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It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life (John 6:63).

We heard these words proclaimed in the liturgy last summer, and they have been piercing my soul ever since.

In the context of the recent revelations of more horrendous abuse cases in the Church in the United States and allegations of cover-ups, they are even more poignant. The future of the Church will depend in some way on whether or not we believe these words of Jesus.

Every word he spoke was spirit and life for us, but especially for those he is most immediately referring to here, about himself as the bread of life who gives us his own flesh and blood that we might have eternal life.

Last summer I was able to spend a week at our Cana Colony for families, the first time in ten years. It was so good to spend those days with young families. They are heroically living out their faith that Jesus has come in the flesh to make possible a truly Spirit-filled life.

Nothing like young families with small children running in all directions and forming quite a “chorus” at Mass each morning to remind us of life “in the body”!

And each day, those of age could partake of the glorified body of Christ in Holy Communion, so that his Spirit might penetrate the nitty-gritty of life in the flesh.

Slowly but surely, yet imperceptibly at times, our earthly lives become divinized. Old resentments are pardoned. Chastity is lived more faithfully not only externally but even interiorly. Everyday service is given more cheerfully and less grudgingly. Or is it?!

The above might be happening in some lives, somewhere, but in mine? Old resentments sometimes seem to get a new lease on life; they might be old, but their energy is as fresh and new as ever!

Chastity continues to be something I can’t brag about, especially to myself if I am honest about those secret thoughts and desires.

And everyday service? I need a break!

Where is the power of Christ’s words active and effective in my life? Why does the Eucharist seem to make so little difference where the rubber of Gospel demands hits the road of everyday living? “Do you also wish to go away?” (6:67) You know, Lord, sometimes that doesn’t seem like such a bad idea!

On second thought, there is this reminder from St. Peter: Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to know and to believe you are the Holy One of God (6:68-69).

These words remind me that nothing is automatic between me and Jesus. Either I live my life in relationship to him constantly, or I end up not having much of a spiritual life at all. His words may be spirit and life, but unless I am opened to them by the Spirit of God, they remain a dead letter on the doorstep of my heart, a letter whose message is never received.

What does it take, anyway, so that the words of Christ might find a home in me at last? I find there are four foundations that the Lord relentlessly tries to establish, so that the Word might build his dwelling place in me. Take one away, and soon there are construction problems to deal with.

***

First is mercy. The Lord wants me to know, to put it briefly, how much I’m in need of it. In other words, that I am a sinner and a poor man who can get nowhere without his help and forgiveness.

One way or another, we discover that without him, we can do nothing. And along with that, we discover that everything we do is permeated with layer upon layer of self-centeredness in its various forms!

And the more “heroically” (in my eyes at any rate) I strive to overcome this fixation on self, the more self-absorbed I become! Layer upon layer upon layer! Who will set me free from this body doomed to die?

Thanks be to God for Christ Jesus my Lord! He forgives me over and over and over again. He doesn’t despise me for my sorry state. His mercy is truly beyond measure, and it’s gratitude for it that helps set me free from myself.

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Next is compassion. The grace of mercy has little lasting effect in us unless it bears fruit in compassion for others, most notably the poorest, the weakest, and the most obnoxious. Again, this is an attitude of heart and its expression in deeds that God gives as a grace.

True, we may already be disposed, as it were, to be kind because of a kind of natural gift of empathy. But this is a sharing in the suffering of another that finds a way to identify to a very high degree with that suffering, in order to bring a ray of God’s own light therein.

Over and over again the Lord will have us so minister to the poor, until we are so depleted of our own resources that at last we turn to him to count utterly on his.

Then we become as oil poured out on the wounds of our brothers and sisters. Even when the hard word of truth-in-love must be spoken, it is given with the Lord’s own heart filled with compassion for sinners. I know of no other gift which, when received, so opens us to the Word of God and clarifies its meaning as this one.

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Third is obedience. In MH we are taught by our Constitution that obedience to one’s superiors can be like crossing a great and deep valley by means of a kind of woven-together bridge which is strong enough to support a beast of burden, such as a pony or llama, yet is light and flexible to the point of swaying in the wind.

And it is also true that for many of us here, obedience is just exactly that bridge, not to “nowhere” but to “somewhere” within the land of faith, hope and love, where otherwise we might never have ventured.

Obedience in any vocation to the duty of the moment is God’s foreordained plan to strip us more quickly of our egos and conform us to Christ’s trusting relationship to his Father.

Such a one is even ready to participate in whatever unlikely project the Lord is up to this week!

Gradually, through ongoing and lasting obedience to the duty of the moment, we are “shaped” by our heavenly Father into the likeness of his Son.

Often, we are not going to easily and automatically realize this connection between obedience and union with Christ, but it is there nonetheless.

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Finally there is the Cross. This is the key that opens every spiritual door, including those of the above three. Eventually, the Lord will ask us not only to follow him but also to suffer with him.

This is when we become the offering poured out like Christ’s for the salvation of the world. We can choose to accept it or not, but no lasting life comes except through the Cross of Jesus.

It is when the nails of helplessness are banged into our skin that we begin to understand what we really have been longing for—a helplessness with Jesus and united to his, which is for the salvation of the whole world. It doesn’t matter so much what the outside of our lives looks like at this point, so long as the inner fire is kept burning through the night of suffering.

Mostly this is a matter of accepting things as they are and within which God will come. He has promised to do so, and he isn’t going back on those promises any time soon.

These are the attitudes of soul that are foundational to the word of God and also most open themselves to being shaped by the same Word into Christ himself.

When our faith is built on these and founded on Christ as cornerstone, words of Scripture that baffled us before, now become luminous, obvious, and even possible to live. And the Eucharist especially becomes the source of living transformation of which the Lord speaks in John 6.

Take one or the other of the above four away, and we end up lost, confused, and seeing no exit from the options to either compromise or even to despair. So, come! Let us walk in the light of the Lord during these dark November days.

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