12
November 20, 2018 | The Valley Catholic
COMMENTARY
When is our Life Fulfilled?
By Rev. Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Theologian, teacher, award-winning
author, and President of the Oblate
School of Theology in San Antonio, TX
When is our life fulfilled? At what point in our
lives do we say: “That’s it! That’s the climax! Nothing
I can do from now on will outdo this. I’ve given what
I have to give.”
When can we say this? After we’ve reached the
peak of our physical health and strength? After giv-
ing birth to a child? After successfully raising our
children? After we’ve published a best-seller? After
we’re famous? After we’ve won a major champion-
ship? After we’re celebrated the sixtieth anniversary
of our marriage? After we’ve found a soulmate? After
we’re at peace after a long struggle with grief? When
is it finally done? When has our growth reached its
furthest place?
The medieval mystic, John of the Cross, says we
reach this point in our lives when we have grown
to what he calls “our deepest center”. But he doesn’t
conceive of this the way we commonly picture it,
namely, as the deepest center inside our soul. Rather,
for John, our deepest center is the optimum point of
our human growth, that is, the deepest maturity we
can grow to before we begin to die. If this is true, then
for a flower, its deepest center, its ultimate point of
growth, would be not its bloom but the giving of its
seed as it dies. That’s its further point of growth, its
ultimate accomplishment.
What’s our ultimate point of growth? I suspect that
we tend to think of this in terms of some concrete,
positive accomplishment, like a successful career or
some athletic, intellectual, or artistic achievement
that’s brought us satisfaction, recognition, and popu-
larity. Or, looked at from the point of view of depth of
meaning, we might answer the question differently
by saying that our ultimate achievement was a life-
giving marriage, or being a good parent, or living a
life that served others.
When, like a flower, do we give off our seed? Henri
Nouwen suggests that people will answer this very
differently: “For some it is when they are enjoying
the full light of popularity; for others, when they
have been totally forgotten; for some, when they have
reached the peak of their strength; for others, when
they feel powerless and weak; for some it is when their
creativity is in full bloom, for others, when they have
lost all confidence in their potential.”
When did Jesus give off his seed, the fullness
of his spirit? For Jesus, it wasn’t immediately after
his miracles when the crowds stood in awe, and
it wasn’t after he had just walked on water, and it
wasn’t when his popularity reached the point where
his contemporaries wanted to make him king that
he felt he had accomplished his purpose in life and
that people began to be touched in their souls by his
spirit. None of these. When did Jesus have nothing
further to achieve?
It’s worth quoting Henri Nouwen again, in answer-
ing this question: “We know one thing, however, for
the Son of Man the wheel stopped when he had lost
everything: his power to speak and to heal, his sense
of success and influence, his disciples and friends –
even his God. When he was nailed against a tree,
robbed of all human dignity, he knew that he had
aged enough, and said: ‘It is fulfilled’” (John 19, 30).
“It is fulfilled!” The Greek word here is Tetelesti.
This was an expression used by artists to signify that
a work was completely finished and that nothing more
could be added to it. It was also used to express that
something was complete. For example, Tetelesti was
stamped on a document of charges against a criminal
after he had served his full prison sentence; it was
used by banks when a debt had been repaid; it was
used by a servant to inform his master that a work had
been completed; and it was used by athletes when,
tired and exhausted, they successfully crossed the
finish line in a race.
It is finished! A flower dies to give off its seed so
it’s appropriate that these were Jesus’ last words. On
the cross, faithful to the end, to his God, to his word,
to the love he preached, and to his own integrity, he
stopped living and began dying, and that’s when he
gave off his seed and that’s when his spirit began
to permeate the world. He had reached his deepest
center, his life was fulfilled.
When does our living stop and our dying begin?
When do we move from being in bloom to giving
off our seed? Superficially, of course, it’s when our
health, strength, popularity, and attractiveness begin
to wane and we start to fade out, into the margins,
and eventually into the sunset. But when this is seen
in the light of Jesus’ life, we see that in our fading out,
like a flower long past its bloom, we begin to give off
something of more value than the attractiveness of
the bloom. That’s when we can say: “It is fulfilled!”
Active Nonviolence: Rediscovering a Central Teaching of Jesus
By Tony Magliano
Internationally syndicated social jus-
tice and peace columnist
[email protected]
“But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do
good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,
pray for those who mistreat you.
“To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer
the other one as well, and from the person who takes
your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to
everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes
what is yours do not demand it back.
“Do to others as you would have them do to you”
(see Luke 6: 27-35).
Do we really take Jesus seriously here? His first
followers certainly did.
Christian literature from the first three centuries
affirms that the earliest followers of Jesus Christ com-
pletely rejected all forms of violence and bloodshed
– no abortion, no euthanasia, no capital punishment,
no war.
But this drastically changed when Emperor Theo-
dosius I issued the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 A.D.,
making Catholic Christianity the religion of the Roman
Empire. This marriage of church and state swung open
the doors for Christian participation in the military of
the Roman Empire. And sadly, Christians have been
fighting for empires ever since. But not every Christian.
St. Francis of Assisi highly exemplified Christian
active nonviolence. During the Fifth Crusade – which
he opposed – in September 1219, he and his com-
panion friar Illuminato crossed into Muslim Dami-
etta, Egypt and met with Sultan Malek al-Kamil,
who, impressed with Francis’ courage and faith,
entered into respectful interfaith dialogue with him
(see: https://bit.ly/2NV39lD).
I highly recommend the inspiring documentary
movie depicting this historic encounter titled “The
Sultan and the Saint.”
Two moder n day act ive nonviolent Cat h-
ol ic hero e s a r e Ble s s e d Fra n z Jager st at ter
(see: https://bit.ly/2O0Gfcw) and Ben Salmon (see:
www.bensalmon.org).
“Choosing Peace: The Catholic Church Returns to
Gospel Nonviolence” is an excellent book offering cre-
ative insights and examples of how active nonviolence
offers ways of breaking violence’s hold on humanity
(see: https://bit.ly/2I6kplU).
And as I write, “Campaign Nonviolence Week of
Actions” is taking place in all 50 U.S. states and 24
countries (see: https://bit.ly/1VlWUjO).
Active nonviolence is Christ-like, and thus, far
more effective than military force. And if it was given
a fraction of the annual $700 billion appropriated for
U.S. military spending ($1.7 trillion globally) the world
would experience its remarkable effectiveness.
Nonviolent Peaceforce’s co-founder Mel Duncan
explained to me that teams of trained unarmed civilian
protectors go into areas of violent conflict to directly
protect civilians who are under threat, and work with
local civil society to prevent further violence.
For example, in South Sudan they have pro-
vided protective accompaniment to thousands of
people. Women having to leave protective areas
to collect firewood are often raped. But when ac-
companied by Nonviolent Peaceforce civilian pro-
tectors these women have never been attacked
(see: www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org).
Imagine for a moment, if all of us who profess to
be Christian truly started loving our enemies. And
instead of despising them, executing them, shooting
them, torturing them, starving them, aborting them,
bombing them and threatening to nuke them, we
instead loved them, blessed them, prayed for them,
gave to them, and did to them as we would have them
do to us.
The culture of indifference, hate, greed, power- lust
and violence would literally be turned upside down. It
would be a tremendous leap forward on our journey
into the Kingdom of God as preached and lived by the
nonviolent Jesus.
This, and no less, is what the God of peace is call-
ing us to!
Tune into Tony on Relevant Radio’s Bay Area Catholic,
KSFB 1260 AM, November 24 at 3 p.m.