Sunday December 17, 2017
Knowing Who I Am
I am very much in sympathy with feminism. I believe that women have been degraded in history and that their voices are not being heard adequately in our own times. This calls for much greater appreciation of the feminine and not for its elimination. There are those who protest the sex roles taught to children. "Little boys don't cry." "Tessie must have a little doll…" and I agree with them to some extent. However, the difference between male and female cannot be denied. In a book called "Men" written by a woman the author claimed that, "apart form the physical there are no other differences between male and female." If this were true what an impoverishment it would mean for the human family! Some feminists pursue their cause with a markedly masculine belligerence. Some "liberated" parents have chosen not to teach sex roles to children, not to have any distinction in toys, games or ways of dress. The consequences have been horrible in little boys being greeted as little girls and little girls been greeted as little boys. This leads to confusion at the core in answering the question, "Who am I?" A clear self identity is necessary for everyone if we are to live mentally healthy lives. The first basic identity for all of us is our gender identity.
Jesus the Christ was a man with a great sense of personal identity. This identity lay mainly in his relationship with the Father, his Abba-relationship. He had come from the Father to do the will of the Father. He knew exactly who he was even though he at times had to struggle to know how to express it. He accepted that identity and lived it out even to the extent of accepting the chalice of brutal suffering and death.
John the Baptist, the main focus of today's liturgy, was another man of remarkably clear self identity. "He came as a witness to speak of the light. He was not the light." When asked. "Who are you?" he not only declared, but declared quite openly, "I am not the Christ." He went on to say "there stands among you - unknown to you - the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal strap." He knew who he was and knew who he was not.
Unfortunately, due to our egos, our selfish insecure selves, we are often caught in identity crises. Because we cannot accept who we are we try to pretend to be someone else, we wear masks and live at an interior distance from our own selves. For John Main the great fruit of meditation was to bring about integration within our selves. While a lot of the usual type of petitionary prayer is seeking what we need to reassure the ego, in meditation we let go of that seeking. We just be in stillness and truth at our own centers. Through this simple practice, we learn to, as St. Bernard described someone, live within our own selves.
The Benedictine Fr. John Main (1926-1992) was one of the great spiritual teachers of this century. He learned meditation from a Hindu Swami in Kuala Lumpur and later rediscovered that the same rich way of meditation was to be found deep in the Christian tradition. The final years of his life were spent teaching meditation and forming groups to meditate. Today there are thousands of people in meditation groups around the world following his teaching. When he died he left behind his writings and recorded talks. These are a priceless treasure but like all treasures they can also be a liability. John Main was also a witness who came to speak for the light but he was not himself the light. While it is important to read and listen to his words, these are only of value in so far as they lead us to the word of scripture and to the Word Himself. The true identity of the teacher is to lead us to the Master. Meditation is fruitful in us, too, to the extent that it leads us to discover who we are - people in relationship to our Heavenly father - and to live in response to that relationship.
