun who withdraws into her inner life and becomes useless to the world.

“You are so heavenly-minded that they are of no earthly good.” — Johnny Cash

There’s also the danger that we may dive some completely into our work of changing society and helping those in our care that we ourselves become lost in a sea of confusion.  I feel like this happens to me on multiple levels.  The news has become a crutch for me – I think I’m addicted, and its time to fast.  It was not long ago that I knew next to nothing of world events, now I think I have no opinion about what’s happening because I am continually listening to the stories and opinions of others.  Let me step back from the careening course of human events and gain a bit of global perspective. And on a personal level, its hard for me to have a word of healing to someone hurting or their lifestyle is headed for disaster when I have no bearing to point them toward.  My life as a missionary must be filled with reconnecting with God to help me in being the wounded healer Henri Nouwen talks about.

14th Century Julian of Norwich was kept locked in the basement under a church and left in complete isolation.  It wasn’t torture, that was her job!  She was an anchoress, and I completely recommend learning more about this part of Christian history.  There was nothing more than a small space for food to come in and refuse to go out.  The village cared for her, and from that small opening she counseled and spoke wisdom to the village.  Even in the midst of the Black Plague and a series of pheasant revolts, she wrote of the motherly love of God, and even wrote the first known English book penned by a woman.  She was completely isolated, but completely engaged in the issues of her community.

Thomas Merton is himself a Trappist monk whose vows called him to even more severe isolation than most monastic orders, yet he claims that his isolation was not self-centered but world-centered, challenging his readers saying:

“Go into the desert not to escape other men but in order to find them in God.”

Somehow even through his profoundly isolated lifestyle, he managed to participate significantly in the civil rights movement, fought nuclear proliferation, and developed dialogue between major world faiths and Christianity.  The more he retreated from the world, the more influential he became.

Jesus seemed to have this figured out.  He would teach in the Temple courts during the day, then retreat to Olive Mountain at night.  He would spend weeks alone in the badlands, and would emerge ready to change the world.

I must find some rhythm of rest and work.  Ora et labora. “Prayer and work.” is written on my quotes wall.  I think this is a good place to start – and turning off the news tap for awhile…instead I’ll make my own (good) news!

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