Optimistic Christian sweat
Hands that are always active
Countless corporations in our societies work 24/7. Commercial demand and the expectation of instant gratification are so great that it is not acceptable for a day to go by without massive production. Millions of those hands working in diverse fields are Christian hands. Hands that nourish, hands that heal, hands that pray, hands that produce, that caress, transform, applaud, sustain and push; hands that make God present in the affairs of each day.
The Liturgy of the Hours, during the Hora Sexta, invites us to sing a beautiful hymn, which I memorized when I was an 18-year-old novice:
The hammer sings to you, and the wheel turns in your honor.
It may seem that light cannot free its own brilliance from the smoke.
How sweaty and humble you become at midday, God of this tough obstinacy,
To incessantly create, and see yourself evermore in need of man each day!
Whoever says God is dead, let him go out to the light and see
If the world is or is not the work of a God who is wide awake.
His place is no longer in the desert, nor does he hide in the mountains;
If asked where, say that God is without a shroud,
Present where there is a hand at work and a heart that responds. Amen.
As disciples of Jesus, we have been sent out into the world to imitate a God drenched in sweat as he completes the arduous task of building his kingdom. Our hope is the complete opposite of inertia. Hope constantly obliges our intelligence to undertake an in-depth search for truth. Christian intelligence searches to perfect the body with all its dignity and beauty, from its first heartbeat in the mother’s womb until its last natural breath.
Hearts that are in love
To fall in love is relatively easy — it is a gift. To remain in love is hard work — it means not becoming accustomed to the gift.
To us Christians, the Lord goes out and meets us and makes us fall in love with him. That is his gift to us. That is what authentic love is like: a gift that fills us with joy and enthusiasm in order to work. A person in love does not seek to be the best just to please the beloved, but so that others may obtain that same strength that has filled his existence, and maintain the same plenitude.
Love is always dynamic expectation. Love is expectation that continually surprises, changing the life of the beloved, making them draw out from their innermost being the best of their potential as man or woman. A person in love shows strength in everything he or she does and says at home, in the workplace, out on the street and in the church. Love always expects more of the beloved because the heart, and its capacity to receive more, expands with the presence of the beloved. That is how novelty that frees us from habit and routine takes root and protects us from losing the element of daily surprise.
Love obliges the Christian heart to work 24/7 in order to make the world see that God is alive, that he has left the tomb and that he is not alone in the desert or in the mountains. God is in our midst because he makes his light shine through every heart that loves. With his light in their hearts, people in love are able to contemplate new colors, new tones of peace, forgiveness, fraternity or solidarity.
The excessive smoke of violence, hate, greed, lust and abuse of our own humanity impedes us from seeing the ever-radiant light of love hidden behind its dark columns.
While the hammer of charity continues to sing in the hands of tireless workers who love, the wheel of humanity will take us to find each other in new places along the road.
Joseph and Mary nurtured the optimism of Jesus by the sweat of their brow. By their example, Jesus learned from infancy that hope is a tireless worker and that one day it would bloom even in the most arid of hearts, making them fruitful a hundred times over.
Let us continue to hope, to wait, to surprise and to be surprised.
Bishop Eusebio Elizondo is writing the bishop’s column while Archbishop J. Peter Sartain recuperates from back surgery.
Northwest Catholic - October 2016