Walking the Waves

Originally posted FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

Walking the Waves...

The fruit of radical obedience and love 

It is difficult for us to love God radically. Our society tells us that it is bad to do anything in an extreme way –otherwise you are labeled as a ‘fanatic’. Instead, people are encouraged to ‘go with the flow’ –to do their duty well and quietly without causing waves or living ‘out of step’ with the rest. But this is completely opposite of what Jesus asks of us in the Gospel. He asks the rich young man to sell EVERYTHING –a very radical call to Love. He tells another young man to not even bury his father, but to follow Him first. He commends the impracticality of the poor widow who gave her last mite to the temple, when instead most would say she should have kept it for food. He appreciates Mary Magdalene’s radical gesture of love as she pours expensive oil on His feet (symbolizing the total gift of her heart’s love and gifts to Jesus). Jesus tells the apostles to feed 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish. He calls Peter, James, Andrew, John and Matthew to simply up and leave their professions to proclaim His word. He sends the disciples out to ‘dangerous’ places taking nothing with them so that they can teach about the Kingdom of His Love, coming to reign on earth. And He sacrifices His own life (which could have been used for many ‘goods’ of healing people, teaching people, serving people) in order to die as an example of total abandon and trust to the will of the Father. Radical is the Gospel. And so radical must be our lives regardless of our vocation, gifts and situation.

Sometimes it is truly difficult to follow Jesus radically –especially in those moments when He takes away the visible grace to ‘help us’ want to do His will. When He takes away the assurance that we are pleasing Him and we have to go forward in total trust. When others who should understand criticize our obedience to Him –whether it be a family’s radical openness to life trusting that each child He creates and sends is a gift willed by Him, or a huge financial sacrifice embraced simply to teach one’s children the priority of a simple life of service being more important than material things, or living a form of consecrated life that makes no sense to the world. It is especially difficult when He takes away the ‘perks’ of respect, comfort, understanding, friendship (especially from those close to us or those faithful believers who should ‘get’ such a life) –and yet we still have to remain faithful by accepting His will by an act of Love in our own little, weak wills. It is difficult to trust when all is black and silent, when we see others suffer from our actions (even if Jesus uses such suffering to teach them and make them holy), and it is especially difficult to follow His will when it seems to contradict our limited human reason and sensibilities. But such radical love, radical surrender and following of His will is the source of a deep joy and peace that no other thing can offer to our human hearts. Radical Love brings about radical union with Him –and with that comes a whole new hemisphere of gifts unseen, unheard, unknown by our normal worldly experience. And such radical following of Him bears the greatest fruit. A tree planted on the surface of the ground risks being uprooted by wind, washed away by rain, trampled on and killed by animals. But a tree planted deep in the ground has the possibility to grow deep roots and then as it peeks its head above the ground the wind, water and animals are unable to ‘kill’ what has been wisely planted.

The same is with our lives. When we follow God’s will in a deep and radical way –when we radically love, radically forgive, radically thank God for and rejoice in even the sufferings He offers us –trusting they are for our good and the good of others –it is then that His will becomes our very root of all and it is only then that great fruit can be born.

It made no human sense for me to come to Tanzania. I knew no one. The sisters were not that inviting even when I wrote them –often not answering e-mails, not helping in the ways that would make this trip much easier (both in practical things as well as in the mental peace of knowing all would work out). I knew nothing of the place, no language. It cost a lot of money when sisters running orphanages could be found in much ‘easier to get to’ places. People at home ‘needed my help’. And I don’t really enjoy suffering (if I can call it that compared to what others endure in life) of bad food, no water, uncomfortable bed, dirt, disease, no communication with those who ‘need’ it except for prayer (internet does not work) and a sense of helplessness in the midst of such huge, daunting need. And most would ask, ‘Really, what can you do there for such a short time -5 weeks –even if you love the babies, what good will 5 weeks be once you are gone and they have a lifetime of suffering?’ BUT, I have an answer to all of this:

The Gospel teaches us to follow God’s will. Period.

It was God’s will that I come here. He led me in a very silent, yet powerful way to be sure it was His will (even when it seemed imprudent to many). And yet although His Hand guided me, at the same time He left His plan a complete mystery so that I would not have the comfort of knowing I was pleasing Him, seeing my sacrifice would bear fruit. But He did not see fruit in the Garden or on the Cross –it came after His act of total abandonment and trust –His total gift of sacrificial love for the sake of Love Itself and obedience to the Father. Only after He gave His life –undo death for the sake of Love –did His sacrifice bear fruit, the greatest fruit. And so, that is how it must be for me and you as well. So, I trust and rejoice that my radical obedience in coming here will bear fruit for His Kingdom, even if it is all hidden from my eyes, mind and heart. This is the place He prepared for me by His grace. And simply the fact that I followed His will in trustful Love is enough to bear great fruit for Upendo, for Tanzania, for all of Africa and even the whole world. Little seeds of obedient Love bear great fruit. It only takes one splash to cause a great ripple effect. And we are called to cause such waves (even if they make people uneasy) in the world by our obedient Love and sacrifice. It’s a truth we often forget in our lives –but a truth worth reflecting on and remembering. Radical is the Gospel and radical is the Love He calls us each to live in the ways we can in our own life. Such love is not in doing ‘big things’ –but all the many little things He presents to us in our daily life with great love. 

The miracle of Love I see here in Africa can happen in your own homes. I do nothing special or different than many of you –I wipe noses in great love; I take 15 minutes to sit and listen to a sister empty her heart of her daily troubles in great love; I pray at Mass in great Love; I change diapers in great Love; I pray at night in great love. Simple things… little things… but when you do them for Him and add the great Love of Jesus to them, uniting them to His work on the Cross, they become great things. Because they are seeds planted deep in the ground of His will, in sacrificial trust, they will bear great fruit for Him someday.

Amen. +