Make Room For Laughter

Dear Friends,
   
I hope our spiritual practice this summer might include becoming more keenly conscious of God’s gift of laughter. With so much pain and suffering as a daily portion of the world’s news, sadness over tragedy  threatens to overcome us. True, we need to be attentive to the world’s pain. But laughter takes the edge off our troubles. It offers a distraction and sometimes even relief from pain and grief.

Norman Cousins, a longtime editor of The Saturday Review, learned the power of laughter during a battle with a debilitating illness. He discovered that his condition improved when he enjoyed himself. Laughter, Cousins wrote, is like inner jogging. It helps us heal by activating our immune system.

One day at the end of January 1992, I found myself sitting in an outpatient cancer center, hooked up to an intervenous system, ready to receive my first drop of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. Other women and men were there, too, likewise hooked up, each absorbed in their own dealings with cancer.

There, above the tube leading to my vein, was the first drop of chemo. I closed my eyes, waiting for some sort of soothing, encouraging spiritual image to come to my aid. What I heard in my inner being was “Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It’s off to work we go!”

I started to laugh out loud. Other people wanted to know what I was laughing at. I told them. They laughed, too.

Like prayer, shared laughter tears down walls and binds us together.

Laughter, according to the theologian Karl Barth, is the closest thing to the grace of God. Laughter is as sacred as music, stained-glass windows and silence.

The first time we hear about laughter in the Scriptures is in Genesis, when Sara is told that she, ancient though she was, and her equally ancient husband, Abraham, would conceive and bear a son.(Genesis18.12 -15) She laughed. From then on, in various parts of the Hebrew Bible, laughter is named as the best response to the situation. “There is a time to weep and a time to laugh."(Eccl.3.4) “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then we thought we were dreaming. Then, our mouths were filled with laughter and our tongues sang for joy.”(Ps.126 1-2)

Sometimes the laughter described in the Hebrew Bible is derisive, taunting, lacking in a shared sense of delight in the incongruous. Jesus is laughed at in each of the Synoptic Gospels by bystanders who use laughter to ridicule Him. (Mt.9.24, Mk. 5.40,
Lk. 8. 53)

Of all God’s creatures, only human beings can laugh. What about hyenas, we say? A natural response that doesn’t arise from recognizing incongruity. Cultivate the laughter of humor. Give up the laughter that diminishes the other. Enjoy oxymorons like working vacation, plastic glasses, definite maybe and exact estimate.

Laugh at bloopers like the famous “Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States, Hoobert Heever.”

Laugh at ourselves when a mighty swing on the tee of the first golf hole produces a dribble, or when the chicken on our plate flies across the room as we attempt to cut off a piece.

Make a place in our faith for lightness, merriment and joy in simple pleasures – especially in the face of the world’s lack of ability to do so.

~Joan Sobala, SSJ

Take a Chance on God

Dear Friends,

You know as well as I do that change is a staple of life. Just look in the mirror and think of yourself five years ago.

India has a new prime minister. Crimea has moved to become a Russian annex. The obituary pages of the newspaper tell of people who have crossed over. Death. Divorce. Job loss or gain. Last weekend area colleges graduated students into the public sphere. A fork in the road. A new possibility.

As native Hawaiians grow through adolescence, they are free to change their names to match their emerging self-understanding.

The people who died in the capsizing of the South Korean ferry did not will to die. They were taken down a path they would not have chosen. Life went askew that day for more people than those who died. Unwilled change. Costly change. God was holding them close.

The forest fires that keep eating away at the West are also costly. Then, new growth appears one day, much later. New growth means life bursts forth where there was once only death. It happens. God is there.

Next week, our liturgical calendar celebrates the Ascension of Christ. No longer would the Risen One be visible and tangible to His followers. Jesus, the Risen One, will hand over His community to be shaped by the Holy Spirit. The Ascension begins the process . The Holy Spirit will be given at Pentecost. Will I recognize You then?

Personally, I can choose to change- or I can say No. I won’t. And die.

God. Are You in the change? I always thought You were an unchangeable God. Do You change? Will you pass through the changes of my life with me. Will I recognize you when You are there?

Sometimes, when I want to change in a particular way, I find I cannot. I cannot lose weight, break a pattern, begin to read Scripture daily with understanding. My will, not Yours.

But when it’s Your will, not mine, then change becomes real though not immediately apparent. You offer me discovery, exploration into life, the stretching of myself beyond myself.

We don’t always change for the better, but we can. What it takes is clinging to God, trusting the Risen One, taking a risk that God is sufficient.

~Joan Sobala, SSJ

What is life to the full anyway?

