ധ്രുവദീപ്തി : Faith & Religion // A mystical understanding of Lent // Fr. Sebastian Thottippatt.

Fr. Sebastian Thottippatt,
 

A mystical understanding of Lent

Ash Wednesday ushered us into the Lenten season. On that day Christians came out of their churches sporting a cross of ash on their foreheads, the significance of which is familiar to all Christians. There is a Latin saying which says: “Homo humus, fama fumus, finis cinis” which means: the human person is earthly in part and will have to go back to the earth at the end; fame ends up in smoke and everything physical is reduced to ash finally. Ash Wednesday reminds every one of the transitoriness of human life in its physical form. It also throws into focus the other elements in us that are not physical but nevertheless must undergo transformation to discover our identity. There is a core element in everyone that pertains to our essence; it is the image of God in which we are all modelled. In ordinary living when one is too aware of one’s corporeity one fails to take notice of it. The Lenten season brings into focus the non-essentials in our life and makes us observe what survives physical destruction through death. It invites us to look beyond to what is temporary and perishable to what lasts into eternity.

What is it that outlives death in a human being? It is the spirit of every human being that is uplifted to the level of the divine through Incarnation in Christ. But this is a reality that is forgotten while living in the body because the truth of the Word made flesh has been taken to be something too good to be true. The Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ is too often considered as an event that pertained only to the person of Christ in the historical past, having little reference to the life of humans except for a small segment called saints. The rest of the human family is made to endure the strains and struggles of human life apparently possessing nothing of divinity. This is the great universal misunderstanding that has pervaded the entire Christian world. We live with the awareness that God is apart from us, and we can experience his presence only under certain conditions. But the truth is that there are no conditions whatsoever that we are required to meet to have his presence. He is in fact the core of our being; we function as human beings only in Him and through him. The life energy that passes into us through every breath of ours, is indeed the life energy of God. Unfortunately, this truth is usually overlooked, and we live our human life as if the incarnation has not taken place. But the truth of the matter is that God manifested his presence in human form when the Word was made flesh in Jesus of Nazareth (Jn.1:14). The entry of God into human nature with his incarnation has remained as an accomplished fact so long as humans inhabit this planet.

The gospel of John bears testimony to the oneness that exists between Christ and his disciples in the metaphor used by Jesus of the vine and the branches, “I am the vine and you are the branches. (Jn.15:5-8) There is only one life that runs through the vine plant and all its branches. We humans do not possess a life separate from the vine that is Christ. The fault lies in imagining that we have a life that is separate and independent bringing its own share of responsibilities and burdens. When we assume that we must bear them on our own, Christ invites us to come to him and hand the burdens over to him: “Come to me all you who labour and are burdened and I will give your rest. “(Mt.11:28). This movement of going over to him to hand over our burdens is nothing else but finding our self in him, Our Lenten practices consist in surrendering our egoistic self and giving ourselves to Christ fully. This process obviously involves some resistance on our part which appears as pain to us. The separation that we experience from Christ is an illusion which naturally results in pain but nevertheless we prefer to maintain our independence to feel that we hold full charge of our lives. The mystery we live with is the paradox of our free will for the exercise of which we are totally dependent on God. 

At the season of Lent, we come face to face with the many choices we make and the influences we are under in doing so. When these choices spring from our egoistic orientation, they become sinful and harmful to our ultimate welfare. On the other hand, if we are guided by our true self, the choices we make are divine in nature because the choices made are done in union with Christ who is our true self. Repentance consists in reorienting ourselves towards our true nature in place of our apparent self. In other words, it is a return to God from whom we may have strayed. When decisions are made from Christ consciousness, they enhance the person and glorify God, but when they spring from the ego self, they belittle the person and bring dishonour to God. What is called for is not so much sorrow for our failings but a clear grasp of our condition apart from God seeing the effects of our actions and behaviour. This leads us to alter our ways and listen to the voice of the holy Spirit in daily living. When the ego self takes the backseat, we hand over to Christ the driver’s seat. That indeed is the lifestyle of the Christian.

