It is my conviction that God does not like to do things for
us, but much prefers to do things with us.
This observation colors my understanding of prayer, of
ministry, of spiritual life, of Church.
The Bible supports my conviction. God created human beings
in his image and then commissioned them, "Be fertile and multiply...fill
the earth and subdue it...have dominion..." (cf. Gen 1:28).
As biblical history unfolds we see God calling people like
Abraham, Moses, the prophets, and sending them out in his name. He accompanies
them on their mission but he expects them to act, to be the instruments of his
saving grace. Jesus' calling of disciples and sending them out verifies the
divine preference; he could do it all on his own but he prefers to work with
and through fallible human beings. The incarnation proves the rule; God became
a human being and in that humanness worked out the Father's plan of salvation.
My conviction about God's preference to work with rather than for may seem to challenge the insight that "it's all
grace." In fact, it complements it. God gives us the ability to choose,
the inspiration to make good choices, and the confidence that when we do his
will we are helping to make his kingdom come!
Dorothy Day saw it perfectly. In an article she wrote in May
of 1954 she said, "Our life of grace and our life of the body go on
beautifully intermingled and harmonious. 'All is grace,' as the dying priest
whispered to his friend in The Diary of a
Country Priest (by George Bernanos). The Little Flower also said, 'All is
grace.'"
Grace provides the direction and energy for us to do the
things of God. Grace builds on nature.
Many a grandmother invites her grandchild into the kitchen
to help her bake cookies. She could do it by herself more efficiently, more cleanly,
but she wants to share the experience with a beloved child and create a bonding
moment. The messiness of allowing the child to add ingredients, stir the
mixture, and press out the cookie dough is a deeper form of love than simply
handing the child a cookie and saying, "Run along now, and don't get crumbs
all over the floor!"
God's patience trumps his efficiency. God allows his beloved
to get crumbs all over the floor, much preferring to do things with us than for
us.
This divine attitude explains the practice of prayer,
especially prayers of petition. When we ask God for something we are neither
informing the Father of something he does not already know nor are we trying to
cajole him into doing us a favor. God already wants what is best for his
children. Our prayer of petition is our participation in the divine will. We
pray with the conviction that God's will should be done even if it is contrary
to our own.
I wonder if sometimes things don't turn out the way we want
simply because we didn't participate, we didn't add anything to the mixture. Our
failure to become involved, to do our share, does not nullify the divine plan
(Judas Iscariot's failure to "get with the program" did not stop
Jesus' great act of love) but it may in fact create an obstacle that must later
be overcome. Prayer sensitizes us to God's will, not the other way round.
This divine attitude helps explain why God has routinely
called people to ministry. We have to believe that God could do things far more
efficiently without our help, but his preference for our involvement and
cooperation demonstrate a genuine "hands-on" kind of love and
patience.
"Calling people" is a prime characteristic of
salvation history. Hilaire Belloc once famously noted our puzzlement in God's
calling the sons of Jacob to be the foundation of his chosen people: "How
odd of God to choose the Jews."
Still more puzzling is why God has chosen us to be heralds
of the Gospel and participants in the saving work of the Church.
Our awareness of the divine attitude of relying on people
helps us assess our spiritual lives. There is meaning to our existence, even if
we are not likely to bend the course of history or always be faithful
participants in the program. One's spiritual life is to be a concerted effort
to be open to God's call, to focus upon the divine will, to hold ourselves in
readiness for whatever God may ask next.
Thomas Merton once summarized that consequence in a prayer:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am
going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it
will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the
desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in
all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that
desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead my by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I
may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are
ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen.
The Second Vatican Council restored our awareness that the
Church is a communio, a community of
people, a community of local churches. It is this insight that urges the active
participation of all the people in
liturgy and in the mission and ministry of the Church. By virtue of our baptism
we enter into the priesthood of Jesus Christ and all the baptized are to
exercise that priesthood "by the reception of the sacraments, by prayer
and thanksgiving, by the witness of a holy life, self-denial and active
charity" (Lumen Gentium, #10).
It's my conviction that God does not like to do things for
us, but much prefers to do things with us. And that observation makes a lot of difference.
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