Today’s scripture readings remind us how critical it is to keep in mind the promise God made to us on Christmas Eve—“he shall be named ‘Emmanuel,’ which means God is with us.”
During this season of Lent, our purpose is to recall throughout each day that everything we have in life is God’s gift and provides us definitive proof that God—Emmanuel—is with us. It’s called the spiritual “practice of the presence of God,” making it possible to center our lives in God so we don’t become “sleepy” Catholics (or arise from the “sleepy” practice of our faith).
It’s when we focus upon everything we don’t have and want desperately that we’re tempted to believe God isn’t with us, leaving us orphaned and alone, having to figure out how to navigate our way through this world on our own devices. While we want God to be present to us—after all, God has placed this desire in us because our happiness and fulfillment are found in God—we believe that God has rejected us. As the Psalmist expressed this experience today:
Hide not your face from me; do not in anger repel your servant.
In today’s first reading, Abram was feeling dejected and depressed because there he was, an old man, with Nature teaching Abram he would die without an heir. Abram concluded that God had rejected him and there was nothing he possibly could do to fulfill his dream of being a father.
In the middle of this quandary, the Lord God said to Abram:
Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so shall your descendants be.
Abram must surely have thought, as we likely would were we in Abram’s situation, “Certainly you jest!”
But Abram was unwilling to contradict the Lord God by speaking aloud what quite likely was on his mind: “Why don’t You give me some proof—like a first born—and then I’ll believe.” Instead, Abram put his faith in the LORD—believing that God was present to him and trusting in God’s promise without one shred of evidence except God’s word. Abram then demonstrated his faith by making a sacrificial offering and, we were told, Abram then fell asleep—into a trance—as a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.
Perhaps that trance was a profound sense of bewilderment, walking around in a dark cloud of unknowing. Yes, Abram had encountered God. But, at the same time, Abram was wondering how possibly God would fulfill His promise. It was impossible…short of some kind of divine intervention.
In sum: Abram decided God’s word was more trustworthy than its weight in gold.
“Sleepy” Catholics spend their days bewildered wandering around not in a dark cloud of unknowing but in a dark cloud of disbelief. Although they’ve heard God’s promise many, many times, they haven’t experienced God and don’t trust God or God’s word, leaving them feeling frustrated and unfulfilled. And so, as St. Paul reminded Philemon, the minds of “sleepy” Catholics “are occupied with earthly things” and “their end is destruction.”
In today’s gospel and in a way that was similar to Abram, when Peter, John, and James accompanied Jesus went up the mountain to pray, they also fell asleep only awaken and see Jesus conversing with Moses and Elijah. However, and in contrast to Abram who kept his thoughts to himself, Peter told Jesus they would build three places of worship, one each for these holy men of God. Apparently, God didn’t want this sacrificial offering because, we were told, Peter “didn’t know what he was saying.” Perhaps St. Luke wants us to know that Peter was babbling utter nonsense after encountering God.
But a cloud then came, overshadowing Peter, John, and James. Upon entering the cloud, the trio grew frightened when a voice said, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” Then, after hearing this solemn proclamation, Peter, John, and James fell silent—like Abram—not telling anyone what they had seen or heard at that time.
Like Abram, Peter, John, and James heard God’s word and were bewildered about what had just transpired. They also found themselves walking around in a cloud of unknowing, wondering what all this might mean.
Wandering around in the “cloud of unknowing” seems to be the story of our lives. While we want to believe it’s possible to have all the answers to all our questions, doubts, fears, and hopes concerning God and divine providence, in the end—and just like Abram as well as Peter, John, and James—we’re reduced to bewilderment and silence…not only of our minds but also of our lips.
In the second half of fourteenth-century England, an anonymous cloistered monk wrote a book, “The Cloud of Unknowing,” in which he described how each of us needs to leave behind what the author called the “cloud of forgetting.” What he was describing is our propensity to allow everything that preoccupies us to keep us from placing ourselves in God’s presence, that is, to encounter Emmanuel—the “God [who] is with us.” The monk wrote:
Prayer in itself properly is not anything but a devout intent direct unto God, forgetting of good and removing of evil, to hold nothing in your mind, but to place yourself in the God’s presence.
