Triple Maximum Speed!

Our sons love to run in a circuit through our apartment.  As they do, the younger one loudly reports their movement from “maximum speed!” to “DOUBLE maximum speed” to “TRIPLE MAXIMUM SPEED!”

This is a harmless (so far!) game for them, but for most adults “triple maximum speed” is the uncritically accepted norm of life.  We are too often stretched to breaking and do not consider that there is another way.  When we do this, we miss the things of greatest value.

These are urgent times we live in… so, let us slow down.

Moving from the Moral to the Mystical

The assembly for the Synod on Synodality opened yesterday.  Let’s pray for the folks in the mix… pray for the grace to embody this outstanding passage by Henri Nouwen.

“Christian leaders cannot simply be persons who have well-informed opinions about the burning issues of our time. Their leadership must be rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the incarnate Word, Jesus, and they need to find there the source for their words, advice, and guidance. Through the discipline of contemplative prayer, Christian leaders have to learn to listen again and again to the voice of love and to find there the wisdom and courage to address whatever issue presents itself to them. 

Dealing with burning issues without being rooted in a deep personal relationship with God easily leads to divisiveness because, before we know it, our sense of self is caught up in our opinion about a given subject. But when we are securely rooted in personal intimacy with the source of life, it will be possible to remain flexible without being relativistic, convinced without being rigid, willing to confront without being offensive, gentle and forgiving without being soft, and true witnesses without being manipulative.

For Christian leadership to be truly fruitful in the future, a movement from the moral to the mystical is required.” 

(In the Name of Jesus, Page 45-46)

The MGI

St. Ignatius wrote in annotation 22 of the Spiritual Exercises that “every good Christian ought to be more eager to put a good interpretation on a neighbor’s statement than to condemn it.” 

What is on offer here is to habituate the MGI – the most generous interpretation – which holds the door open for curiosity, learning.

This is difficult.  Our brains are wired to scan the world for threats in order to keep ourselves safe.  It is possible, though, that true safety may be arrived at only when a big group of us are able to default to the MGI.

Speed Reading a Poem

It’s a ridiculous idea, right? 

The whole point of a poem is to slow down, savor the beauty of the words, and allow the meaning to emerge.

And yet, are we not often guilty of “speed reading” the best part of our lives?  The people we have been given to love.  The wonder of the natural world.  The delightful complexity of our interior lives and our walk with God. 

Let’s pray for the grace to read slowly.

The Adjacent Possible

The easy problems are all taken.  That leaves the hard ones.

What an opportunity!

So, yes, the solution to the hard problem you have generously taken on is not immediately in sight. 

But what is the next move?  And once you move there, what can you see now that you could not see before?

Clarity may come once you move into the possibility adjacent to your current position.

You Can’t Make Old Friends

Have you heard “You Can’t Make Old Friends” lately? The journey that the first two lines can take us on is worth the click.

Maybe I love the song because an old friend of mine loves it, but I think there is something more.

I think it represents one of the gentlest memento mori moments around, reminding us to consider what is most valuable to us and that we do not get forever to cultivate and delight in those relationships.