Steps to Discipleship

     Despite our misplaced aspirations, faith is not a certainty shielding us from uncertainties; it offers us the courage to live with uncertainty. Rather than inviting us to commit intellectual suicide, faith demands truth and thus, the willingness to question. Understanding the significance of this affirmation, the courage to question presumed expectations strengthens. Otherwise, faith becomes myopic, undermining our ability to think clearly.  A tension accompanies the intellectual quest: from Kierkegaard to Camus, a contrasting trend continues to influence us. Kierkegaard’s leap of faith is presented as an answer to existential despair: in other words, what gives life ultimate meaning ( Fear and Trembling ). Albert Camus criticises those who advocate a philosophical suicide by using faith to escape absurdity. Instead, we live the absurd by creating our personal meaning, not escaping it through hope or religion ( The Myth of Sisyphus ). Surpassing this dialectic...

 Babbling is typically identified with meaningless or incoherent speech. Negatively, babbling represents spiritual fragmentation resulting from human pride as seen in Genesis 11,1-9. And yet, as seen in Acts 2, reversing Genesis’ Babel, Pentecost presents us with people speaking in tongues, often perceived as babbling, but understanding each other through the Spirit.  James Joyce ( Finnegans Wake ), underlined by a stream of consciousness, verges on babbling, intentionally mimics Babel’s collapse of language in Genesis as spirituality-charged experience that entails a creative rebirth, providing us with insights into the meaning of our silence.   Saint Teresa of Avila ( The Interior Castle ) identifies mystical prayer with a speechless or incoherent experience so that ‘the soul neither sees nor hears… all it knows is that it is rejoicing ’. Hence, it is not surprising that babbling identifies with innocence and truth because ‘through the praise of children and of...

 A desired intimacy enriches discipleship, but it needs to be focused on the Magister as the source of our love. Lacking this focus, it is best to enclose your heart in silence. This is a learning experience because it entails seeing things as God sees them, which integrates an ability to interpret the signs of the times underlined by an inclusive understanding (Gaudium et Spes, 29).  Reading the encountered signs requires a heart that recognises in God its restfulness because, as pointed out by Saint Augustine, our hearts are restless until they rest in God. This requires a determination rooted in listening, as shown by Noah (Gen 5,32-10,1), but also an experienced fellowship no longer determined by prejudices or mere emotions.  Fellowship, therefore, requires an inner equilibrium capable of eliminating the fear of the other: to recognise in the other, the other half of myself, for as we are told, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Prov 27,17).  Thi...

     Some presume that discipleship is a personal initiative rather than a response to the Magister’s call: “to deny oneself and take up the cross” (Mark 8,34). This confused comprehension proves wasteful: it simply reinforces our ineptness: pontificating, patronising, moralising, and scapegoating, marks this path. It impairs the ‘ Minorem ’ so that discipleship identifies with the privileged ‘ Majorem ’ status even if it insists on the former. Discipleship thus transforms into stepping-stones to enhance one’s presence rather than one’s holiness. Baptism recalls each one to sainthood (Pope Francis, Gaudete et Excultate on the call to holiness in today’s world .)       The idea that sainthood, expressive of discipleship, is a common experience is underlined by Pope John Paul II’s drive to beatify so many often unknown people. There is, therefore, no room for a condescending attitude that drives people away from the Magister: “ Let the little children co...

       One underlying aspect of discipleship is openness towards others: a sense of fellowship with others as we take our place among them. Hence, ‘ Non sibi solum' - Not for oneself only , because witnessing the Magister demands a childlike spirit, not a childish attitude.       Discipleship, when understood as ‘coming-after’ (Bonhoeffer’s Nachfolge ), the Magister entails a cost, because all that speaks of ‘ committed love ’ (Agape) involves a sacrifice: the unwillingness to live this cost exhibits an immaturity focused on gratification.       My unwillingness to outgrow gratification prohibits discipleship because unable to embrace the ‘ Minorem ’ status, childlikeness is denied us: thus, we cannot witness the Magister because the kingdom belongs to such as these (Matthew 19,14).      Lacking childlikeness veils the Magister’s presence because we are not reconciled with  the necessity of ‘ Kenosis ’ ...

Words can be enriching, but futile when their meaning does not tally with our claims. An old saying enlightens us: ‘Factis ut credam facis’ - By your deeds I may trust you do. This is particularly important when we speak of witnessing: “Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (Jm. 2,18).  Another aspect underlines this affirmation: rather than thinking about what needs to be done, it proves wiser to do what is necessary. This is not necessarily easy because it often involves the discipline of self-emptying (Kenosis), indicative of the narrow path. After all, small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life (Mt. 7,14). Prudence accompanies because as Fra. Lorenzo advises, “Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast” (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, II.3). It is wise not to rashly embrace the Magister’s envisaged revolution unless one is prepared to embrace the cross.  Prudence envisages preparedness itself guided by a pri...