The apparent separation between God and man remained till the Father’s voice was heard at the river Jordan during Jesus’ baptism, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Mk.1:11) If Jesus was baptized as a member of humanity, the Father speaking those words not only for Jesus but also for all humankind. It became a fact accomplished at Christ’s death and resurrection. However, each person must become aware of this grace that has been bestowed on humankind. That is the moment of awakening when a person realizes   his or her utter incapacity to function independently in one’s human nature. Until this happens, we live with the illusion of our independence, being led solely by the mind and the senses. But a deeper look within will reveal to us the hidden divine presence behind everything that happens.

The divine presence of Christ is a mystical one and cannot be perceived by the body or mind. However, there is a pathway to know that presence; it is the breath that flows in and out of our lungs. Breathing is a process that happens within us even without our knowledge. We do not have direct control over it just as we do not have control over the beating of our heart. It begins to dawn on our perception that there is a power other than ours who looks after these vital functions. That can never be another like us but the one who holds our life from its inception to its end. It is none other than God or the ultimate reality of being. We recognize that we are living when we realize the breath flowing in and out of our body and we realize ourselves as being. However, our breathing process is not just a biological function because it is through the breath that the life force of God passes into us and we experience ourselves as one with God. It is a recognition that happens apart from the body and mind, though made within the body-mind framework. We recognize that we are beyond our body and mind, partaking of the dignity of God as a spirit. Our spirit expresses itself through our body and mind, manifesting its presence through the body. It is the Father breathing his Son into us through the Holy Spirit. The entire Holy Trinity is present in every breath that is breathed into our bodies. The two syllables that constitute the name of Jesus are uttered in succession through the in-breath and the outbreath. We are just witnesses of this phenomenal activity. It is not something superficial but worthy of our attention for it takes us into the heart of the mystery of who we are as humans. The greatest tragedy of life is that most humans are oblivious of the mystery of their relationship with God in its Trinitarian dimension but get lost in the materiality of their bodies and the complexity of their minds. Little are they aware that both the body and mind function in the manner they do because the spirit animates and empowers them. Human consciousness is that which is aware of the present reality in its various dimensions. We have the freedom to rise beyond it and seek it’s inner meaning or be conditioned by it. in other words, we are aware that we are aware unlike the rest of creation that may have awareness but are unable to know that they are aware.

A scrutiny of the functioning of our body-mind organism leaves no room for doubt that there is a power other than ours that is responsible for our sustenance in being. The Bible states unequivocally that it is “In Him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) Again the word of Jesus reassures us: “On that day you will know that I am in the Father, you in me and I in you.” (Jn14:20) This union with the Trinitarian God is not perceivable to the senses but it is possible to be known by our deeper self which is known as mystical knowing. When we perceive ourselves to be alive, we are in touch with God because He is existence itself. In other words, our existence depends totally on God’s being. And there is no separation between God and us. The perceived separation is only an illusion sustained by years of tradition in human history. Just as there is no distance between a fish swimming in water and the water in which it is swimming, so too is there no gap between God and the human person. The words of St. Julian of Norwich are apt: “Between God and us there is no between.” It is possible by grace to go beyond the perception of the senses and perceive what cannot be perceived by them. In other words, the human person is helpless in recognizing his or her own identity unless supported by divine grace. It is easy to succumb to one’s sense perception and live with one’s own conclusions.

Recognizing our dependence on God for our very existence is the fundamental recognition of all because God is existence itself. This dependence is not as a lower being but as part of being itself. Although there is no separation between God and us, there is absolute distinction as it is among the Persons of the Trinity. Sin consists in wanting to remain separate, refusing to accept our unity with God. Repentance is nothing else but opting to get back to God’s original purpose in the creation of humans as contingent beings. The temptation is always there to want to declare our independence from God as it was with our first parents and choose to do our own will.