Dear Friends,

Have you ever pushed away from the table with the words “I’m full”? Usually when we say that, we mean we can’t eat any more – we can’t take in any more. In hearing a lecture, we may not be able to absorb another thought.

Consider a thimble, a bucket and a swimming pool. Fill each to the brim with water. Which is the fullest? Of course, it’s a trick question. Each is as full as it can be. What differs in each is the capacity for fullness. Each cannot take in any more.

In the Gospel, Jesus says:
I have come that you might have life,
and have it to the full.
(John 10.10)

Have you reached life to the full? I respectfully submit that you have not and I have not. We can each take in more.

What is life to the full anyway? It is just beyond us. It is never found in this life, even at the moment when we think we have it. Heaven is fullness of life, and heaven is just beyond us.

Many of us with long memories recall being taught or at least inferring from what we were taught that this life was all about preparing for heaven. This life was an antechamber. Heaven was all that is important. This life was to be endured, suffered through, trod through without savoring – for savoring life in this world threatened eternal life. In this way of thinking, life here and now was deemphasized.

Through the new vision of the mission of Jesus articulated by Vatican II, people have increased their love for the world. Health, the potential for travel, satellites that bring distant paces into our electronic devices – these have helped us relish life. The danger of this way of thinking is to put heaven on a closet shelf and forget about it.

It’s time to regain the balance:
to pay close attention to this life and to pay close attention to heaven.

Heaven is another name for the fullness of life that Jesus the Risen One promised. It is the fruit that never becomes overripe, the face and voice that never cease to appeal to us. Heaven is the insight that never fades, the music that always stirs us, the love that glows with vitality and never diminishes.

Heaven is the fullness of all human relationships summed up in the depth of our relationship with God.

“God,” the Book of Revelation tells us, “will wipe away every tear from our eyes and death shall be no more – neither shall there be mourning or crying nor pain any more – for the former things have passed away… God shall dwell with us.”

But let’s not think of heaven as some far distant place beyond the galaxies. Paradoxically, heaven is right here, in the people and places we love. Just beyond us. Here and now.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning reminds us
    "Earth is crammed with heaven
    And every common bush afire with God;
    And only she who sees takes off her shoes. 
    The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.”

~Joan Sobala, SSJ

Happy Mother's Day!

Dear Friends,

Happy Mother’s Day to all who mother in any way!

The mothers among us are natural mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, mothers by adoption or by marrying into a family. Men mother, too, when they take seriously the primary gift of all mothers which is to nurture. Men and women both nurture when we care for the earth or a community or when we nurture faith in others. The American observance of Mother’s Day was a great idea that took hold and has spawned a national day of being with and buying for Mom. This focus is popular, but it is not enough. Honoring our mothers/nurturers becomes more real when we do it all yearlong and when we mother/ nurture using people we know as a model. Not all of us have had beautiful relationships with our mothers, so Mother’s Day can be hard. Still, we can go the route of nurturing others and become what we did not receive.

Mary, Our Mother

In our faith tradition, all yearlong, we honor Mary, the Mother of God and our mother. But May is a time especially dedicated to her. Jesus gave his disciple, John, to Mary as a son and Mary to John as a mother. It happened at the foot of the cross, as described in John’s Gospel. Chapter19. We are John. Jesus gave us his mother to be our own. And Mary encourages us to do whatever he tells us. (John 2) .This month, grow in faith in Christ through the lens of Mary. Learn to know the Lord as she did. Learn to be with him after the Resurrection,  as she came to know him anew then.

God, Our Mother and Father

Liturgically, we always pray to God as Our Father. That’s what Jesus taught. “Our Father in Heaven…” “God, our Mother” feels strange on our lips. Still, in Isaiah, God speaks as being like a woman groaning in labor. Jesus in Matthew, longs to enfold the children of Jerusalem as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. If mothers and fathers image God, then the terms “God our Mother” and “God our Father” reveal facets of God to us to cherish and emulate.

The Empowerment of Mother Figures Whether They Know It or Not

Consider Mary Lempke, a 52 year old nurse who lived near a hospital in Milwaukee. When a blind, mentally incapacitated baby boy with cerebral palsy was abandoned at the hospital, the staff was at a loss to know what to do with him. Then someone remembered Mary. Would she take care of him? The consensus was that he would die young. “If I take the baby,”  Mary said, “He won’t die young."

The care of baby Leslie was absorbing. Each day, she massaged his entire body. Mary prayed over him, cried over him, she placed his hands in her tears.

The years passed. 5, 10 15.