Hiddenness, evoked by images of salt, light, and yeast (Mt. 5,13-16), highlights a witnessing outreach. These images not only recall our mundaneness: they challenge our ability to re-evaluate it and thus, as Virgil notes, we gather strength as we go (Vires acquirit eundo). The serenity underlying this revaluation expresses a gained ‘restfulness’, which identifies with Shabbat-Shalom: a surpassed restlessness beyond the noises that condition us. This inference again brings to the fore that very little is needed to make oneself happy: it is all within one’s heart because “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mt.6,21).  Discipleship envisages an equilibrium that associates solitude with a quietness experienced in prayer: the hiddenness of the inner room (Mt.6,6). This is not necessarily welcomed because for many, this quietness spells frustrated boredom or an absurd existence, recalling Sisyphus, king of Corinth, who cheated death twice but was then condemned to a ...

To come after the Magister entails a need to craft a listening heart marked by the demand to be radical because, as Pope Benedict XVI reminds us, we were made for greatness and not to be deceived by comfort sought or offered. Hence, as we consider discipleship, we need not be reminded that truth and roses have thorns (Veritas et rosae habent spinas).   This reminds me of a passage that at first sight proves baffling: “And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell” (Mt. 18,9).  Being snared by the eye is a familiar story because just as “Death and destruction are never satisfied, neither are human eyes” (Prov. 27,20). Thus, we are warned: “The eye is the lamp of the body: if your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light within you is darkness,...

  Seek by reading and you will find by meditating; cry in prayer and the door will be opened in contemplation - Saint John of the Cross A mystical aspiration accompanies discipleship: in other words, that beauty which we cannot wish to change is focused on a passionate longing for God. This isn’t necessarily appreciated, sought, or understood because too much emphasis is placed on devotions dominated by our words rather than by our silence.  A mystical aspiration concerns a participation in the mystery of Christ through the sacraments – the holy mysteries – and, in him, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity (CCC, 2014). Hence, a mystical aspiration is not some experience of God concerned with our emotions, but an immediate encounter with the Divine where our emotions, subjected to Beauty, pale into nothingness.  Silence, understood as restfulness, underlines this experience where stillness, prayer, love and self-control are a four-horsed chariot bearing the intellect to hea...

Vive memor leti To live remembering the gloomy shade of death (William Shakespeare, King Henry VI ) might sound pessimistic, but it recalls us to our senses because we easily make choices that ignore the limits imposed by death. This is one reason why we need to focus on our familiarity – the little things in life that inform us as light gives way to the magical – the privilege to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.  Life’s familiarity enhances our discipleship. It reminds us how God quietly relates to us. It is in our familiarity that God reveals himself, where we are challenged to understand and respond to committed love (Agape).     It should not, therefore, surprise us that God uses this familiarity to attract our attention as He did with Moses: “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There, the angel of the LORD appeared ...

Vivere est Cogitare – Cicero Many claim Abraham as their father in faith or as their prophet without necessarily intending to embrace his non-conformism, rooted in his willingness to obey; discipleship endeavours to follow Abraham’s footsteps.  Hence, the need to consider the Johanine insight when speaking of discipleship - “He must increase; I must decrease” (Jn. 3,30), which takes on a new nuance since it reminds me to be different, not by what I say or do but by what I become.  This becoming is addressed by my willingness to think: to integrate values and choices that reflect my decision to follow the Magister as a disciple. This resolve integrates the readiness not to be afraid as a response to him who gave his life for many (Mt. 20,28).  Camouflaged in spiritual jargon, the Johanine affirmation is promoted and asserted: practising it highlights the cost of discipleship in tangible ways and manners. Non-conformism is, therefore, not a question of wearing a particular ...

 Ad Pacem As Marcus Aurelius (Meditations) indicates, the quality of our thoughts determines our happiness. Not bothered, presuming quality, many flow like trunks caught up in rough currents, insensible to the rocks beyond – a shared experience, which leaves us breathless.  Sometimes, we encounter this suffocating experience through a practised routine that outwardly intends to consolidate intimacy with the Magister – a varnishing of normality, which proves one way to escape from oneself so that ingrained restlessness is eclipsed. Camouflaging this restlessness indicates the need to encounter the Magister despite claims to the contrary: in other words, the need to convert and embrace the Good News (Mk. 1,1) - to dip my hand into the same bowl as him without betraying him (Mt. 26,23). Not to betray the Magister envisages a maturing self-understanding addressing our need to recline our head on his heart (Jn. 13,23), responding to his invitation: “Come to me, all you who are wear...

     It’s not easy to speak of prayer because many perceive it as mere words spoken or liturgical celebrations rather than experienced ‘l ove begetting love ’. This comprehension undermines its effectiveness because it fails to identify its true nature.       If I have to define prayer, I would assert Augustine’s affirmation that prayer is the articulation of love. Thus, following St John Damascene ( Filacolia ), prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God because only our longing of mind and heart makes prayer genuine.       Saint Teresa’s affirmation also needs attention because prayer is an act of love where words are superfluous. As demonstrated by Bernini, prayer concerns the heart. This focus on the heart enhances the Magister’s affirmation: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5,8).      Mother Teresa tells us that prayer has nothing to do with asking and a great deal to do ...