METANOIA

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"Metanoia" comes from two Greek words: meta, meaning "above," and nous, meaning "mind." Metanoia invites us to move above our normal instincts, into a bigger mind, into a mind that rises above the proclivity for self-interest and self-protection that so frequently triggers feelings of bitterness, negativity, and lack of empathy inside us. Meta-noia invites us to meet all situations, however unfair they may seem, with understanding and an empathic heart!

Moreover, metanoia stands in contrast to paranoia. In essence, metanoia is "nonparanoia," so Jesus's opening words in the Synoptic Gospels might be better rendered: "Be un-paranoid and believe that it is good news. Live in trust!" In With Open Hands, a small but deeply insightful book, Henri Nouwen perfectly describes the difference between metanoia and paranoia. He suggests that there are two fundamental postures with which we can go through life. We can, he says, go through life in the posture of paranoia.

The posture of paranoia is symbolized by a closed fist, a protective stance, habitual suspicion and distrust. Paranoia makes us feel that we forever need to protect ourselves from unfairness, that others will hurt us if we show any vulnerability, and that we need to assert our strength and talents to impress others. Paranoia quickly turns warmth into cold. understanding into suspicion, and generosity into self-protection.

The posture of metanoia, on the other hand, is seen in Jesus on the cross: he is exposed and vulnerable, his arms spread in a gesture of embrace, and his hands open, with nails through them. That is the antithesis of paranoia, in which our inner doors of warmth, empathy, and trust spontaneously slam shut whenever we perceive a threat. Metanoia—the metamind, the bigger heart—never closes those doors.

Some of the early church fathers suggested that all of us have two minds and two hearts. For them, each of us has a big mind and a big heart. That's the saint in us, the image and likeness of God inside us, the warm, generative, and empathic part of us. All of us harbor a true greatness within. But within each of us is also a petty mind and a petty heart. That's the narcissistic part of us, the wounded part, the paranoid part that turns self-protective and immediately begins to close the doors of warmth and trust whenever we appear threatened. Such is our inner complexity.

Ronald Rolhesier

WE ARE PROPHETS OF A FUTURE THAT IS NOT OUR OWN

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It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the Church's mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future that is not our own.

Amen.

This prayer was composed by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw in November 1979 as a reflection on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Bishop Romero. The words of the prayer are commonly attributed to Oscar Romero, but they were never spoken by him.

COVENANT

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The Father
knocks at my door,
seeking a home for his son: 

Rent is cheap, I say 

I don’t want to rent. I want to buy, says God. 

I’m not sure I want to sell, 
but you might come in to look around. 

I think I will, says God. 

I might let you have a room or two. 

I like it, says God. I’ll take the two. 
You might decide to give me more some day. 
I can wait, says God. 

I’d like to give you more, 
but it’s a bit difficult. I need some space for me. 

I know, says God, but I’ll wait. I like what I see. 

Hm, maybe I can let you have another room. 
I really don’t need that much. 

Thanks, says God, I’ll take it. I like what I see. 

I’d like to give you the whole house 
But I’m not sure – 

Think on it, says God. I wouldn’t put you out. 
Your house would be mine and my son would live in it. 
You’d have more space than you’d ever had before. 

I don’t understand at all. 

I know, says God, but I can’t tell you about that. 
You’ll have to discover it for yourself. 
That can only happen if you let him have the whole house. 

A bit risky, I say. 

Yes, says God, but try me.

I’m not sure – 
I’ll let you know.

I can wait, says God. I like what I see.

Sr. Margaret Halaska

FOR THE TME OF NECESSARY DECISION

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The mind of time is hard to read.
We can never predict what it will bring,
Nor even from all that is already gone
Can we say what form it finally takes;
For time gathers its moments secretly.
Often we only know it’s time to change
When a force has built inside the heart
That leaves us uneasy as we are.

Perhaps the work we do has lost its soul
Or the love where we once belonged
Calls nothing alive in us anymore.

We drift through this gray, increasing nowhere
Until we stand before a threshold we know
We have to cross to come alive once more.

May we have the courage to take the step
Into the unknown that beckons us;
Trust that a richer life awaits us there,
That we will lose nothing
But what has already died;
Feel the deeper knowing in us sure
Of all that is about to be born beyond
The pale frames where we stayed confined,
Not realizing how such vacant endurance
Was bleaching our soul’s desire.

John O’Donohue

TRUST IN THE SLOW WORK OF GOD

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Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way
to something unknown, something new.

Yet it is the law of all progress, that it is made by passing through some stages of instability, and that may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you.

