Posted by johnboy on September 10, 1999 at 10:29:38:
thinking of my loved ones, the *unproductive* ones as the world sees it, the mentally ill, emotionally wounded and physically disabled, or of my babies, or my elderly
all of these loved ones with a spark of the Divine igniting the fires of my love for them within
all drawing me, irresistably and deeply, into the profound Mystery of unconditional Love, mine for them, theirs for me, ours for one another
none of these beloved are *productive* in any worldly sense, economically or culturally or what have ya; as for my worldy productivity, it makes the Father a sixpence none the richer, though it is for our mutual delight, for who would come to His banquet and not eat, would listen to Her siren song and not dance?
"there is a *passivity* in *passion*" is Henri Nouwen's final lesson to us in his book __Adam__
Nouwen points out how Jesus was passive in His passion and this caused me to reflect on the other major Mysteries of the Gospels and Acts and how they are stories of what the Father accomplished in those whose wills were surrendered via fiat: it is not a matter of what Mary or Jesus did for God but is a story of what the Father allowed the Spirit to accomplish for those who said: let it be
and this was true for the annunciation, the incarnation, the presentation,the resurrection, the ascension, the assumption, and other such mysteries
and --- you, too, are His beloved and She is well pleased with you and --- you, too, will be passive in your passion but also in your resurrection
i take a lesson there for me: it is not a matter of what i or my despised-by-the-world loved ones do for God but is a story of what the Father has done and will continue to do for us; they have taught me to forsake my subtle and insidious pelagianism and, as for quietism, there is little risk of that in as much as surrendering my will has proven to be the most severe apostolic asceticism i've ever undertaken or suffered
when we believe and hope and love in the darkest nights, radically and profoundly unconditionally, there is accomplished the brightest illumination of Unconditional Love, His for me, mine for Her, ours for One another --- a transformation of will
i resist romanticizing mental illness, physical disability, human suffering and death but i can't escape the lessons they have taught me regarding the
unconditionality of human dignity and how our "true glory" (ortho-dox-ology) is pure gift from a Father who loves us unconditionally, from a Mother who never removes us from her breast, always whispering words of
wisdom
let it be,
johnboy