The Center for contemplative practice
A Lay Cistercian Looks at Spiritual Reality
LIVING THE CHRIST LIFE IS NOT EASY
Here are a few thoughts I had from my Lectio Divina (Phil. 2:5) on original sin.
Ever since the sin of Adam and Eve, humans have experienced the side-effects of that original sin. They are work is difficult, childbearing is with pain, there are murder and other serious dysfunctions to the original human purpose. In other words, the default now is one of struggle and eventually death. Genesis 3.
This archetypal characteristic of what it means to be human is what God used to bring us to eventual reconciliation through with and in Jesus Christ. Christ’s life would be one of suffering, disappointment in others’, and eventual death on a cross, in order to fulfill His purpose–to reconcile all things in Himself to the Father with the Holy Spirit. The Pascal Mystery does rightly proclaim, O Happy Fault of Adam!
There is one catch. When we live the Christ life, we do not live in the world as we see it. We live in the Kingdom of Heaven. That means we do not take our motivation, our purpose, our meaning from what the world offers. We are pilgrims in a foreign land, one that will seduce us with our own importance, like it has done to many in the United States. It takes work to renounce ourselves daily and follow the path of Christ, one of humility, obedience to the will of the Father, and love with all our hearts, our souls, and our strength plus our neighbor as yourself. We cannot do that alone. We need the energy and grace of the Spirit by asking mercy from the Father for our many failures.
As an aspiring Lay Cistercian, I try to fail and try and fail to be perfect or love God with my whole self (Matthew 22:34). God forgives me each time and each time I say, “well, here I am again. It’s me.” The Cistercian practices of Liturgy of the Hours, Eucharist with the real presence of Christ, Lectio Divina, a meditation on Scripture, all help me focus on God rather than me. It is with God own energy that I can praise God at all. To Him be glory, honor, and praise, for all eternity, the God who is, who was, and who is to come at the end of the ages. Amen and Amen.
If Christianity becomes too easy, you know it is not authentic. The first thirty-five popes we all martyred because they loved Christ. Christianity lite is nothing but cotton candy–tastes nice but there is no nourishment. Not all who said Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
That in all things, God be glorified. — St. benedict
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