It wasn’t until Leslie was 16 years old that he could stand alone. All this time, he couldn’t respond to her at all.

One day, Mary noticed Leslie plucking on the taut string of a package. She wondered if he was sensitive to music. Mary began to play every type of music imaginable for Leslie, hoping something would appeal to him.

Eventually, Mary and her husband bought an old upright piano and placed it in Leslie’s  room. She would take Leslie’s fingers in hers and show him how to push the keys down, but he didn’t seem to understand.

One night, Mary awoke to the sound of someone playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto #1. She shook her husband. Had he left the radio on? He said he didn’t think so but they had better check.

What they discovered was beyond their wildest imaginings. Leslie was playing the piano. Leslie, who had never even gotten out of bed alone before, was seated at the piano playing with beauty, accuracy, soul.

Mary dropped to her knees. “Thank you, dear God. You did not forget Leslie.”

Doctors describe Leslie as an autistic savant – a person with brain damage who was nonetheless extremely talented. Doctors can’t explain the phenomenon – neither can Mary. But she does know that this talent was released through love… a gift from God, in this case, through a mother who couldn’t stop caring.

This is the love we celebrate this weekend, a love that embraces, protects, keeps on giving, and delights in our growth. Celebrate with thanks all who have given to you.

~Joan Sobala, SSJ

Words that Inspired Our Two Newest Saints

Dear Friends,

Sunday was a remarkable day in Rome. For the first time ever, two popes were canonized in the same ceremony:  Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.

Most people living today grew up with Pope John Paul II. Less of us remember good Pope John, as he was called. He was pope from 1957 to 1963. If you want to know Pope John XXIII, look at Pope Francis. Francis stands, walks, teaches, embraces the world as John XXIII did.

The leadership of these two men significantly influenced modern Catholicism and our secular society. So many people have been touched by their vibrant faith. So many people venerate their names and memories. How could they  not be proclaimed saints?

Holiness is attractive. People recognize goodness.

Such was certainly the case for these two great men. But no two people manifest holiness in exactly the same way. (After all, God ‘s images in the universe are many and varied.) Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II exemplify the nuances of God in our world.

John XXIII was elected pope in 1957. He was a surprise choice for the office. To everyone’s surprise, he spoke to the hearts of the people with warmth and humor.

John XXIII set a new tone for the church focusing the church’s energies to serve the people of the day, not just replaying old glories.

He wrote: “We are not on earth to be museum keepers, but to cultivate a flourishing garden of life.”

John  XXIII was not just a friendly – neighbor type. Trained as an historian, before his election, he was the Papal ambassador to three very sensitive areas:

    To the Orthodox Churches of Eastern Europe
    To Turkey with its Muslim population
    To France, First Daughter of the Church, as France has been called.
In each assignment, he won the hearts of the people, and was extremely effective in governmental relations which were often quite strained.

At heart, Angelo Roncolli – Pope John XXIII – was always a pastor with a compassionate touch. His pastoral advice? “ See everything. Overlook a great deal. Correct little.”

Pope John Paul II – Karol Woytyla- was the first non-Italian pope in 450 years. As a young man, growing up in Poland, he lived under Nazi rule. As an adult, he lived under Communism. The suffering he and his people experienced formed him as a man – a man without fear.That suffering fueled his heart of compassion.
So it was that he became a missionary pope, visiting 129 nations, to bring God’s message of hope and encouragement to a world often oppressed and enslaved by its own people.

Billy Graham called John Paul II “ the most influential voice for morality and peace in the last 100 years.”

On these Easter Sundays, Jesus leaves us with words to carry in our hearts – the same words that inspired our two newest saints.

The first word is Peace. Every time Jesus returned to his followers after the Resurrection, his first word was Peace. All is forgiven. All is well.

Go. Go tell the people the Good News. Death does not have the final word.

Do not be afraid. I will be with you.

As followers of the Risen One, as brothers and sisters of Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II, let us be at peace. Not anxious. Tell people God makes a difference. Don’t be afraid. Ever.

We have the words of the Risen Lord to go by.


~Joan Sobala, SSJ

Easter - An Interruption?

Dear Friends,
   
This is a homily that was enclosed in a letter from a friend in 1991. It is not mine, but I wish it was. Here it is for you. 

“Interruption is the story of Easter. God interrupted death, interrupted the power and flow of evil to demonstrate that divine love and commitment to humanity was stronger than anything else, no matter what the present moment may seem. Nations and people could have gone on as before, drawing near to God and then falling away in an assertion of their own independence in a never ending cycle, had not God interrupted in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and interrupted supremely by raising his from the dead.

