CYCLE OF LIFE

THE CYCLE OF LIFE

“You are not a human being in search of a spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being immersed in a human experience. . “ Pierre DeChardin 1881-1955

Living in this world can be summed up in a few words: For every moment of perfection, there is a moment of chaos and the only constant is the presence of God within.  It is that which keeps us fighting back.  Picking up the pieces determined to repair the damage, and accepting that one day we are the victim and the next day we are the rescuer. 

The great French Jesuit Philosopher Pierre DeChardin, looking at the wasteland that Europe had become following WWII, composed this prayer:

            “Ah, you know it yourself, Lord, through having borne the anguish of it as a man: on certain days the world seems a terrifying thing: huge, blind, and brutal.

 At any moment the vast and horrible thing may break in through the cracks—the thing which we try hard to forget is always there, separated from us by a flimsy partition: fire, pestilence, storms, earthquakes, or the unleashing of dark moral forces—these callously sweep away in one moment what we had laboriously built up and beautified with all our intelligence and all our love.

Since my human dignity, O God, forbids me to close my eyes to this . . . teach me to adore it by seeing you concealed within it”.

            When St. Paul was in trouble, the faithful in Philippi sent him money and food. He responded,  “I know how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things, I have learned the secret of being well fed, of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I have the strength for everything through Him who empowers me. Still it was kind of you to share my distress… May God supply you with everything you need through Christ our Lord. “ (Phil 4:12-14 19-20)

The experience of life on earth doesn’t change from century to century. 

Parents and teachers know the feeling of wanting to drill a hole in a child’s head to pour in all the things you think they should know.  It wouldn’t work anyway because every human has to learn in his/her own time. Every human has to meet God on their own.  All anyone can do is tell them about God and encourage them to move in His direction. 

So, you ask, how do I do this?  How do I learn to put my trust in God?” John Ortberg put it perfectly in the title of his book, “If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat!”   Simply put, you just do it.  One day you speak to God and tell Him you will not worry that day, you will put everything in his hands, then do it.  It won’t be easy.  You’ve been carrying all the concerns and cares of your whole family, your workplace and the world on your back for years, but it’s time to stop.  The following is not a cliché or an old saw, but the formula for dealing with the cycle of life, “Let go and let God.”

Here’s to making the effort.

Carol Lemelin OPA