Dear Friends,
Whether you go out to a Halloween party this year or
remember Halloween celebrations from times past, “going as someone else” is
part of the ritual involved. We wear clothes that transform us into someone
else we have chosen to become and we wear masks. We are temporarily other than
who we are.
Beginning with ancient times and cultures, people, taking
part in rituals native to their clan, wore masks. The mask allowed them to
become the fire god, the demon, the holy one, the alpha ancestor. Those who
wore masks found themselves thinking
and acting like the figure they personified. Wearing masks temporarily
takes us off the hook for answering for ourselves and our actions. One
Halloween, when I was dressed as a pumpkin, with padding that enlarged and
changed my look, several masked people pushed me deliberately and rudely.
They would have been chagrined to know who they were really pushing around. I
didn’t expect that, but am not surprised. Masks allow us to be intemperate, to
do things which we would think twice about doing in our ordinary lives. But
masks do not necessarily bring out the worst in us.
The Lone Ranger, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Avengers are
among the many masked figures of our culture.
They worked for good in their own way. Masks do not always diminish us.
I think of the Scriptures, where some characters wore
disguises. That’s how Jacob, instead of Esau, won his blessing from his father.
Levi (Matthew) and Zacchaeus wore the mask of the tax collector. There must
have been some core of goodness and openness to God that Jesus perceived in
them that caused him to welcome them despite their public image. Names can be
considered masks of sorts.
At the time of deep interior change, being
given a new name is a way of announcing to the world that the mask is off. Saul to Paul, Simon to Peter.
In our families, we sometimes wear masks. Do they hide or
reveal who we are – who we are striving to be?
With our public face, do we reveal who we really are? Think of the microphones, hidden backstage,
which revealed the political figures true thoughts not said onstage.
Jesus wore no masks. He was who he was. Before God, we can
wear no masks. We can try, of course, to wear one, but that only shows how
little we know of the God who knows us through and through. (Psalm 138. Read it
all.)
~Sister Joan Sobala
PS. Don't miss these upcoming Fresh Wind In Our Sails Programs.
Wednesday, November 4, 7 – 8:30 pm
Finding
Faith: A Couples Story
Location: SSJ Motherhouse
Marlene Bessette was a
non-practicing Catholic and Eric Bessette was an avowed agnostic when they met.
They pushed and pulled each other along to spiritual places neither would have
imagined.
Saturday,
November 7, 10 am to 3 pm
Retreat
Day at SSJ Motherhouse
Theme: Becoming More Deeply Who We
Are
Presenter: Sister Joan Sobala
Cost: $35.00
