This Sacred Moment E-Book

OFM, Albert Haase

• Herausgeber: IVP Formatio
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Seitenzahl: 140

Beschreibung

What does it mean to be a holy person? The answer might surprise you.This delightful yet challenging book from spiritual director Albert Haase provides practical wisdom for becoming holy--right in the midst of "ordinary" life."Any and every situation holds the grace for the transformation called holiness. . . . [By] imitating Christ and emptying myself for the benefit of another," Haase writes, "I can become holy right where I am."Haase guides us in this new way of living, offering practices that help us discern what God is calling us to in each moment, as well as clear direction for living in the Spirit, the source of our holiness. With brief, engaging chapters that share real stories of people who are living out holy transformation and short reflection questions, this book is designed to fit realistically into our already full lives."I believe that holiness is not as elusive or impossible as most of us think," Haase says. "That's not to say it's easy; it certainly is not. But I think there are many people in the world . . . who know that God calls them right where they are. Living in and guided by the Spirit, they imitate Jesus: they selflessly respond to God's call in this sacred moment for the enrichment of others."You can too. Here's how.

Leseprobe

Formatio books from InterVarsity Press follow the rich tradition of the church in the journey of spiritual formation. These books are not merely about being informed, but about being transformed by Christ and conformed to his image. Formatio stands in InterVarsity Press’s evangelical publishing tradition by integrating God’s Word with spiritual practice and by prompting readers to move from inward change to outward witness. InterVarsity Press uses the chambered nautilus for Formatio, a symbol of spiritual formation because of its continual spiral journey outward as it moves from its center. We believe that each of us is made with a deep desire to be in God’s presence. Formatio books help us to fulfill our deepest desires and to become our true selves in light of God’s grace.

Other books by Albert Haase, O.F.M.

Enkindled:Holy Spirit, Holy Gifts

Coauthored with Bridget Haase, O.S.U.

(St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2001)

Instruments of Christ:Reflections on the Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

(St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2004)

Coming Home to Your True Self:Leaving the Emptiness of False Attractions

(IVP Books, 2008)

Living the Lord's Prayer:

This Sacred Moment

Becoming Holy Right Where You Are

Albert Haase, O.F.M.

InterVarsity Press P.O. Box 1400 Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426 World Wide Web: www.ivpress.com E-mail: [email protected]

© 2010 by Albert Haase, O.F.M.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, a movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, write Public Relations Dept. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, 6400 Schroeder Rd., P.O. Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895, or visit the IVCF website at www.intervarsity.org.

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Design: Cindy Kiple Images: © Tctomm/Dreamstime.com © AVTG/iStockphoto

ISBN 978-0-8308-6834-6 (digital) ISBN 978-0-8308-3543-0 (print)

“It is fulfilling the duty of the present moment, no matter in what guise it presents itself, which does most to make one holy.”

Jean-Pierre de Caussade

Contents

Other books by Albert Haase, O.F.M.

1: Knowing Holiness When We See It

2: Selflessness as the Heart of Holiness

3: From Self-Reflection to Self-Emptying

4: How God Calls

5: The Knock on the Door

6: A New Understanding of God’s Will

7: Principles of Ongoing Discernment

8: Practices of Ongoing Discernment

9: Discovering Our Story in Scripture

10: Developing a Reflective Lifestyle

11: The Obstacle of the Ego

12: The Gospel’s Antidote

13: The Traits of Selflessness

14: The Traits of Openness

Conclusion

Appendix

Acknowledgments

About the Author

More Titles from InterVarsity Press

1 Knowing Holiness When We See It

Josh, Brian and I had agreed to meet in a local coffee shop around 10:00 a.m. Brian and I chatted as we waited for Josh.

“Being a missionary in Alaska was both challenging and rewarding.” Brian was summing up his three years among the Athabascan Indians. “The winter temperatures and the seasonal changing of daylight were a difficult adjustment. But I gradually got accustomed to both. The welcome and hospitality of the Indians were humbling. The members of this tribe are truly wonderful people; in so many ways, just like us, and in so many ways, very different from us.”

“So what are your ministerial plans for the future?” I asked.

“Well, after a six-month sabbatical, I plan to go down to the missions in Brazil for five years. And after that, maybe I will dedicate five years to the missions in Russia,” he replied.

I was so impressed with Brian’s missionary spirit. I couldn’t help but notice how he had the next decade of his life planned out. And I was amazed at how this Franciscan friar was truly becoming a missionary to the world. He’s really a holy man, I thought.

