Opening For Contemplative Chapter

Opening Reflection - Contemplative Chapter – 13 January 2009 OUR LIFE HIDDEN WITH CHRIST AT THE HEART OF THE COSMOS Looking at the theme for this Chapter I became aware that we have before us four stories – the story of the universe and the earth, our Christian story and the story of our Family and within that the story of your contemplative vocation. All these stories are inter-related and we live in all of them and all of them are important for us. Of course they have different time spans from about 14 billion years to 150 years. However these stories are part of the context in which we live. They reveal to us who we are, they reveal to us the mystery of God. They are interwoven into us, they are part of us, and they form and shape us. Yet each story is also different and can be viewed separately without losing sight of the fact that they also remain connected and interconnected. In a reflection such as this it is only possible to explore each one briefly. Our ancestry stretches back through the life forms and into the stars, back into the beginnings of the primeval fireball. This universe is a single multiform energetic unfolding of matter, mind, intelligence and life.1 Caroline Webb says this in another way: our bodies express all the history of life on this planet. And the history is also the history of every mountain, every river, every ocean, and every pond. And every millimetre of rock and soil, every wisp of water vapour and every breath of the atmosphere blowing ceaselessly around our globe. In our bodies flows the knowledge of an entire planet, an entire solar system, and the universe. It is nothing short of spectacular! What cause for celebration! 2 What we are learning today about our Cosmos is astounding and often overwhelming for us. Now we know, thanks to discoveries of science, that our cosmos is about 13.7 billion years old. At some point – and no one knows when or how, the story of the Cosmos began in a single moment – sometimes called the “big bang” when all that was ever to be part of life was contained in that one single event. From that one moment everything else began to evolve and unfold and continues to do so. A helpful image given to this moment and quoted by Cletus Wessels in Jesus and the new Universe story is “the everything seed”. You and I, every living being, every plant and animal, every star and planet, mountain and plain, river and ocean, rock and stone has its beginnings there in the “seed” of that first moment. We are intimately connected to one another and to all creation because we all share the one starting point and we are all made up of the same material. Our life is rooted in and connected to all life – all that has been, all that will be. We are participants in a single on-going act of creation.3 We recognise that the cosmos has being imbued with God’s compassionate, loving presence from the very beginning; that the cosmos is that through which God communicates something of the invisible Way to us in endless visible ways. A visible expression of invisible Love.4 1

The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos – Brian Swimme, professor of mathematical cosmology

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Weaving a World with light – Caroline Webb, professor of philosophy and cosmology

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Radical Amazement – Judy Cannato, spiritual director

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The Cosmic Mystic – Henry A Garon, professor of Physics

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And we state in our Corporate Commitment that in the light of the new cosmic vision that opens before us, we realise that all forms of life in the universe exist in total interdependence and as an intimately interrelated whole of which humans form a part. We are now conscious that communion embraces not only our sisters and brothers in humanity, but the entire cosmic family The planet earth story began about 4.6 billion years ago having been formed and shaped during a long process. The first sign of life began as single cell bacteria. Much later our origins as humans can be traced back to about 1.9 million years ago. And in more recent times, with our very short history on this earth and shorter still in the Cosmos, we thought we were the centre of the earth and all the rest was for our use and benefit. We now know just how wrong we are and how close we have come to destroying a system that lived without us for billions of years. There are many important points regarding the earth in the Earth Charter 2000. Here I simply want to touch on a couple that affirm that concern for the common good is vital if we are to respond to the growing crisis of the earth. It states clearly that we must develop a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the wellbeing of the earth, of all human beings and of creation. Some of the values underlined are collaboration, participation, right relationships and non-violence. Concern for human rights, for the poor, the vulnerable and the weak are at the centre of the Charter. In all of this we can see reflection of our Charism and spirituality and our own awakening to this big reality. Our Corporate Commitments of 1999, 2002, and 2008 show our growing understanding and our options to be promoters of life, of sustainability, of right relationships, of communion with the entire cosmic family. Through us, the universe is awakened to its Source, a mystery of transforming Love, inviting us into a holy communion to unify and heal the world. How we as human species, and how we as communities of faith will respond can make an incalculable difference. The future of planet earth is in our hands.5 To choose life today calls us to an awareness of a new world view and urges us to a change of mentality, so as to understand, feel and situate ourselves in a new way of relating to God, to the earth and all of creation. (Corporate Commitment 2008) Our Christian story began 2000 years ago, although its roots can be traced back to 4000 years ago as it’s intimately linked with the Jewish story. At a particular moment in time God who has been active and creative within the world since the first moment chose to identify more visibly with our world through Christ. The incarnation has made it possible for us to achieve higher levels of appreciation for everything, everywhere.6 Thus we can say that everything is related to Christ and therefore everything in our world is precious. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together… in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile all things (Col 1:17, 19-20) In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came into being through him. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. (John 1:1-4)

