A few weeks ago, the Holy Father was quoted as making remarks that seem to indicate
that he feels that the “doing of charitable deeds” is the only path to God, and
that people who devote themselves to the contemplative life risk “losing
themselves along the way”, and that those who “choose the path of penance and
fasting” are Pelagians.
I have only read a brief summary of the Holy Father’s
remarks, and decided not to dig any further. Who knows whether he was quoted
adequately and accurately? It is not my purpose here to argue with the Pope!
However, I was a little disturbed by the thoughts and doubts
the report aroused in me, and so I turned to my old favorite, The Cloud of Unknowing, for reassurance
about the value of the contemplative life. Here’s one of my favorite quotes
from that book (my emphases):
What I am describing here is
the contemplative work of the spirit. It is this which gives God the greatest delight. For when you fix your love on him,
forgetting all else, the saints and angels rejoice and hasten to assist you in
every way – though the devils will rage and ceaselessly conspire to thwart you.
Your fellow men are marvelously enriched
by this work of yours, even if you many not fully understand how; the souls
in purgatory are touched, for their suffering is eased by the effects of this
work; and of course, your own spirit is purified and strengthened by this
contemplative work more than by all others put together. (p. 48)
Yes, contemplative work
– work which accomplishes a great deal! And yet this work is often discounted
by more “active” types. In fact, it happened in my parish just last Sunday as
the priest gave his homily. I love this priest and appreciate his no-nonsense
statement of the truths of the Church. He does not pull punches.
But last night, I was a bit disappointed. The Gospel was
Luke 10:38-42, in which Martha complains to Jesus that her sister Mary won’t
help with the hostess-work. Our Lord, of course, tells Martha that “There is
need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken
from her.”
To me, a person’s interpretation of this passage is
something of a litmus test that helps distinguish between contemplative and
active souls. The active souls object to what Jesus told Martha, and are willing
to venture that He has made a slight error!
Our priest extolled the “life of prayer” to some extent, but
he said that he thought Mary shouldn’t get the “highest marks” – maybe only 90%
- because we still need to “do” something. He did acknowledge that God gave Mary the
go-ahead to “just sit and listen”, but still added his own opinion on the
matter. “Faith without works is dead,” he quoted St. James. And so, he implied,
contemplatives must also engage in “works” in order to prove themselves. Engaging
in works (as defined by “active” types) will help the contemplative lead a “balanced”
life, opined our priest. He thought Mary would have done better if she’d gotten
up to help Martha a little bit.
Well…Jesus didn’t think so.
Mary’s work was contemplative. No, she didn’t wash dishes or
serve hors d’oeuvers; she worshiped Our Lord by listening to him, by focusing
all of her attention on Him. It seems to me that “actives” don’t see this as
work. They see it as sloth. They think it is easy to “just sit there” and
listen. They don’t see that as “doing” something. And “doing” is what they are
all about.
Certainly there are gradations. Few individuals are completely active
or completely contemplative. Our priest has a contemplative bent, I think, but
he is also very much oriented toward activity, and he usually interprets “active
participation” at Mass to mean actively participating by singing, etc. – doing something. Another priest I know
has very little of the contemplative in his personality. He gives the same
homily about Martha every year on her feast day, saying that Martha deserves
more credit than she gets, because she
did all the work when Jesus came to visit. Where would we be, this “active”
priest asks, if everyone just sat around like Mary?! Martha is a hero to him; Mary is…well, Mary
just didn’t pull her weight.
Of course, it is true that “faith without works is dead”.
But it’s in the definition of “works” that we disagree. Contemplatives do perform “works” – even if those works
are not seen by others. And contemplatives do, at times, even perform those
works the “actives” are talking about. But mostly, actives don’t understand
contemplatives. That’s just the bottom line, I guess.
Pope Pius XI also addressed this issue in his Apostolic constitution Umbratilem, approving the statutes of the Carthusian Order. He began
the letter with these words (emphases mine throughout):
[1]
All those, who, according to their rule, lead a life of solitude remote from
the din and follies of the world, and who not only assiduously contemplate the
divine mysteries and the eternal truths, and pour forth ardent and continual
prayers to God that his kingdom may flourish and be daily spread more widely,
but who also atone for the sins of other men still more than for their own by
mortification, prescribed or voluntary, of mind and body - such indeed must
be said to have chosen the better part, like Mary of Bethany.
Not only is it the “better part”,
but it is also efficacious; it is work
of the highest order. Pope Pius XI continued:
[2]
No wonder, then, that ecclesiastical writers of former ages, wishing to explain
and extol the power and efficacy of the prayers of these same religious
men, should have gone so far as to liken their prayers to Moses, quoting a
well-known fact, viz., that when Josue was engaged in battle with the
Amalekites on the plain and Moses on the top of a hill nearby was praying
and beseeching God for the victory of his people, it happened that as
long as Moses held his hands raised heavenward, the Israelites conquered,
but if from weariness he lowered them a little, then the Amalekites overcame
the Israelites; wherefore, Aaron and Hur on either side held up his arms
until Josue left the field victorious.
This
example most aptly symbolizes the effect of the prayers of the religious
We have spoken of, since those prayers are borne up by the august Sacrifice of
the Altar on one hand, and on the other hand by works of penance, as by two
props typified respectively in a certain way, by Aaron and Hur; it being the
usual and indeed the principal duty of these solitaries, as We have
remarked above, to offer themselves up to God and devote themselves as
propitiatory victims and hostages for peace for their own weal and that of the
world - a function which they fulfill in an official way, as it were.
[3]
Therefore, from the earliest times this mode of life, most perfect and at
the same time most useful and fruitful for the whole of Christendom more
than anyone can conceive, took root in the Church and spread abroad on all
sides...
I don’t think Jesus made a mistake
about the value of Mary’s worship. I think he was trying to make a point!