In a profound sense, God interrupts our lives whether we like it or not, but the question for us is how do we respond to the interruption, particularly the news of Easter. Is it only an interruption in the sense that we feel somehow compelled to be in church, to wear new clothes and sing familiar hymns and gather with family, as pleasant as those are? Are we willing to realize that our lives have been interrupted with the assertion that power, money, and status are but short-lived symbols which we have allowed to take hold of us? Are we willing to accept the interruption that we are not in control of nature, of the lives of others around us, or of even our own lives no matter how tightly we hold on or try to force our wills? Are we willing, more simply, to be interrupted by the needs of others around us, the needs of housing and food, of healing and forgiveness, of justice and peace, or would we rather ignore them, as if they would go away?

The news of Easter Day is that God has interrupted and continues to interrupt our lives with unending, undeserved love for us. It is our task to acknowledge that good news and to go forth into tomorrow         and tomorrow and tomorrow with a renewed sense of our own ministry of interruption, as ones who are agents  of the love of God breaking into our world.”

Happy Easter season, to all of you, my sisters and brothers in the ministry of interruption!
~Joan Sobala, SSJ   
    

Await Easter with Confidence

Joanblog for April 14

Dear Friends,

            You and I are privileged to see Good Friday from the vantage point of Easter. We know the delirious shout of joy, Christ is risen, that has reverberated through centuries,

communities and individual lives.

            On this particular Good Friday, I invite us to step back from this side of Easter to stand in two places

            ~ to linger at the cross, and

            ~ to walk in the garden of the tomb in that time between Good Friday and Easter.

            It’s important for us to stay a while with the reality of Good Friday and not move too quickly to Easter, because as the theologian, Anthony Padavano says, “the cross is a gathering place for sorrow.” Padavano goes on “When Easter comes too quickly, it dismisses pain without healing it.” (Some of what follows is Padavano paraphrased.)

            Sometimes in life, pain needs to be held and sorrow needs to blossom.

            The psychic distance between Good Friday and Easter is immense. When we are in the Good Fridays of life, we may not want to celebrate Easter. We may need to embrace the cross and not let go.

            Of all Christian symbols, the cross is the most believable - believable because our God died on the cross. Our God does not take the easy route. Our God knows pain- the human pain of being alone, devastated, dying.

            God could have saved humanity another way. God chose this way, so that, in Christ, so that in Christ, our God could gather all the lost loves, all the lost values and shattered dreams of this world.

            God gathers all of your efforts and mine: wasted efforts, denied or destroyed efforts.

God gathers under the cross the children of refugee camps throughout the world, the betrayed and soldout sub-Saharan Africans, Syrians, Ukrainians, Venezuelans and tomorrow’s broken masses.

God gathers us as we weep and are forced to let go of life as we once knew it.

When there are no answers for our great sadness, we look upon the cross and we see Christ and ourselves, mirrored in each other.

At the cross, Paul says, we seem to be able to endure, because we, who know the cross intimately, are together with the one who makes the cross believable. And so we linger.

            But then, inexplicably, we are ready to move on.

            As salmon know when it is time to swim upriver,

            As hummingbirds know when it’s time to fly north,

            As we awaken from paralyzing sadness to greet the new day,

we become ready to walk into the garden of the tomb.

            Something in us is very sure that the cross is not the end

            The apparently vanquished becomes the victor.

            We recognize him – Christ, who reaches forward in history for us, also reaches backward into history as the fulfillment of every believer’s faith, every dreamer’s dream.

            The poet George Mackay Brown imagines what great elation lives in the great figures of Scripture on that Holy Saturday before His resurrection.

He went down the first step.

His lantern shone like the morning star.

Down and round he went

Clothed in his five wounds.

Solomon whose coat was like daffodils

Came out of the shadows.

He kissed Wisdom there on the second step.

The boy whose mouth had been filled with harp-songs,  (David)

The shepherd-king

Gave, on the third step, his purest cry.

                       

At the root of the Tree of Man, an urn

 With dust of apple blossom.

Joseph, harvest-dreamer, counsellor of pharaohs

Stood on the fourth step.

He blessed the lingering Bread of Life.

He who had wrestled with an angel,                                          (Jacob)

The third of the chosen,

Hailed the King of Angels on the fifth step.

Abel with his flute and fleeces

Who bore the first wound

Came to the sixth step with his pastorals.

On the seventh step down                                                         (Adam)                       

The tall primal dust

Turned with a cry from digging and delving.

            Tomorrow the Son of Man will walk in a garden

            Through drifts of apple blossom.

Await Easter with confidence.