We continued talking for forty-five minutes. Just as I was wondering whether to be irked or concerned about Josh’s tardiness, Josh walked through the door of the coffee shop.

“I’m so sorry for being late!” he announced. “I would have made it on time but as I was driving over here, I noticed an elderly woman pulled over on the side of the road. She had a flat tire and clearly didn’t know what to do. So I stopped and changed her tire.”

Brian leaned over the table and said to Josh, “Your compassion and charity always challenge me.”

I found it ironic that the “missionary to the world” whom I considered to be a saint was complimenting someone who had simply responded to an ordinary need. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks: maybe Josh’s way was a better example of holiness.

What does it really mean to be a holy person? Do people like Brian exemplify it—those who have long-term plans for themselves that include missionary activity on different continents? Is it displayed in the person who says a lot of prayers and performs acts of penance? Or does it mean being a contemporary Elizabeth Fry, the nineteenth-century woman who founded schools, helped the Gypsies, took care of the homeless and earned the name “the angel of the prisoners” because of her ministry to those in jail? Is it demonstrated by someone like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who successfully emigrated to New York but whose commitment to Christ challenged him to return to his native Germany and plot the downfall of the Nazi regime? Or does it mean renouncing power and possessions and living a life of heroic charity and compassion in the tradition of Mother Teresa of Calcutta?

The Concise Oxford American Dictionary defines the adjective holy as “(of a person) devoted to the service of God: saints and holy men” and “morally and spiritually excellent.” However, in this day and age when we are so aware of the way different cultures, education and upbringing shape each human being uniquely, one person’s act of godly devotion can be interpreted by another as an act of terrorism.

I thumb through the Gospels for an answer, since Christian holiness clearly has something to do with the imitation of Christ. But I find myself in a quandary since I’m not sure exactly what I am supposed to imitate and how far I should go. Am I supposed to go barefoot, become an itinerant preacher and gather disciples around myself? That seems naive and foolish—and maybe a bit egotistical.

Certainly Jesus’ command to love God and neighbor cannot be overlooked. But how do I obey that command in a practical way on a daily basis? Am I supposed to have the same emotional feelings for a God I cannot see that I have for my closest friend? Even on my best of days, that doesn’t seem possible. And how do I love the next-door neighbor whose name and personal history I don’t even know?

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), daunting as it is, offers a lot of food for thought and action. I like to think of it as a compact handbook for holiness. It starts with the Beatitudes which clearly attack the agenda of the ego, focused as it is on self-concern, self-image, self-gratification and self-preservation. Much to the chagrin of the ego, Jesus calls “blessed” those who are not enslaved by the fantasies of consumerism but are poor in spirit and are willing to experience the painful emotions of grief and mourning. Jesus affirms those who renounce the lust for power and are meek. He encourages those who are willing to take a stand for justice and peace, who choose mercy over revenge and who are uncompromising in their lives as Christian disciples. Reflecting upon the Beatitudes certainly makes me realize that holiness has something to do with moving beyond the ego with its narcissistic concerns and hedonistic interests—a real “death to self.”

The rest of the Sermon on the Mount offers some practical examples of Christian holiness. It reminds me that I cannot live a duplicitous life. I have to make a choice between the false attractions of the world—“treasures on earth”—and the eternal values of the gospel lifestyle—“treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-21). Choosing heavenly treasures means putting all my concerns in the hands of God and trusting that God will care for my basic needs; a life of worry and anxiety betrays an obsession with trinkets and worldly pipe-dreams. The Sermon on the Mount challenges me to be nonjudgmental and to treat others as I myself would want to be treated. It also challenges me with the reminder that, when all is said and done, authentic disciples vote with their feet and not mere words.

Continuing through the New Testament, I come upon Paul’s distinction between life according to the flesh and life according to the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26). Clearly his understanding of life according to the flesh is a life consumed with, controlled by and centered upon the agenda of the ego. Giving full rein to the ego leads to a life of cheap, recreational sex; of outrageous demands and potential slavery to addictions; of putting exaggerated emotional investment in possessions; and of looking at other people through the eyes of a cutthroat competitor that depersonalizes them into potential threats or rivals. On the other hand, once a person moves beyond the puny yet well-fortified boundaries of the ego, their life blossoms with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Life according to the Spirit is clearly a life of holiness.

