Reader,
Happy 5th week of lent. As we approach Easter, may your strivings bring you close to God.
A few weeks ago at a retreat- a student asked me “so, what do you do, outside of your work, to be a witness to faith?” I was initially embarrassed at the fact that I hadn’t thought much about this question lately. I felt the hesitation as I responded, telling a little bit about how I try to live with community and love my friends, family, and strangers who don’t have faith, in a way that is commensurate with my ability and circumstance. And, I tried to humbly communicate, that ultimately, I don’t know if I do even a mediocre job at embodying this witness.
I didn’t mention this in response to the student but afterwards thought about some other things that I “do”— I write an occasional blog post about faith, and talk with philosophers about religious experience. I try to see the Holiness and God’s grace in everything that appears. In a small way – I try to help others see the Holy in every-thing. But, I’m not a public figure (I hardly even use my Facebook account), so It’s not as if I’m a beacon of hope or a moral exemplar who is shining a light through some of the darkness in the world, showing the path to the realm of endless spiritual riches to people. In fact, I’m likely a crummy exemplar. At the end of the day, I usually feel like the best I can or could do would be to lift my finger to direct you to Christ, the perfect exemplar of humility, love, and faith.
We always encourage our students to seek to “be more” rather than “have” more. This question I was given also reminds me of a quote from Max Scheler- a philosopher who wrote quite a bit on the nature of love. He writes, “if we are not working for all of us- if all of us do not find the ability to see God in all things, we fail ourselves and one another.”
And perhaps when we truly find ourselves “be-ing” more, loving more, in loving relationship with God, others, and the world around us, we will find nothing.
Nothing.
No-thing.
Not a thing.
That there are no longer “things,” and instead a generating “movement” of loving, and nothing other than this loving with God.
