Lunch With James

After a few month's time - around Christmas - I finally caught up with James again.  As usual, we met up over lunch at Al Watan.

I always enjoy our meet-ups.  There are very few people I know with whom I'm able to speak on such a vast variety of themes: from the shallow to the profound, from our favourite foods or sports, to what it means to love God and neighbour, we cover it all.  

Lord, how I wish I could discuss such a variety of themes more often!  And over such good food too!  Have mercy on me!

Advanced 1 Pastoral Care Graduation

Happy 71st, dad!  See you on Sunday at your birthday party (and your 49th wedding anniversary)!

Today I finished my 1st advanced chaplaincy training unit.  It's been a long but worthwhile journey: 9 months of training, and I'm not finished yet.  I plan to do one more unit in May.  Along the way, I have learned a lot.  The program is tough, the learning is hard, often times in a "greenhouse lab" environment where we put ourselves and one another under increased scrutiny.  And while the results can sometimes be painful, so long as the endeavour is undertaken with a view towards mutual edification, growth seems to happen.

It helps that I have classmates and a supervisor that I can trust: without trust the whole exercise could be more damaging than helpful.  And while the approach to the entire progress is not ideal - focusing on the psychological rather than the theological - there is a lot to learn for me on the psychological front also, so it has been of significant value.  I have become more self-aware, I have become a better listener, and I think I'm better prepared to "broker differences" between myself and others, for example.

My reservations always have been, and still are, the nature of pastoral care given in a public secular setting.  It seems to me that we "dumb down" theological language to such extent that we are left with a "basic common denominator" of values that everyone can agree on, regardless of (faith) tradition.  For the post-modern secularist this may sound good and profitable, but for the committed faithful this is hardly satisfying, intellectually or spiritually.  It's not that the dedicated faithful don't want to look for commonalities with others - we do - but it's that the specificity of our traditions must be left at the wayside for a "greater good."

I am not convinced that leaving something as important as the nuances of our faith (ie - historicity: the fact that our faith is grounded in a God who revealed Himself in history, rather than in general, abstract, a-historical principles) aside is for the greater good.  It seems ingenuine.  It trivializes the quest for truth, because it assumes that truth cannot be found.  Plus, this approach entails that we compartmentalize our lives into the "secular" and the "sacred", the "public" and the "private", two dichotomies that are utterly unhelpful in the human endeavour to become whole.

Anyways, I celebrate the last 9 months.  I think God brought me to this place, and in terms of fulfilling His command to love Him and neighbour, I do sense that I am able to obey Him in a small and tangible way.  I feel affirmed: by my peers, by my supervisor, and by the staff.  And deep inside too, I get an increasingly greater sense of affirmation and belonging.  I pray that work opportunity will present itself shortly after finishing the next unit.  Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me (a sinner)!

The pictures below are from my graduation.  Our group "ritual"at the end of each unit has been to go for a meal together.  In my first unit, we went to Doña Cata for lunch; and the past 2 units we've gone for breakfast at Paul's Omelettery.  That's where the first picture was taken.  From left to right, we are: Linda, Edgar, Tom, and Phil.  Linda and Tom are my classmates.  Phil's my supervisor.

The second picture is of Chris and me.  Chris works in pastoral care at a local residential care centre.  Then there's Phil and me.  Finally, Lawrence, Kelly, Tom, Chris and Linda, during the ceremony.

Spirituality @ Martini's

I love conversations that take serious the spiritual realm.  I've had significantly less conversations of this kind since graduating from seminary, which means that when I do have such a conversation, I treasure it and celebrate it.  Well, tonight one of those conversations happened!

I met up with Clau and Hugh at Martini's near my place, and together we engaged in a conversation that - while not particularly profound or anything: we talked about cheese-making Mennonites in Bolivia! - took the spiritual realm as a foundation point from which we discussed all else.  How refreshing, how rich, how edifying!  I felt Life pumping through my veins!

More of that, please.  Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!

Final Push

Today the final push begins towards finishing up this current unit of pastoral care training.  To do in the next 9 days:

* 2 pastoral care reports

* 1 weekly reflection report

* final evaluation

Lots to do: no games night tonight.  No fútbol on Saturday.  No hiking on the weekend. :(

Healing In The Spirituality Of The Desert Fathers

In my pastoral care class, we've had a number of sessions on a variety of themes related to healing during times of physical illness, but to my disappointment many of the sessions focused largely on psychology and therapy as avenues towards healing, often relegating the spiritual realm to that of "emotions" and "feelings."

To remedy what I felt is an underemphasis of spirituality, not to mention theology, in the area of healing, I prepared a didactic session on healing in the Christian tradition, focusing particularly on how the desert fathers of the 4th century and later viewed healing.  Even more than that, I focused on the Jesus Prayer, and how it in many ways functioned as the "ideal" prayer in time of illness of any kind: physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, whatever the case may be.  The Jesus Prayer goes as follows: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me."