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Making the Shift – Seeing Faith through a New Lens, Elaine Prevallet, SL, Professor of theology and retreat director

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The Cosmic Mystic

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Father glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. (John17:5) So the invitation today is to live with contemplative hearts that recognise something of God in everything and every being. From our own small story I would like to recall the words heard by Milady Peychaud, at the moment of the miraculous Benediction, words also heard by Moses, when God is revealed to him as I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:14) I Am the One who is … can we not say that here is an affirmation that everything is in God and God is in everything? That the concept of God and of existence goes together as one? That they cannot be separated, so everything is sacred when viewed through the lens of our God who proclaims “I am the One who is”? Everything reveals something of the mystery of God who is “I AM” but we need contemplative eyes, ears and hearts to catch a glimpse of the endless mystery of God revealed in diversity and unity, in complexity and simplicity, in small and large, in the ordinary and the extraordinary, in vulnerability and strength. So when we live from a contemplative stance we can delight and wonder at all these countless revelations of the “I Am” of God. Or yet again we can hear Jesus tell us I am the way, the way we treat one another is the way we treat him. And with our understanding today we could say that the way we treat any part of creation is the way we treat Christ. That for Christ, Love is the key to our way of being in the world because Love is God and therefore it is LOVE that holds all things in existence. Margaret Wheatley says: What gives power its charge, positive or negative, is the quality of relationships. Those who relate through coercion, or from disregard for the other person, create negative energy. Those who are open to others and who see others in their fullness create positive energy, Love in organizations, then, is the most potent source of power we have available.7 So we gradually grow in our awareness that we identify with Christ in whatever we are doing. In Christian eyes the greatest miracle ever to occur was the incarnation wherein God personally identified with creation so as to make everything understandable in terms of divinity, and divinity understandable in terms of everything everywhere. The ineffable miracle is that of having our eyes opened so as to see that ordinary creation is alive with the grandeur of love-expression, forgiveness, the promise of everlasting life. Whoever believes in things like these is already living the miraculous.8 And we who have responded to the call to follow Jesus are invited to see Christ in all things. Or in our own language to love, seek and desire only God Alone in all things. In true Christian awareness, each thing in its own way bears a closeness to Christ. And Christ communicates to us through each of them a mode of his abiding presence, his truth, his love, his companionship and availability, his wonder, his hope, his promise. Each creature is understandable in the light of its particular charisma, in terms of what makes things real. It is here that we find the mystical presence of Christ, the

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Leadership and the New Science – Margaret Wheatley

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Cosmic Mystic

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God-among-us who is discernible in creatures everywhere being what they are- namely, outer expressions of the inner life of God.9 Like the Universe story, the Earth story, the Christian story, ours is also a story that unfolds and develops through difficulties and struggles, joys and failures. It is a story that you all know so well, beginning with three young women coming together on Trinity Sunday 1820. A significant moment in that story was the miraculous Benediction of 3 Feb 1822 to which I have already alluded and which also had a particular impact on your vocation as contemplatives. We know that the Family of Pierre Bienvenu Noailles grew gradually as one vocation after another found its place within it. It is interesting to note that many people today who study the new cosmology state that if we are to move into the new era of consciousness that is beginning we need to develop the art of contemplation, of deep reflection and awareness. Our Founder, in a different time, also realised that the Association which he founded would not be complete without a group of sisters who would live a contemplative way of life. This reality of contemplation was essential not only for those who felt called to this vocation but for all the vocations in the Family. Symbolising as it were the importance of contemplation and action, that mutually enrich and support one another. The Contemplatives or the solitaries as they were then called were going to be like the mystical heart of the whole Association of the Holy Family.10 Officially the Contemplative group was born on 1 June 1859 in Martillac. According to Mother Foucault this project was in the mind and heart of the Founder for a long time, during which he prayed and reflected about it. Several sisters had expressed their desire for this way of life. He was convinced that a work devoted solely to contemplation would be the completion and the crown of the Holy Family. And so at the opportune moment Father Noailles called together the five Sisters who were to be the first members of this vocation. Writing about the life of the Founder, Mother Foucault said: It is in humble and simple conditions that the work of prayer, of thanksgiving, and adoration began, which the Founder wanted to attach like a jewel to his society. The Solitude became a “retreat house” open to all the members of the Holy Family, When the Founder sent the rules he had written to the archbishop of Bordeaux Mgr Donnet, he wrote, in the letter accompanying them: The work of the Solitaries is the last development of the Holy Family and which its organisation has been calling for a long time. In the Association we have only the works belonging to the active life, and it is a work for those who long for the peace of a life given to prayer that is being asked for and waited for everywhere. It is to respond to this vocation also needed as much as the others, and to complete the plan of our Association, that I decided to draw up the rules for this new and last branch.11

