The Center for contemplative practice
A Lay Cistercian Looks at Spiritual Reality
WHAT WERE YOU DOING ON MARCH 1, 2007?
Can you think back to the year 2007 and tell me what you were doing on March 1? You did something, if you were living, not so? What was it that made this date so special? How about the other dates you have experienced? They come and they go and are forgotten. Does that mean they were insignificant and a waste of time? On March 1, did you do something that would somehow change your future for the better?
I have a problem even remembering if I took my heart medication in the morning, much less what happened on March 1, 2007. I could say that about any date. I don’t know if I had lunch with someone, went to bed early, watched television, or read a book. Does that mean the sum of my life is meaningless?
When I was thinking about my Lectio Divina passage (Phil 2:5) the following thoughts came to my mind. What good is my past life, such as a day long ago that I can’t even remember very well? Did I start the day out with my Morning Prayer? Did I do anything in that day to bring me closer to God? All these days in my past seem to be easily forgotten. Do they help me get to Heaven, if I can’t even remember what happened?
If you have not read about the myth of Ariadne’s Thread, do so now. Google it. I thought of something similar, except my thread was golden and it was to help us through the Labyrinth of life and not that of Mithras. Here are my reflections:
THE GOLDEN THREAD
When each of us are born, we find ourselves in a Labyrinth of false passages and turns that all seem the same. Life is one of no hope, no exits, just the same routine of trying to find meaning in a maze that all looks the same. John Paul Statre wrote a play describing this feeling. It is called No Exit. https://archive.org/stream/NoExit/NoExit_djvu.txt This is Original Sin, where the only path is one which is negative, and leads to nowhere. For those Baptised, through faith, the Labyrinth is still there, still has a maze of differing ideas about what is true and meaningful, still with difficulties in walking down the parh. There is a difference with those who are Baptized. First, there is Hope that you can get out of the maze. You are still going to have to endure the stress of finding your way out of the Labyrinth, but now you have a Golden Thread to help you. At Baptism, you were presented with a Golden Thread by Christ. He tied it around your heart and He tied the other end around His Heart. When you reach the age of spiritual maturity, i.e., you realize that there is a Labyrinth and that you have a Golden Thread that links you to Christ, you can begin your journey. Christ won’t make the journey for you but He will make it with you, guiding you by the Golden Thread. If you follow this thread (Scriptures, Body of Christ, Eucharist, Forgiveness and Mercy, and loving others as Christ has loved you), you can get out of the maze, even if you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Golden Thread won’t stop you from dying, it won’t make your journey any easier to walk, it won’t be a conveyor belt on which you get and get off when you die, it won’t help you get rid of your faults and failings, it won’t save you from cancer or alcoholism, but it will save you because you are linked indelibly in Baptism with Christ Jesus, His Heart to your heart. This is why I think contemplation is important for me as an aspiring Lay Cistercian. I want to love God with my whole heart, my mind, and my strength, and thus love my neighbor as Christ as loved me. When Christ says, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, think of the Golden Thread that links your heart with the Heart of Christ. This is our way out of the Labyrinth of despair and sin, our way out of trying to be god, our reliance only on our own fallible self for salvation.
LEARNING POINTS
- If you can’t remember what you did on any date, much less March 1, 2007, it does not matter. What matters is that anything you did that you link to Christ with the Golden Thread, you can take with you to Heaven. Remember, the other side of the Golden Thread is tied to the Heart of Christ, the Lamb of God..
- This thread cannot be broken by matter or time or elements of heat and fire. It is sometimes called the Covenant in the Old Testament or loving others as Christ loved us, in the New Testament.
- The Golden Thread is Faith. You do not deserve it, nor merit it by anything you could do. Christ gives it to you at Baptism to help you through the maze of life. Matthew 11:28-30. Learn of me for I am gentle and humble of heart.
- The Golden Thread binds all of us together as the Body of Christ. Each one of us receives a Golden Thread at Baptism, no matter what your Faith. God judges the hearts of anyone else and He can give them a Golden Thread, if He chooses. He is God and not you. “I am not you; you are not me; God is not you; and you, most certainly, are not God.” –MFC
- There is only one Golden Thread which binds all of us to Christ. This is the Church universal, the flock of Christ, and the community of saints that we pray about in our Creed.
- This thread does not belong to any of us, any Church, any clergy, and laity, and religious. We should only be concerned that Christ paid the ultimate price for this Golden Thread to the Father for the sins of Adam and Eve. The Father gave the gift of the Golden Thread to the Son, and the Son gives it to us, all humanity is included. What we do with that Golden Thread will be up to us. Some will see it; some will not recognize it. We do not judge anyone but Hope that all be One in The One united with the Golden Thread.
- Contemplation and the Cistercian practices and charisms help me to negotiate the tricky paths of the Labyrinth by focusing on being as near as I can to the Heart of Christ. Even if there were no God, which there is, this would be a great way to live out your life, in the Hope of the Resurrection. Read John 11:25-27.
- This Golden Thread reachess beyond death, beyond the grave to where Christ now exists. I want to be with the Heart of Christ…Forever.
Praise be to the Father and the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever. The God who is, who was,and who is to come at the end of the ages. Amen and Amen. –Cistercian Doxology
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