Your ideas mature gradually. Let them grow.
Let them shape themselves without undue haste.
Do not try to force them on
as though you could be today what time-that is to say, grace- and circumstances
acting on your own good will will make you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new Spirit gradually forming in you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

Above all, trust in the slow work of God, our loving vine-dresser.

 Tellihard de Chardin

PRAYERS OF A LIFE WITHOUT LACK

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OPENING PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, 
We are so thankful to you that you have said, 
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

We are thankful for the ease with which you walked upon this earth, the generosity and kindness you showed to people, the devotion with which you cared for those who were out of the way and in trouble, the extent to which you even loved your enemies and laid your life down for them. 

We are so thankful to believe that this is a life for us, a life without lack, a life of sufficiency. 
It’s so clear in you, the sufficiency of the Father and the fullness of life that was poured through you, and we’re so thankful that you have promised that same love, that same life, that same joy, that same power for us. 

Lord, slip up on us today.
Get past our defenses, our worries, our concerns.
Gently open our souls, and speak your Word into them.
We believe you want to do it, and we wait for you to do it now.

In your name, amen.

PSALM 23 PRAYER

The Lord is my Shepherd, I have life without lack.
In his green pastures I’ve eaten my fill so I lie down.

At his still waters my thirst is satisfied.
He heals and reintegrates my broken depths in his eternal life
so I can walk in paths of righteousness on his behalf.

Even though I go through loss, hunger, disease, aging, and death
I will fear no evil because you Jesus are with me.
Your strong rod and protective staff put me at liberty.

Your abundant provision is a feast for me so I’m happy to share with my enemies.
You give me hot showers and warm fluffy towels, joyful experiences and deep relationships,
to make me feel clean, special, and powerful.
My cup runs over so I can be generous without ever running out. 

Surely this world is a perfectly safe place for me to be
Because I dwell and abide with God in the fullness of his life in the Kingdom of the Heavens forever. 

CLOSING PRAYER

Gracious Lord, 
Help us to see and understand – with the eyes of faith and the mind you have given us – your magnificent, glorious, self-sufficient being, and the greatness of your kingdom into which we are invited. 
May we grasp the deep significance of the words, “in Him we live and move and have our being,” and know that in that safest of places – in you – there is simply no lack. 

Open our eyes to the high privilege of being created in your image. 
Convince us that nothing makes you happier than seeing those you redeemed by your grace devoting their days to the good of other people and your creation. 
Win over our timid and doubting hearts with the conviction that we are your greatest treasure in all creation. 

Give us sober yet fearless awareness of Satan’s ploys and deceits.
Strengthen our hearts in the knowledge that we have nothing to fear, for you have defeated him. 
We are so glad to know that greater are you who are in us that he that is in the world. 
May our hearts carry that message as we contemplate the awesome reality of the spiritual battle around us.  

Tender Father, you have taught us so clearly that faith – trust – is essential to life without lack. 
We confess that we while we believe in you, we need to believe more fully, more deeply, more constantly. 
In his life, death, and resurrection Jesus showed us that you are completely and utterly trustworthy, and even in the shadow of death there is nothing to fear, for you are with us.  

Bring us to the place of peace where we no longer feel a need to defend ourselves, or to worry about who’s going to take care of us, or to be recognized, or to get our way, or to make sure things turn out right. 
Lord, free us through the knowledge that because you are with us, working in our lives, we have everything we need.

And now, with the truth of who you are deeply engraved in our hearts, give us the confidence and power to love all who are in our lives just as we are being loved by you – freely, fully, joyfully.
Let your Spirit move in our minds and hearts so we believe ever more fully that because you are our all-sufficient Shepherd, we shall never want. 

We ask all this because we would have it no other way.
Amen.

FOR THE INTERIM TIME

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When near the end of day, life has drained
Out of light, and it is too soon
For the mind of night to have darkened things,

No place looks like itself, loss of outline
Makes everything look strangely ion-between,
Unsure of what has been, or what might come.

In this wan light, even trees seem groundless.
In a while it will be night, but nothing
Here seems TO believe the relief of dark.

You are in this time of the interim
Where everything seems withheld.

The path you took to get here has washed out;
The way forward is still concealed from you.

“The old is not old enough to have died away;
The new is still too young to be born.”

You cannot lay claim to anything;
In this place of dusk,
Your eyes are blurred;
And there is no mirror.

Everyone else has lost sight of your heart
And you can see nowhere to put your trust;
You know you have to make your own way through.

As far as you can, hold your confidence.
Do not allow your confusion to squander
This call which is loosening
Your roots in false ground,
That you might become free
From all you have outgrown.

What is being transformed here is your mind,
And it is difficult and slow to become new.
The more faithfully you can endure here,
The more refined your heart will become
For your arrival in the new dawn.

John O’Donohue
To Bless The Space Between Us