The season of lent begins with the temptations of Jesus who is the archetypal human, inviting us to handle similar situations proactively like Jesus, being prepared to adore the Lord alone as God. In the second week, the portrayal of the transfiguration points to the ultimate glory that will be ours if we listen to Jesus in our day-to-day life as the Father asked at the transfiguration. The situation of the Samaritan woman mentioned on the third Sunday is the seeking of every human being for the ultimate in the face of temporary satisfactions on earth. As St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they seek their rest in God.” Further on, like the man born blind in the gospel of the fourth Sunday, we all walk in darkness until we meet Christ the light of the world who must become our light. There exists no distinction between Christ the light of the world and we who are also called to be the light by our union with him. Only in Christ can any man or woman find their purpose in life. Apart from him we remain in the darkness of error and ignorance. Persisting in it to the point of death is condemning ourselves to eternal darkness. Here the words of the medieval mystic Maester Eckhart, assumes significance: “The eye with which I see God is the same with which God sees me.” The consciousness we have of reality is only the consciousness of God. Hence the importance of having a clear vision within us. Jesus said, “The Father who lives in me is doing his work. Truly I say to you, he who believes in me will do the same works that I do; he will do even greater works than these” (Jn.14:11 &12). It becomes evident that merely on our own power we are incapable of doing anything, “Apart from me you can do nothing,” (Jn.15:5). Enlightenment is the realization of the God reality in each of us and surrendering to that.

On the fifth Sunday we meet Christ the resurrection and life in the context of the death of Lazarus. Jesus declares to Martha and Mary: “I am the resurrection and life; whoever believes in me, though he dies shall live; whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (Jn.11:25-26). This incident in the gospel foreshadows the resurrection of Christ from death and our own too. The sufferings, trials and pains of this world do not end there. Christ shedding tears at the tomb of Lazarus is the best portrayal of God’s sharing his presence with us in compassion in the trials and sufferings of life that may not be removed from us but have to be endured.  Christ delayed his coming to lift the sisters out of their sorrow and pain but by raising their brother he pointed to their ultimate victory in the resurrection. By trusting in God’s continued presence with us till we arrive at our resurrection experience we express our faith in his unfailing love. The final resurrection triumphs over everything as it happened to Christ. Although Lazarus was sick and died in course of time, he was raised to life but only in his body. This pointed to the ultimate resurrection for all humankind which is victory over death that Christ attained through his death and resurrection. Christ has shared this experience with all humankind. However, we ought not live with the thought that this happened historically in Jesus Christ only. The truth is that the Christians who are his followers, should live with the awareness that the Christ of history is living here and now in them. And the historical passion, death and resurrection of Christ should be integrated into one’s life too. in other words, Christ is suffering, dying and rising through us. The rising from the dead cannot be visible to the senses just as the resurrection was not perceived by the senses but only by faith in his disciples when the risen Lord appeared to them. This awareness gives meaning to human life in its ordinariness. Christ becomes real to us in our present embodied life and the incarnation takes on its intended meaning. The Paschal mystery of the Passion, death and resurrection of Christ unfolds liturgically during the Holy Week as the climax of Lent. So too the spiritual journey of every Christian finds its completion in his or her entering these mysteries consciously. In real time it may happen at different periods of one’s life but the ultimate culmination of it all is in the resurrection of Christ which is a mystery we all can participate in a mystical way. In other words, all the events of life in the life of a person are passing realities in the face of the ultimate mystery of the resurrection. Human life then becomes truly a sharing in the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ. This indeed is the Good News we live and share with one another.

The five weeks of Lent takes us through the journey every Christian is invited to make to realize their real identity. It is not an easy journey because the gross nature in every human being poses serious obstacles to this discovery. There are illusions and delusions in plenty all along the way. One can easily slip into them and be lost. A good portion of humanity identifies itself with their minds or their body and hardly realize the mystery they hold within them. Certain events happening in and around may awaken them to see the limitations of the body and mind and cause them to look beyond. That is grace leading them on. It is available to all who recognize the divine hand behand everything and are willing to submit themselves to it.

Evangelization or sharing the Good News is making Christ present in our being and living our life as the unfolding of his own life. It calls for absolute faith in Christ who holds our life in his hands in love. Our role is to be transparent mediums of Christ the Son of God. The prayer that Jesus made to the Father as he was about to depart from his disciples in his earthly form, was for the fulfilment of that vision in all: “I pray not only for these but also for those who through their word will believe in me so that they all may be one as you, Father are in me and I  am in you. May they be one in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (Jn.17:20-21) //-

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