Contemplative Ministry
The remedy to heal our wounds is a radical encounter with Christ
Deacon Robert T. Yerhot Comments Off on Contemplative Ministry
We live with anxious hearts. Fundamental questions arise from within us. Who are we? What are we to do? We give answers often filtered through several shallow layers of protective responses. To answer deeply requires a freedom yet to be obtained. Our wounds bind us too tightly.
We often identify with our wounds. We are tempted to see greater value in the lives of others, who seem so much more “finished.” We fear not only our brokenness but also who we may become if we end up “finished.” So we hide those unfinished parts, and we avoid anything that may expose them. We develop strategies to protect ourselves from further damage. We hide in shame and avoid the healing found in an encounter with Jesus.
To enter into contemplative ministry seems too daunting, too theological. “We were ordained for action!” many say in an anxious avoidance of the deeper questions.
A deep healing cannot occur as long as our wounds remain unrecognized and unhealed. Anxiously praying harder or hiding in activity are not the answers. The remedy lies in the freedom found in a radical encounter with Jesus to whom we expose our wounds and press them into his wounds. We find such an encounter in contemplative prayer and openness to his presence in ministry. Healed men, whose wounds have been redeemed through an encounter with Jesus, enter into contemplative ministry.
Do we know salvation history? Can we see our wounds in the context of salvation history and, in that way, obtain the freedom we all need? Do we really understand and recognize how salvation history is unfolding in our lives and in the lives of those to whom we are sent? Do we really understand that our wounds are part of God’s salvific plan for the entire world?
If we enter into a contemplative ministry we inevitably find the cross under which we must stand serenely, and from that position bear witness to the Gospel entrusted to us at our ordinations. Can we stand beneath the cross, and from there proclaim and give witness to all that Jesus Christ the Son of God has done and is now doing to heal us? Or will we flee, like so many do, into anxious activity?
Our Lady can be of help to us. She understood salvation history. She understood the necessity of her son’s passion and death. Mary understood how her own experience of the cross was part of God’s plan for humankind. She had integrated the cross into her life. She was able to stand by her son and do so silently with an immaculate, unstained heart. She didn’t numb out or flee the cross; she remained.
Jesus had perfect clarity as to his identity and mission. In his humanity, he was wounded, but in his divinity, he was perfectly whole. We, thoroughly human in both our nature and our person, have nonetheless been given a share in his divine nature by our adoption as sons and daughters. So, in our humanity, we are deeply wounded, but in sharing in his divinity, we can be made perfectly whole.
We will embrace the cross in our lives and enter into a contemplative ministry if we become aware of our wounds and seek healing by pressing them into Christ’s wounds. We will enter into a contemplative ministry if we see in our brokenness the unfolding of salvation history. Healing is indeed a suffering that brings clarity as to who we are and what we are to do. None of us can do this alone. We need a trustworthy spiritual guide. We all need competent spiritual direction, and for many of us psychological assistance.
Brothers, seek out the help you need to be healed and restored. Our unfinished disintegrated parts are rooted in some painful experiences in our past, which must be exposed to a trusted spiritual guide who can assist us in entering into a contemplative ministry. Healing is possible, brothers. Contemplative ministry is possible. Take the risk, seek out spiritual direction and, if necessary, psychological assistance. God be with you!
DEACON ROBERT T. YERHOT, MSW, is the assistant director emeritus of the diaconate for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota. He is core-group member of the Institute for Diaconal Renewal in Steubenville Ohio. A spiritual director, he has published articles on diaconal spirituality.