A Further Development
 

There is a wonderful verse that storyteller John Shea uses to illustrate the meaning of the concept that God became incarnate, and especially what our response should be to that wonderful mystery:

Sharon's Christmas Prayer

She was five,
sure of the facts,
and recited them
with slow solemnity
convinced every word

was revelation.
    She said

they were so poor
they had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
to eat
and they went a long way from home
without getting lost. The lady rode
a donkey, the man walked, and the baby
was inside the lady.
They had to stay in a stable
with an ox and an ass (hee-hee)
but the Three Rich Men found them
because a star lited the roof
Shepherds came and you could
pet the sheep but not feed them.
Then the baby was borned.
And do you know who he was?

Her quarter eyes inflated
to silver dollars.
 

The baby was God.
 

And she jumped in the air
whirled round, dove into the sofa
and buried her head under the cushion
which is the only proper response
to the Good News of the Incarnation.
    —JOHN SHEA (The Hour of the Unexpected, Argus, 1977.)

It is truly the only response, but often we miss the significance of this mystery of our faith, and what should the basis of our spirituality.

Developing on the imagery of heart as used in our 2002 Congregational Chapter, and having responded searchingly to the question of ‘where our hearts lie’, did we discover that are hearts were focused on the God present in this world? If one’s experience of institutions and religions is such that one finds ‘no room at the inn’, the ‘God with us’ will become a reality in the stable, at the margins, wherever God’s people are to be found.

A contemporary spiritual writer offers the thought that any response that focused on a next world rather than this one, fails to take aboard as elemental to one's spirituality an understanding of Incarnation. And without Incarnation there may be spirituality but it would not bear the name Christian. We need to look again with rinsed eyes at our world, as one writer expressed it. Something not apparently beautiful becomes beautiful as one sees afresh. If the world has already been rinsed by the death-resurrection of Jesus, it is already redeemed. And it is the venue for our living the gospel call.

To take up again the image of the heart that captured the chapter delegates in 2002, we said in an earlier essay that a heart can be in need of replacement (Jeremiah 17) because it is not healthy. Our heart could be focused in a way that turns us away from the God we hope to make the centre of our lives. Usually a diseased heart (a heart not at ease with its being) suffers from blockage causing it to fail to receive life-giving oxygen and nourishment to itself and through it, to the body as a whole.
 

I have a need of such a clearance
as the Saviour effected in the temple in Jerusalem
A riddance of the clutter
that blocks the way
to the all important central emptiness
which is filled
with the presence of God alone.
    - Jean Danielou
 

Blockages occur when certain precautions and safeguards are not followed in a person’s lifestyle of eating, exercise and rest. I believe we can apply this illustration to the heart of being brother. We can ask ourselves,
 

What do I take into myself to nourish me?
What kind of response can we give?
 

There is a passage from the Old Testament that states that the words of sacred scripture are meant for us this day, this present moment. “The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with our forefathers that the Lord made this covenant, but with ourselves, who are all here alive today." (Dt 5:1-3)  And St. Paul expresses it as well, “All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ." (I Cor 10:3)

Is this the food we eat to nourish our heart of being brother? What do we pray and say and feel in our prayer together? How do we nourish each other from what we take in spiritually each day?

What exercises do we do that develops the healthy heart of being brother? Is it seeking comforts and a more generous lifestyle, or do we perform the kinds of exercises that stretch us while building up our hearts? “To follow a God who moves and expects us to move with (him) is a risky undertaking,” Esther de Waal once wrote. “It means,” she continued, “not playing safe, and its asks for confidence in God’s hidden purposes.”

And what do we do to rest? Is it a Sabbath rest, one that refreshes, restores and rebuilds, or is it a rest that drains, exhausts and extinguishes the heart’s enthusiasm to be immersed in the world of our God? As Thomas Merton once admonished, “just go for walks, live in peace, let change come quietly and invisibly on the inside.”

There are questions like these that need reflecting if we are ever to accept that our hearts will ultimately lead us to understand who we are as Brothers in service to others. It is exactly as a brother that Jesus came among us in Incarnation – God with us – and it was as brother that he accepted the way he lived among us and chose to die for us.

Like Jesus, Edmund too took a stance before the world. He loved as a brother, a love that opened his whole heart to all, particularly to the poor and disadvantaged. We, as sons of Edmund, face the world as brothers. Our way of loving is as brothers.

            - 1990 General Chapter

Sean Sammon shares a story with his brothers that illustrates with humour the problem we are struggling with in our search to come to understand that phrase, the heart of being brother.

 

As a reward for their good behaviour, a kindergarten teacher gave her pupils an hour in which to draw something of their own choosing. The children were delighted, and quickly took crayon and paper in hand and got to work.

As time passed, the teacher grew curious about the outcome of her students' efforts, and she began to walk around the room, glancing at various masterpieces in progress.
 

Looking over the shoulder of a young girl named Louise, however, the teacher grew perplexed. Though the child had been working diligently for the entire period, the instructor could not figure out what she was drawing. So she asked Louise what her picture represented.
 

The child replied, "I am drawing God." The surprised teacher said, "My, that is an ambitious project. You realize that no one knows what God looks like."

Without looking up from her work, or missing a crayon stroke, Louise replied, "They will in a minute!"
 

To the child the answer was so simple. Maybe, in reality, we will discover that the answer to our identity is equally as simple as an understanding and compassionate heart. “We simply open our eyes every day to the light that comes from God and trust that light to transform our way of seeing.” (Catherine Wybourne, OSB, “Seeing the Light that comes from God”, Benedictines, Winter 1998, p. 21)

 

APPENDIX

In 1990, at the Chapter held in Rome, twelve foundational aspects of our brotherhood were mentioned. It might be good to re-read and reflect on them as they may help us in our search for understanding of our identity in our present age in the church.
 

FOUNDATIONAL ASPECTS OF OUR BROTHERHOOD
 

1. Our brotherhood is a gift from God for the promotion of the Kingdom of God on earth.
 

2. Jesus as Brother is the source and centre of the expression of our brotherhood.

3. Edmund's openness of heart is central to the living of our brotherhood.

4. Our brotherhood is an embracing of the lay state in total consecration.
 

5. Our brotherhood is expressed through our relationships with our brothers and sisters and in our love for and stewardship of all creation.

6. Our brotherhood is rooted in the evangelising experience of our own poverty and vulnerability.
 

7. Our brotherhood is experienced in affirming and celebrating giftedness.
 

8. Our brotherhood in the charism of Edmund urges us to compassionate concern for our brothers and sisters, especially those who are victims of injustice and prejudice.
 

9. Our brotherhood allows us to be ministered to by our brothers and sisters.

10. Our brotherhood is expressed and nourished in Eucharist, prayer, reconciliation and faith sharing.
 

11. Our brotherhood is expressed in our listening and prophetic response to the Word of God, heard in the people and events of our time.
 

12. In our brotherhood each brother is helped to draw upon the Spirit of Christ within himself and to accept responsibility for his own life.