Today I presented my findings, and I was pleasantly surprised by the response I got from my classmates and supervisor.  Throughout the presentation they showed great interest, and they asked many questions.  Here, in short, is what I presented:

In the spirituality of the desert fathers and mothers:

* The Jesus Prayer is the ideal prayer not only for every day living but especially also in times of great physical and spiritual need

* There is healing power in the name of Jesus (therefore, the prayer is repeated often throughout the day, sometimes into the hundreds and even thousands of times)

* We pray the Jesus Prayer because we are aware of our sickness, and that we:

- desire healing (a movement towards mercy, forgiveness)

- can't do it ourselves (a movement towards self-awareness, repentance)

- trust in the God of healing (a movement towards humility, awe)

Summary: the healing process is a movement from sinner to saint, from self-deception to self-awareness

* Healing is only the beginning of our journey: healing begins with God's presence in our lives, moves us to "union" with God, and culminates in "theosis" (divinization, deification)

* The world (all of creation) is an integrated "whole", consisting of the material and spiritual realms.  Therefore, God works through our prayers.  Miracles are real.  But the devil is real also, and he tries to undermine God's work.  This makes our prayers all-the-more needed!

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us!

The sources that I used for this presentation are:

* The Jesus Prayer, Frederica Mathewes-Green

* Philokalia: The Eastern Christian Texts.  Selections Annotated & Explained, translated by G. E. H. Palmer

* The Way of the Pilgrim, and The Pilgrim Continues his Way, translated by Helen Bacovcin

* The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, translated by Benedicta Ward, SLG

* The Wisdom of the Desert, by Thomas Merton

Desert Healing

It's been such a treat, preparing for the didactic session on healing in the eyes of the Egyptian desert fathers.  Here are some gems that I've come across.

On stability:

"A certain brother went to Abba Moses in Scete, and asked him for a good word.  And the elder said to him: Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything."  (Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert, 30).

On humility:

"One of the brethren had sinned, and the priest told him to leave the community.  So then Abba Besarion got up and walked out with him, saying: I too am a sinner!" (Wisdom of Desert, 40).

"To one of the brethren appeared a devil, transformed into an angel of light, who said to him: I am the angel Gabriel, and I have been sent to thee.  But the brother said: think again - you must have been sent to someone else.  I haven't done anything to deserve an angel.  Immediately the devil ceased to appear." (Wisdom of the Desert, 54).

On prayer:

"One of the Elders said: Pray attentively and you will soon straighten out your thoughts." (Wisdom of Desert, 78)

On the Name (of Jesus):

"The energy of the Holy Spirit. . . is manifested to those under spiritual guidance through the continuous invocation of the Lord Jesus, repeated with conscious awareness, that is, through mindfulness of God." (St. Gregory of Sinai, in Philokalia, translated by G. E. H. Palmer, 121).

On Repentance:

"Let us acquire the fruits of repentance: a humble disposition, compunction and spiritual grief, a gentle and merciful heart that loves righteousness and pursues purity, peaceful, peacemaking, patient in toil, glad to endure persecution, loss, outrage, slander, and suffering for the sake of truth and righteousness.  For...the king of heaven...is within us (Luke 17:21), and to him we should cleave through acts of repentance and patient endurance, loving as much as we can him who so dearly has loved us." (Gregory of Palamas, in Philokalia, 29).

On Theosis: 

"God made us so that we might become 'partakers of the divine nature' (II. Peter 1:4) and sharers in His eternity, and so that we might come to be like him (I. John 3:2) through deification by grace." (St. Maximus the Confessor, in Philokalia, 201).

On Miracles:

"Abba Poemen said of Abba Nisterus that he was like the serpent of brass which Moses made for the healing of the people: he possessed all virtue and without speaking, he healed everyone." (Abba Poemen, in Sayings of the Desert Fathers, translated by Benedicta Ward, SLG, 155)

Jesus Prayer: The Perfect "Constant Prayer"

 One of the questions I have often asked myself is how: how do we pray constantly, as St. Paul exhorted us to do in the New Testament.  It seems that this was quite important to him, because he mentions it 4 times in his letters, and to 4 different faith communities:

* the Romans: "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." (12:12)

* the Ephesians: "...praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication." (6:18)

* the Colossians: "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving." (4:2)

* the Thessalonians: "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing." (I. 5:16-18)

The desert fathers of the 4th century and onward asked themselves the same question, looked within the Scriptures for an answer, and found it, based on the following 5 gospel-stories:

* the Canaanite woman who says "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." (Matthew 15:22)

* the ten lepers: "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." (Luke 17:11-19)

* Bartimaeus the blind, begs "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." (Mark 10:46-48)

* a desperate father pleads "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers greatly." (Matthew 17:14-15)

* the tax collector who says "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." (Luke 18:13)

Based on St. Paul's exhortations, and the examples given in Scriptures, the desert fathers then came up with various versions of a prayer.  Here are the main variations:

Lord have mercy!

Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.

Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

But the one that has stood the test of time, the one that has stuck not only in the Orthodox Church, but is used by Christians of many other stripes also, goes as follows:

Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.

It's the simplest of prayers, really, and covers the whole of the Christian gospel: it proclaims Jesus as Lord, it proclaims Him as the Christ of God, it points to our need for healing, it implies awareness that we cannot heal ourselves, and trust that God in Christ can!

The prayer can be used in virtually any context.  It can be a(n):

* declaration of faith

* act of praise

* act of confession

* act of submission

* act of centering (our hearts on Jesus)

* cry for help


Whatever version we choose for ourselves, each of the them is short and to the point, allowing for easy memorization and therefore, constant repetition throughout our day, no matter where or when.  And there you have it: there's the "constancy" that we're looking for.  Constant prayer.

It's the perfect prayer, really: it's biblical, theological, spiritual, historical, flexible, short, contextual, and portable.

Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!