And so, though it may be challenging to define Christian holiness, we certainly know its fruits when we see them. We do, in fact, see the fruits reflected in the saintly lives of people, both past and present. The lives of Josh, Brian, Elizabeth Fry, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Mother Teresa of Calcutta, for example, give witness to the enduring values of the Sermon on the Mount. They give evidence of the virtues which are characteristic of the Spirit of God; they strike us as “devoted to the service of God” and as being “morally and spiritually excellent.” And what is the common thread of grace that is woven through these different lives from different historical periods and different Christian denominations? A selflessness that forms the heart of holiness.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

You’ll find a set of questions at the end of each chapter. These questions can be used for personal meditation, spiritual direction sessions or small group discussion.

Who comes to mind when you hear the word

saint?

Why? What qualities do these people possess?

Which Scripture passages illumine the path of holiness for you?

Is Christian holiness exhibited in a single act or in a lifetime of activity? Explain.

2 Selflessness as the Heart of Holiness

Think again about my friend Josh who changed a flat tire for an elderly woman he didn’t even know. I think his action says something quite important about holiness. Like countless others before him whom we consider to be holy, Josh selflessly responded to the need of the present moment. That reminds us that holiness is a lot simpler, less dramatic and, consequently, more challenging than most of us think.

By his own admission, Josh would have arrived at the coffee shop on time had it not been for his spontaneous response to a stranger’s flat tire. Seeing her need, without even thinking about it, he pulled over and offered her a helping hand. I believe this is exactly what holiness is all about: it is a selfless openness and response to God’s call in this sacred moment. And that call of God comes in the need that presently goes unmet or in the duty that is required in the present moment.

Holiness, then, is the lifelong journey out of slavery to the ego and its consuming preoccupation with self-concern self-image, self-gratification and self-preservation. It begins when we move out of the house of mirrors that most of us choose to live in and take up residence in a house of glass where we are constantly looking beyond ourselves, our concerns, our interests and our worries. It begins with selflessness.

A Perfect Example

Paul tells us that Jesus provides the perfect example of selflessness. In the letter to the Philippians, he encouraged the church, “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:4-5). The apostle explained this mindset by saying that Jesus did not exploit his equality with God and use it to his own personal advantage or for his own personal gain. Rather, he “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave” (Philippians 2:7).

To the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). This becoming poor to enrich the lives of others, or “self-emptying,” formed the very backbone of Jesus’ ministry. We see it in the incarnation, in Jesus’ friendship with sinners and the marginalized, in his total dedication and obedience to the will of his Abba, in his washing of feet, and in his surrender to and acceptance of the cross. Jesus himself described the limits of this self-emptying in this way: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Selflessness is the very marrow of Christian holiness.

This attitude of selfless openness attacks the ego head-on, since the ego wants to control and manipulate everything and everyone within its range of influence. A selfless openness and response to whatever the present moment is asking of me, rooted in the desire to imitate the self-emptying of Jesus, incapacitates the ego and renders it powerless.

The belief that the need of the present moment is an invitation from God to forget myself and enrich the life of another is the motivating force and insight behind selfless openness. Indeed, the present moment as it unfolds before me is an expression of God’s will for me. That’s why this moment—and every moment—is sacred. God calls for a response in the cry of an infant, a neighbor’s need, a bloated stomach in Darfur and the near extinction of an animal species.

Ideally, our selfless acts should be the blossom of an openness and response to the present moment’s duty or need. An adaptable flexibility to what unfolds in the present moment made Josh’s act of charity possible. However, don’t be deceived; this approach can be tricky and downright risky. It demands living a life outside the confines of the ego with its constricting and exploitative obsession with what we have, what we do and what people think of us.

Far from a passive receptivity to whatever life throws my way, selfless openness calls for an alert attention to what is going on around me. It demands an awareness of what my five senses are picking up in the present circumstance and requires an active engagement with the world, especially the present moment and the situation in which I find myself.

Over the years, literally thousands of Christians, precisely because of their dedication to Christ, have leapt over the walls of the ego at a moment’s notice and selflessly given of themselves for the enrichment of others. I think of Franciscan Maximilian Kolbe, a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp, who freely exchanged his life for that of the condemned sergeant, husband and father Francis Gajowniczek. Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan tell stories of buddies who, at great personal risk, exposed themselves to enemy fire in order to rescue wounded comrades. On September 11, 2001, police and firefighters raced toward the collapsing Twin Towers to save people while some office workers returned to their offices to help disabled coworkers escape. Every now and then in the news, we hear stories of people whose religious commitment called them to perform heroic acts of protest so that the lives of others can be improved. These are all portraits of selfless openness and contemporary holiness.