Blog written by Pat Bergen, CSJ
Ashes are a symbol worn by Christians as they begin the season of Lent. This year especially ashes seem very apropos for a world where so much of what some of us value seems to be falling apart leaving only ashes behind.
Yet Ashes indicate there is or has been a fire!
One time I asked a group of confirmation students why fire is a symbol for the Holy Spirit. A teen who really did not give evidence of paying attention raised his hand and said, “Fire transforms all the garbage into ashes leaving only the energy of Love roaring in its place!” Wow! Leaving only the energy of Love roaring!!
In the world we live in, it could be a marvelous thing if all the garbage—the negativity, hatred, violence and deceit were transformed leaving only the roaring fire of Love! This is the call of lent. Finding the fire, letting it consume the garbage into ashes leaving only the energy of Love roaring in its place!
What I know about fires is — they are disruptive. They disrupt the cold with warmth, the darkness with light and even a spark of fire can disrupt whatever is going on changing everyone’s behavior and even changing the story not only of one’s life but of a whole culture: The Chicago Fire, the Our Lady of Angel’s school fire, the fire in Notre Dame Cathedral!
To change a culture of hatred, violence and negativity, nothing is more effective than a disruptive fire—a fire that strikes at the fundamental story that gives rise to a culture.
Our culture, which is a field of energy, is based on a story of separation that gives rise to “every person for him/herself.” Or “you can’t trust anyone—someone is always out to get you. You have to protect yourself.” Or “the more money you have, the more power you have, you can influence everything and you can change the world/whole planet for your benefit.”
Jesus proclaims another story of reality—a story of communion where everyone and everything is interconnected and animated by the Spirit of Love whom he calls God. Science now confirms this story. Jesus shows us by his life that disrupting the prevailing story is the way to transform it: words and stories that upset the status quo, relationships, gestures, overturned tables, inviting outcasts to the table. . .
Scientists tell us that to really disrupt a prevailing field of energy, that energy field has to be disrupted at its foundational level— that level of the story upon which the field or culture is based.
There is a football player whose name is Love—he’s a student of ours and now plays professionally. The first time I witnessed him on the field, even I, who know nothing about football, was awed! His coach told me—he has a gift. He sees the whole field! Wow! I thought–What a gift, but I was not thinking of a football field. I was thinking of the whole field of Christ/the cosmos, which Teilhard says is like a crystal ball illumined from within by the light of Christ, who is Love incarnate in every bit of matter. “For those who can see,” Teilhard says. “Christ shines in this diaphanous universe through the cosmos and in the whole of matter.” How I wish I had eyes to see Christ, the embodiment of Love shining through the whole field!
However, I miss the mark. This year on retreat I was asking to see gifts I am missing in the world. All of a sudden a gift came to light: some people, like the football player, see the whole field! Maybe they are even more passionate than the football player. Their passion is so strong that day and night they search to see where the field can be injected with their values to disrupt it.
Some of us get so overwhelmed by the speed at which our world and planet are being destroyed, leaving only ashes behind, we are breathless, without voice, beside ourselves with fear, drowning in a malaise and falling into existential ennui—our fire has been squelched!
Yet a beacon is shining in the night and many of us are missing it! We are being shown what tireless passion to transform the whole field looks like! No wonder Jesus in Luke 16, praises the crooked manager when he says, “the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their kind than the people of the light—or as The Message translates this another way: “Steetwise people are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. Jesus says, I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right/what is holy—using every adversity to stimulate you to creativity, to concentrate your attention on what really matters, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior!”
Are we as passionate about wanting to see the whole field as the people of this world—those who are inserting dishonesty, greed and violence? We can never find the passion unless we get the message of the ashes.
Ashes are indicative of burning. Burning is indicative of a fire. Are we allowing all that appears as ashes to lead us to the fire? Those who search for the flicker have to go deep to find it. We need to go deep, deep down inside ourselves to find the glowing ember of Love. We need to let God show us how dearly we are loved. Ask to be held in the space. Attend to the ember of Love. The ember will become a flicker, then a flame. Let it lead us even deeper to the place where that bonfire of Love is birthing the universe and continuing and flowing through everything revealing its majesty. Pray to be awed by it!
This same fire of Love is continuing to create you and me and all that is. There is a power in this Love and it is entrusted to us. It is a passion that will lead us to do anything, go anywhere lacking in Love. It will open our eyes to the field. We will see spaces where we can insert the values of tenderness, generosity, and integrity, to disturb the present field of hatred, greed, and dishonesty. Pray that this fire of Love consumes us so that we become a flame to quicken the fire of Love in every one we see and in everyone who sees and hears us. We are on to be promoters of Love!! Pray to disturb the whole field day after day by the stories we tell, the letters and articles we write, the words we speak, the decisions we make.
Kathy Sherman, CSJ has a new song, ”Somewhere in the Future.” The last line of each verse asks the question: Somewhere in the future, somewhere down the line children will be asking what we did with our time. How will we answer the children? Will we weep in shame at what we failed to do or will we stand before our sons and daughters and say we did our best and tried to change the world for you? (© 2020, Kathy Sherman, CSJ, permission granted) NOW is the time. Now is all we have!
May we fast from everything that steals our time and energy from Love and feast on the power and passion of Love so the garbage (negativity, greed, violence) will be turned to ashes and only the roaring fire of Love remains!
I’m going to carry a match in my pocket this Lent to remind me that Lent is all about Fire, finding it, letting it enkindle a bonfire of Love in me to ignite it everywhere.