Transcript of Abbot Clement=s Talk on Monday, October 6, 2003
We want to welcome the Medieval history class from John Carroll. We
=re glad to have you pray with us.When two people get married they spend themselves nourishing, clothing, nurturing, educating their children, making sure they are healthy, going through a lot of trouble just on that point alone. Then they reach their fiftieth wedding anniversary they see their six, seven, eight, ten children and their spouses and grandchildren and they say,
AWow, we did this! And God was with us.@ Each of us in a certain sense owes a lot of gratitude to our parents for doing these things for us. For educating us, for nurturing us, for feeding us, sheltering us, clothing us, which we often take for granted.What is really going on? That couple spent their life and their love on their children. They poured it into them. There was the blossoming result.
If that
=s true in creation what about the redemptive effort? There=s a text in John=s gospel, Chapter 5, it says, AThe Father works till now and I work.@ One of the difficulties or even neglects of Catholics is that we have God working in, through, and around us all the time, but we don=t recognize his presence and his action. The same thing with Jesus.Even more powerfully in the Eucharist Jesus pours his life and his love into us every time we receive the Eucharist worthily. Basically our life is in front of us. It
=s richness, it=s flowering, is still to come. We are made as Jesus said, AI came to bring life and to bring an abundance.@ What is your image of abundant life? Are you going to fly like an eagle, is that your image? We have a more powerful image. Really, the resurrected Jesus.The fullness of our life is in front of us but do we exercise that kind of faith, trust, and surrender that allows us to cooperate with the great work of God?
I want you to think about this because we have done the survey. How are we going to look at this survey? Are we going to look at it and say,
AWell, this is psychology and who cares about psychology.@ Or are we going to look at it and say, AHere was another action that God provided for us. What is God asking of us now at this point in our life? How are we to flow with it?@ Then even something more practical is to take that text from John 5:17, AThe Father works till now and I work@ and translate it into a prayer. Make it part of your prayer so that you become more aware how God is acting in your life.