Monday,
March 5, 2012
What to read for
today.
Chapter 10:The Body of Broken Bones
Questions for your
personal reflection.
In your family or other close relationships, have you ever
experienced love as “the resetting of a Body of broken bones”? What does that phrase release or reveal
to you?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
This chapter puts me in mind of the community at Christ
Church Deer Park - that inevitably, even if we were to be saints, there would
be some anguish and pain at the differences that come between us. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
Nor is it a criticism. In
fact, in my experience this is what makes Christ Church Deer Park such a
crucible for personal and spiritual growth, learning to be oneself while at the
same time participating in a community.
I should imagine that Merton had the same kind of experience in his
monastery.
Posted by Genevieve.
Posted by Second Thoughts
ReplyDeleteWhat I got out of this chapter is that relationships between people are fractured because we are always looking to see who is worthy and who is not. If we think someone (including our self) is worthy then we reward them. If we think they are unworthy, we punish or even annihilate them. We do this at all levels from the family to the international stage, so we must also be doing this in our parish.
Merton says this approach is not compatible with Christianity. I was glad to hear him say that Christianity is not merely a system of beliefs that lives in the head. It has to do with daily life and if we don’t spontaneously feel sympathy and compassion for our fellow man, then we had better get busy and learn how! Bravo. He uses powerful words. We must “face the terrible responsibility of the decision to love in spite of all unworthiness whether in oneself or in one’s neighbour.” This is very practical advice. I can understand that more easily than the image of a body of broken bones
By Genevieve
DeleteThere is some really good stuff today and, building on Second Thoughts, it just occurred to me that Merton is really describing unconditional love. He is telling us to love whether or not we think another human being is worthy. But he seems to think that one can get to this point via belief or faith because he claims that the starting point is "faith that one is loved by God,..irrespective of one's worth!" That strikes me as abstract and theoretical. Maybe artificial is a better word. In my experience this takes human action, not belief. People develop the ability to love unconditionally by experiencing that from other people, not from praying or contemplating. That's where parents come in. It is their job to set that foundational piece. If they don't it is awfully hard for a person to pick that up later in life.
post by william
ReplyDeletethe first thing that struck me in this chapter was that we , as humans have a choice- we can love or hate-it's up to us to decide how we will be in the world.
the second thing that struck me was that love is the answer- but not in the obvious way- it's not enough to love your fellow man- if you don't believe that YOU are loved or are loveable. WOW- unless I truly think that I am worthy I will never think others are. And when I can be there- it is completely unimportant- - as Merton said- to be loved irrespective of one's worth.
you can't escape yourself by being alone- it shows us that the way to find love is be of and in the world accepting all it sends our way -with love.