Hiding from God

LOS ANGELES, California — Christmas this year is celebrated together with my three daughters, Rachelle Gonzalez, Marinella Bamba, Sara Francesca De Guzman and their families . We had our first reunion, eight years ago, since Max, my husband passed away .

In this commercial world where we live, the tradition is to greet the New Year on the eve of Dec. 31 with a big BANG – watusi, bawang, triangulo, sawa (three meter long chain of firecrackers) and crying cow (moos as it shoots to the sky). Hotels and restaurants provide confetti horns and hats. Sometimes, in a more special way, a masquerade costume ball is held. What a way to start the New Year with missing fingers, battered face, or a hangover. Here in America, the new year is not met with fireworks since this funfare happens only on the Fourth of July to honor its hard-won independence. When midnight strikes the focus is on the Times Square Countdown, a tradition known all around the world due to the live telecast. Meantime, the Philippines will be celebrating this happy event half a day earlier .

Man’s soul by nature would seek to contemplate silently what lies ahead for him or her this New Year!

Running to the woods

Recall the words of Genesis: “They heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ (Genesis 3:8-9).”

We hide from God’s presence with the usual attitude of rationalizing our misconduct. We hide in external things, often preoccupied with people’s opinions of us. We tend to keep distracting ourselves from the pain of separation from God and the rest of His creation. God starts cutting down the woods in which we are hiding. He calls out to us ‘Where are you?.’

“At the suggestion of the Serpent, Adam and Eve chose to become gods in their own right rather than to be God-like. They immediately experienced their human poverty and nakedness and in desperation, tried to hide from God.

“Adam and Eve did not accept responsibility for what they did. If only they had said to God ‘We have sinned,’ and asked for forgiveness, they would have been instantly restored to their original state.” (The Heart of the World by Thomas Keating)

The intimate presence of God requires childlike trust in Him

One feels the terrible discomfiture of Adam and Eve. The precious presence of God that they had once enjoyed was lost, and they were completely incapable of finding it again. What they actually lost was their childlike trust in God, the intimacy of God’s loving presence that leads to boundless confidence. This is the sublime gift returned to the human family by Jesus on the day of His resurrection with the words, “My peace I give you.”

As a counter paradigm, Mary, the mother of Jesus, instead of fleeing the encounter with God, is present when God calls, and consents to His will. To have time is to have time for God. Fully aware of her lowliness as a creature, Mary is not embarrassed by her nothingness. She welcomes it, glories in it and presents it to God. She feels perfectly at home as a creature. God’s response is to fill her emptiness with the divine fullness of His Son. From her early childhood to her convent life at the age of three, until her betrothal to St. Joseph, Mary spent the early morning hours and early evening in prayers and contemplation. Her “inner silence” enabled her to communicate with God.

In all great religions there is a contemplative dimension of life

As a member of a community of Cestercian monks since 1944, Rev. Fr. Thomas Keating wrote several books like The Heart of the World. He says, “My own experience in Eastern methods of meditation began in 1960s. It has expanded my understanding of the mystery of Christ and the message of the Gospel. Moreover, they mirror aspects of Christian mysticism overlooked in recent centuries.”

The contemplative dimension of life, present in all the great religions, is the common heart of the world. There, the human family is already one.

“In our time,” Pope John XXIII said on his deathbed, “we should emphasize what unites rather than what divides.” It’s only with Vatican II that the Catholic Church explicitly embraced the values of non-Christian religions and officially recognized in them all the face of Christ, hidden no doubt, but truly present and revealing the mystery of God.

The aspects of Eastern spirituality, which could be of special value to Christianity today are: the importance of contemplation as the source of action, the illusory nature of our subjective view of the world, the experience of non-duality, and the practice of techniques, which help to integrate the mind and body. These are found in the practice of Yoga, Zen, Insight Meditation, Transcendental Meditation or other Eastern practices. Thus, men are turning to the East for spiritual experience into their Christian background.

Seekers after truth

Spiritual development is the birthlight of every man and woman, not only of cloistered monks and nuns. While the world as a whole tends to neglect and forget the knowledge of how to pursue and live a spiritual life, the monastic world has been occupied through the ages in trying to preserve that knowledge. At this moment of history, there are large numbers of genuine seekers after truth. Many of them never had a specific commitment to one of the Christian denominations or even to any religion. Others who were raised as Christians or Jews never heard any challenge to lead an interior life of prayer and union with God in their local churches or even church-related schools.

A certain measure of solitude and silence, and the practice of the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience reduce the distracting stimuli which reinforce our view of ourselves and the world. This gradual silencing of our habitual ways of thinking and reacting opens up our awareness to other realities and other values, especially the value of every other human being.

It is normal to be contemplative, however it needs to be cultivated. People who are not even religiously minded have an experience of transcendence now and then, but they do not know how to articulate it.

The interior silence of man

The spirit of contemplation is most natural with men. It starts with infancy. Just look at the infant’s gaze of serenity. Adults find this the most touching feature of a baby.

Dr. Maria Montessori captured this ability in her Silence Game done with preschoolers. Isn’t it incredible that the very young three- and four-year-olds especially enjoy it?

How does it work? At the opening of the school year, the Montessori teachers does the Silence Game daily just before story time when the children sit on the floor in front of the teacher. During the first week, the children are asked to close their eyes while listening for any sound (electric fan, laughter, cars honking, etc.) inside the room or outside the classroom.

Later, the children are told by the teacher, “Let’s play the Silence Game. Silence with your feet (feet are crossed Indian-style). Silence with your hands (children fold their hands on their laps). Silence with your mouth.” Almost complete silence except for a three-year-old. To him, the clever teacher says, “Jojo is too small to play the Silence Game. We will wait until he grows up.” This touches the pride of the three-year-old, who easily submits then to the game.

Then, the class is asked to close their eyes and enjoy the silence. They relish this experience of a very deep all-pervading peace, a sense of well-being and delicate joy – for the fact that young children’s spirituality is naturally attuned to God.

2014 Resolution: Come out of the woods and ask for God’s forgiveness

These facts of inner silence and contemplation in our Christian lives bring me to the conclusion that the three messages of Our Lord through His beloved Mother Mary to all Filipinos in the Trinity of Shrines in Negros, Greenhills and Mt. Pinatubo can be fulfilled.

First, PRAY in silence in the morning, noontime and when night falls. God within the throne room of your heart is listening and will always respond.

Second, undergo an INNER TRANSFORMATION. With contemplative prayers one can transcend all problems with the family, community and work by asking for forgiveness.

Third, be UNITED. This will be the end result when the above acts are accomplished.

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