{"id":45,"date":"2010-07-15T16:11:52","date_gmt":"2010-07-15T16:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ipsinaction.com\/ips\/?p=45"},"modified":"2024-06-20T15:48:05","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T15:48:05","slug":"come-on-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/?p=45","title":{"rendered":"Come On In"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Mary K.<\/em><\/p>\n

I read with interest, Dr. Robert Ludwig\u2019s essay titled, \u201cJesus in Galilee: Proclaiming the Reign of God\u201d for I gained new insights into reading, \u201cdigesting,\u201d and learning about the reign of God through Jesus\u2019 use of parable.\u00a0 I am an example of one who thought of the parables as inspiring stories, example tales or exhortations on behalf of Jesus to inspire his disciples that a new reign was not only coming, it was here.\u00a0 Yet, what I learned was that it was Jesus\u2019 intent to shake up the complacent and predictable world in Galilee in the 20s c.e. in order to encourage surrender to God rather than to remain entrapped in the ego-centeredness of our human nature in which we believe that if we live our lives in a prescribed manner, we can manipulate events to our liking; that is, to play God.<\/p>\n

In my faith journey which includes a late-in-life vocation as a religious sister, I can see that I have been \u201cparabled\u201d several times in my life.\u00a0 A case in point was a long faith struggle which included my return to the Catholic Church after many years of separation.\u00a0 The basis of the separation was anger\u2014with my parents, God, the world\u2014yet mixed with that anger was an egotistical belief that I was smart enough to handle life on my own.\u00a0 I figured that if God would not give me what I wanted, then I didn\u2019t need God.\u00a0 I duped myself into thinking (for years!) that I was free when in truth gained from twenty-twenty hindsight, I was drifting.<\/p>\n

In my late thirties, I made tentative moves to deepen my relationship with God by occasionally stopping by a Catholic Church on my way home from work.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t participate in Mass or any prayer service; I just sat and talked to God.\u00a0 I went to a book store and bought a Bible and began to read passages again. This was frustrating because every time I did this, usually in the evenings, I would come down with severe headaches.\u00a0 I would stop this practice for days or weeks and then I would start again. I would argue in my mind that these stories (gospels) were all well and good, but what was God trying to tell me at my age (and worldliness) about the direction I should go?\u00a0 I had arguments with God in my head and even though I got headaches, I would come back to the Bible and stubbornly study.\u00a0 About a year later, I was sitting in St. Dominic Church in San Francisco hunched forward with my arms on my knees and my head resting on my arms.\u00a0 I was sick of these headaches and was asking God to relieve me of this obsession of reading Scripture which only resulted in head pain.\u00a0 At one point there was silence in my head.\u00a0 I then began to weep and laugh at the same time.\u00a0 I lifted my head, looked up at the sunlit crucifix about the altar and declared out loud, \u201cOkay! I give up!\u00a0 Come on in.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was only a few minutes later when my tears began to cease that I realized that my headache had left me.<\/p>\n

Later, as I analyzed this advent moment, I realized that I had been engaged in a battle between my ego and God.\u00a0 I had been acknowledging God in my life while at the same time arrogantly feeling that I was running the show.\u00a0 I thought that if I just intellectually \u201cunderstand this stuff\u201d meaning the Scripture I had been reading, that I could gain some special footing with the Creator and my life would run smoothly.\u00a0 It took this battle to realize that not only was I not in charge of my life, that God wanted all of me; not just my intellect, but my heart.\u00a0 It was my fear of losing what I felt was control of my life that prevented me from recognizing the intense love that God has for me as well as God\u2019s willingness to lift this yoke of fear from my being.<\/p>\n

Another \u201cpearl of great price\u201d came later when I was drawn not only to religious life, but to life as Dominican Sister of San Rafael.\u00a0 The act of discovery on that afternoon in San Francisco, that I was deeply and profoundly loved by God, has resulted in new advents in my journey. \u00a0When I recollect that afternoon, I am always filled with joy. The surrender I felt was flooded with God\u2019s love that was always there, but which I could not recognize in the anger that had become a part of me.\u00a0 The advent of God\u2019s love was precisely as Robert Ludwig described in his essay: \u201c\u2026a surprise coming to us from beyond ourselves and even from beyond what we could want and ask for.\u00a0 It is joyful because it has not been manipulated or won; it cannot be earned for even worked for (14).\u201d<\/p>\n

There is not a day that goes by that I am not grateful for the recognition of God\u2019s work in my life and the faith to say daily \u201cyes\u201d to his continued guidance.\u00a0 Jesus knew that he had to shake up the world of the people of his time in order to illustrate the reign of God that is not only personal, but present in our lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mary K. I read with interest, Dr. Robert Ludwig\u2019s essay titled, \u201cJesus in Galilee: Proclaiming the Reign of God\u201d for I gained new insights into reading, \u201cdigesting,\u201d and learning about the reign of God through Jesus\u2019 use of parable.\u00a0 I am an example of one who thought of the parables as inspiring stories, example read more <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4921,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/4921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}