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ibid

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Fr. Noailles, A prophet for today, Bernard Peyrous

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Memories of Martillac – Mere Foucault

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From the beginning he wanted a contemplative life that was simpler than that which was known in his time. You know your story much better than I do. It has gone through many trials and challenges over the past 150 years. For a long time the Apostolic Sisters were responsible for the leadership and no matter how much goodwill they had it was difficult for them to understand the vocation from the “inside”, and so changes took place according to the “vision” of each one in leadership, thus creating a certain insecurity and maybe even confusion. After Vatican II so much was done to enable you to discover your proper identity in the Church and in the Holy Family. And then in 1987 with the approbation of the Constitutions we were recognised as an Institute with two vocations. It still took time for you to find your proper place and gradually through many meetings, reflections and dialogue you have arrived where you are today; more clear about you vocation and identity and your place in the Family of five vocations, each one different, and yet all living the same mission. Through times of struggle, of seeking and searching you have reached a place where you can celebrate your story with confidence and gratitude. As we come to mark a particular time in your story, that of 150 years of fidelity to seeking and witnessing to God’s desire for you, we celebrate with a new awareness that all our stories are intertwined and also interlinked in the big story of the Cosmos. And now as you enter into the process of this Chapter with its focus on discerning the call of God for you today I invite you to stay connected to the big stories of the Cosmos, Earth, Jesus and our little story of being a Family. Your story is on-going and change towards newness is inevitable because that is the way life is. As you reflect together may you remain aware that the Universe story and the Jesus story – God within that story - teaches us that all life goes through a process of evolution, of adaptation, of change, of growth, of dying or letting go so that the new can come into being. This reminds us that in order to truly and deeply listen to God’s desire for us we need to be able to “let go” of our personal agendas and to stay focussed on the bigger picture. No longer can we think only in parts, my community, my country, my desires, if we want to truly listen to the signs of the times, to truly discern we need to keep the Whole before us. For you that means being attentive always to what God is asking of you now as a Vicariate. The signs of the times are pointers to the future. What matters here is that we allow them to challenge us. Or to put it in terms of faith, what matters is that we allow God to challenge us through our reading of the signs. What we have to avoid is the imposition of our pre-conceived ideas upon the reality of today. Our aim must be to face the truth about what is actually happening – whether we like it or not.12

All of our practices must serve the deeper purpose of aligning our energies with the process of giving/receiving, dying/rising that is going on in the whole universe. That is the path that opens us to the Source of all life, opens the channel of love within us; it is the path to communion with God in and through the whole creation.13 To live our consecrated life for mission within this new cosmic vision is to journey along a paschal path of letting go and receiving, of death opening out to more abundant life. (C.C 2008)

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Jesus today – A Spirituality of Radical Freedom, Albert Nolan

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Making the Shift

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Let us begin this Chapter with hearts that are open to receive and to give. Sure of the presence of the Spirit in our midst, trusting in the guidance of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, let us go forward in faith, hope, love and gratitude. Margaret Muldoon Resources The Cosmic Mystic by Henry A. Garon Jesus in the New Universe Story by Cletus Wessels Radical Amazement by Judy Cannato Making the Shift – Seeing Faith through a New Lens by Elaine M. Prevallet SL Weaving a World with Light – Caroline Webb The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos – Brian Swimme

www.earthlight.org

Jesus today - A spirituality of Radical Freedom – Albert Nolan Leadership and the New Science – Margaret Wheatley Fr. Noailles A Prophet for today by Bernard Peyrous Corporate Commitment 2008 The Earth Charter 2000

www.caroline-webb.com

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www.thegreatstory.org