To Be or To Do?
Written by admin January 3rd, 2009 in SaturdaysBy Joan Chittister, OSB
If there is a temptation in the Christian life, it is probably contemplation. Physicians talk to us about “stress”; psychologists talk to us about “burnout”; sociologists talk to us about achieving “space”; educators talk to us about reflection and “process.” And we all come lusting for a cave to crawl into to do it, or at least a little cottage on a hill overlooking the water, or even a small log cabin in the woods. Any place as long as it’s someplace appropriate; some place not here; some place simple but comfortable, of course. A place for my books, my typewriter, my tape recorder. Just me and my God. Or is it me and the gods I’ve made?
If there is a sin in the Christian life it is probably action. We talk about “strategizing” and “mobilizing” and “lobbying” and “renewing” and “aligning” and “reforming” as if it were all up to structures; as if action were enough. We do and do and do. And there’s the problem. We set out to do something that the world needs, instead of to be something that the world needs. We set out to change instead of to illuminate. And we wonder why, with all the changes, nothing ever changes. After all the changes come, there is still the fighting, still the poverty, still the greed, still the exploitation.
Why? Because deep down inside where it counts, there is still the anger, still the arrogance, still the attitudes of control. Except that now I’m the one in control. The Chinese wrote: “Now people exploit people but after the revolution it will be just the opposite.”
The contemplative questions for people of action in our day are: Who will be and also do? How can we do and also be? The problem of this culture is that we make natural enemies out of prayer and transforming action when the two are really Siamese twins: either without the other is incomplete.
Joan Chittister is a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie and a prolific writer and preacher. This excerpt is from an article in the June 1985 issue of the Pax Christi USA magazine and collected in her book, In My Own Words.
Was it Gandhi who exhorts us to be the change you want to see in the world?
Chittister is the best for reminding us to be balanced–inside and out.
Just like the Merton quote on New Years Eve, Chittister reminds us that we need to always be open to Divine guidance and follow that guidance wherever it may take us.
Good timing, now when so many of us are making our resolutions for the new year. I don’t know about others, but I make the same resolutions every year. There is something wrong with that picture, I know, and Sister Joan has identified it precisely. She is always right, for me anyway.
This is a lofty piece from Joan
I am reminded of this quote from — “Liberation as an Encounter with Politics and Contemplation” by Segundo Galilea:
Contemplation means having an experience of God, real though obscure, in all dimensions of human life . . . It is the capacity to encounter Christ, and the experience of encountering him through a vigorous, incarnate faith. Authentic Christian contemplation, passing through the desert, transforms contemplatives into prophets, and heroes of commitment and militants into mystics.
I would love to send this piece to the Obama administration to keep in mind as they contemplate the change they are seeking to bring about in this country. I pray that Barack will be a leader who seeks God’s face in all things as he sets about the business of being the President of the United States. If he forgets WHO created him and set him on his current path with his mother’s and grandmother’s faith and encouragement behind him, it may be a rocky road we will follow into 2009.
As my husband and I return home from our 10 day stay at that idyllic cabin on the lake in the woods that Sister Joan speaks of so eloquently, I think back over our holiday.
Family - it was all about the being and doing of family, celebrating our presence together and the birth of new baby, grieving the loss of one who passed recently, and acknowledging the presence of the Divine among us, lived out in our diverse expressions of faith and loving acceptance of one another. We cared for aging parents, our siblings, varying ages of grandchildren, and our own children who now have children of their own, and we allowed them to care for us. And for the last couple of days, after the younger generations left for their own homes, we relaxed with wonder and gratitude into the restorative quiet and peace of the cabin on the lake in the woods, doing little besides refueling for our return to our lives of being / doing ministry.
We are so very blessed to have had this glimpse of the Divine through the being and doing of family, family young and old!
ljm
Recently, against my will I was forced to go through a horrific experience of both body and soul. Sister Joan speaks of anger that we carry. I felt so alone and so consumed in anger and hate until with the help of a few very caring and loving people I was able to step back and realize once again that I am unable to walk this road alone. My ever loving God is and was with me through the whole experience. One of my brothers sent me a music box as a Christmas gift that plays the song that begins with the words, “When you walk through the night hold your head up high” This has become my theme. I aim to go back to serving others and not just hang around on my inside continuing to destroy myself with anger.
Yes, it was Ghandi who said to be the change. I try to follow that principle, tho I don’t need belief in God for that. At one time I was a believer, but in the back of my mind I had doubts. As a good Christian, I pushed those aside for faith. My late husband always liked reading the other viewpoints so that when he witnessed to them, he would know what they believed. He did that with the Atheists and he found that his Christian arguments didn’t hold up to the logic of the Atheists. So, after some comtemplation, he gave up his faith, as did I after reading their book. I’m no different than I was before. I still strive to treat people with respect regardless of creed, color or lifestyle. It’s not because I’ll be rewarded but because it’s the right thing to do.
My roommate calls me “Martha, Martha”, after Martha in the bible who was so concerned with the doing of caring for Jesus and the others, versus Mary, who sat at Jesus’s feet to learn from the master.
I am more comfortable being the do-er, rather than the be-er. but recently I took a class that wound up being mostly do-er oriented, and I greatly missed the be-ing orientation. As the peice presented here so eloquently spoke to, there needs to be a balance of being and doing, a recognition that “the two are really Siamese twins: either without the other are really incomplete.”