Leaving behind all those thoughts we’ve acquired and now populate the cloud of forgetting doesn’t require any superhuman effort. Instead, we only have to leave everything that acts as an impediment to our being present to God behind so we’re free to enter into the “cloud of unknowing.”
Entering that cloud, however, does require humility. That is, we have to silence ourselves—everything in our minds and mouths—to be present to God as we are. The purpose isn’t to present to God an all-gussied-up version of ourselves, to ask God for things we want, or for God to enlighten us. No, the purpose is simply not to allow any thought or image belonging to the cloud of forgetting to impede us from being present to God or to keep God from being present to us.
Think of how often we intellectualize God and how we should present ourselves to God when, in reality, all we have to do, as the author of the “Cloud of Unknowing” tells us, is to allow God’s to be present to us and for us to free ourselves of everything that keeps us from being drawn into God’s life. Think also how often we treat prayer as if it’s only a matter of repeating words and formulas.
What we bring into the cloud of unknowing isn’t an idea or a spoken word, but the heart’s deepest longing, God, Who has placed this longing in our heart.
One commentator has likened this experience of being in God’s presence to a mirror: A clean mirror doesn’t control light but reflects it and fulfills its purpose best by reflecting light clearly. The cloud of forgetting makes us less apt to perceive the light of truth—God’s revealed word—being reflected through Scripture and Church teaching.
Another commentator likened this experience to being in a room with someone we love and trust. We know each other so well there’s really no need to talk, just to savor the opportunity to be together, enjoying one another’s love and company. Thoughts and words impede that experience.
Because God has already promised to be with us, today’s readings from scripture ask, “Why do you need God to provide any guarantee of His love?” The cloud of unknowing is a direct experience of God—not a thought about God or words babbled to God—which invites those who practice this spiritual discipline to feel God’s love and mercy, that there’s something good left in them that God loves.
The practice of leaving the cloud of forgetting behind and entering the cloud of unknowing can contribute to make this season of Lent a time of blessing and time of sanctification for all of us…as “WOKE” Catholics who, like Abram and Peter, John, and James in their days, awaken from their sleep and allow themselves to be bewildered and silent…not only of their minds but also of their lips.
That represents our challenge from scripture for this second week of Lent: To leave the cloud of forgetting behind and to enter into the cloud of unknowing where God is present and reveals Himself to us.
To this end, at the start of each day conduct a memento mori by recalling God’s promise to us on Christmas Eve—“Emmanuel, that is, God is with us.” Then, commit yourself at some point of the day to take a few minutes to center yourself on Emmanuel and like Abram as well as Peter, John, and James, don’t think or say anything, just “Listen to him.”
This will represent a difficult challenge—an authentic Lenten discipline—requiring courage and discipline if we’re not to allow any thoughts or words from the cloud of forgetting to impede us from presenting ourselves to God as we are. That especially means no thoughts about anything…no thoughts about people, messages on the cell phone, what needs to be done, or any hopes, anxieties, or fears. No thoughts, period. Zippo. Nada.
On Monday, try to leave behind the cloud of forgetting for just one minute. While it sounds pretty easy, I promise it will be more difficult than you might believe. But, don’t stop until you can enter the cloud of unknowing for one full minute. Keep trying until you experience it.
Then, assuming you experience it on Monday, when Tuesday rolls around, try to leave behind the cloud of forgetting for two minutes. On Wednesday, for three minutes. And so on. But, don’t try to advance—to add an additional minute—if you haven’t constructed the requisite foundation. Just like in life so also in spiritual growth—“A baby must crawl before a baby can walk.”
I doubt most of us will be able to make it this week to the five- or six- minute mark. But, our feeble, if not failed attempts to enter the cloud of unknowing to encounter the living God will be, as it was for Abram, credited as “righteous.”
Experiencing the “God [who is] with us” throughout this week, next Sunday will be the day when each of us can present the first fruits of our work to God—a person who has not just thought about but has actually experienced God, and “lift up your hearts” (not ideas and words, the stuff of our minds and mouths) because “it is right and just to give thanks (from the heart) to the Lord our God.”
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