In you we live
Thursday, May 14, 2020 at 8:46AM 
In you we live and move and have our being[i]
In these days of the pandemic we worry. Of course, we do! We worry about getting ill. About loved ones getting ill. About the once unimaginable incompetence and self-serving of some national leaders.
Today’s West Seattle blog takes note of a wave of ATM break-ins in this part of Seattle. The Seattle Times takes note of the threat to renters unable to pay and fearing eviction. The stock market has been down. Will there be a vaccine? Will there be a treatment? Will there be enough testing? Do I have enough toilet paper? We worry.
People try various methods to manage their worrying. Deep breathing. Walks. Netflix. Pie. Exercise. Avoid reading the news. Be angry at the Republicans, the Democrats, the mask wearers, the non-wearers, those you have been locked up with for the past month.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear ... But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:25, 33-34
It’s a different method—strive first for the kingdom. Our Lord knows we will worry. Worries will come to mind. He invites us to replace those thoughts with striving for the kingdom.
Contemplation and proclamation
For some of us a way of striving for the kingdom would be to give ourselves to contemplation and proclamation.
St. Catherine of Siena and St. Thomas Aquinas were both Dominicans. Thomas was a professed brother. Catherine was a tertiary, a lay associate.
Catherine engaged in a dialogue with God that has to do with our worrying and trusting--
Why do you not put your trust in me your Creator? Because your trust is in yourselves. Am I not faithful and loyal to you? Of course I am. . . . But it seems they do not believe that I am powerful enough to help them, or strong enough to aid and defend them against their enemies, or wise enough to enlighten their understanding, or merciful enough to want to give them what is necessary for their salvation, or rich enough to enrich them, or beautiful enough to give them beauty, or that I have food to feed them or garments to re-clothe them. Their actions show me that they do not believe it.[ii]
The commentary on Matthew that I read each morning says this --
While being concerned about these basic human matters is important, we can become preoccupied with them in a way that is unhealthy for our spiritual lives. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, concern for an earthly affair can become sinful if we view it as an end in itself, as for example, in thinking to oneself, “I can’t be happy without this job, without this relationship, without this level of income.” Concern over earthly things is also sinful if the worry distracts us from the spiritual life. We can become so preoccupied by a problem or decision that the worry dominates our thoughts, even at Mass and prayer—such that we begin to neglect the worship we owe God. And in constantly trying to solve our problem we fail to listen to what God may be trying to teach us in this particular moment of difficulty. [iii]
Strive first for the kingdom
One concrete act we can take in our striving is to become an associate of a religious order. Maybe join Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Thomas Aquinas in becoming a Dominican. Do you have a deep “desire for a bond with a spiritual community founded on contemplation and proclamation?’ If so look into the Anglican Order of Preachers.
Information on Dominican Oblates and Associates (scroll down the page a bit)
Becoming an associate of other religious orders.
Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our
being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by
your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our
life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are
ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
rag+
Reflection on the Feast of St. Dominic
[i] Acts 17:28 and Collect for Guidance, Morning Prayer, BCP
[ii] St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue 140, trans. Suzanne Noffke (New York: Paulist Press, 1980), 287.
[iii] "Gospel of Matthew, The (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture Book 5)" by Curtis Mitch, Edward Sri.
Postings on the inner life and the virus
You know, and they know, that they are offering their lives
God's not indifferent to our pain
Becoming an Associate of a Religious Order
Spiritual vitality and authenticity
Faith to perceive: In your great compassion
Turn everything that happens to account
Postings on Parish Development during the Virus
Power from the center pervades the whole
To everything there is a season
Faith to perceive: Remaining inseparable
Communities of love, prayer and service