As I have been re-reading Michael Himes’ “Doing the Truth in Love: Conversations about God, Relationships and Service,” (New York: Paulist Press, 1995, 152 pp., $12.95) and reflecting on the wonderful insights that Father Himes presents, I have found that almost everything Michael has written, and every comment I have made about what he has written, can easily be related to the mystery of the Eucharist.
What Michael refers to as a sacramental vision is similar to what I have often referred to as a Eucharistic vision. Every belief and practice that is part of a Catholic’s experience can be related to the Eucharist. Allowing belief in the Eucharist to shed light on our experience almost always leads to our experience taking on a deeper meaning, probably a meaning that not only challenges us but also encourages us.
That has been my experience re-reading Michael’s book. I find Michael’s writing inspiring. I hope readers of this column, who decide to read Michael’s book, will have an experience similar to mine.
Re-reading Michael’s book during the past five weeks has been like being on retreat. Michael’s insights have influenced what I have been saying in my Sunday homilies, in the prayers I have been saying each day and even in the conversations I have had with friends. During the past few weeks, I have given copies of the book to three friends. I hope they enjoy it as much as I have.
There is a paragraph in Michael’s book that summarizes some of his insights. It seems to me to be one of the most important paragraphs in the book. It reads:
“If the absolute mystery which we call ‘God’ is least wrongly thought of as perfect ‘self-gift,’ then we stand before that mystery as the recipients of gift. Not only is everything we have ultimately God’s gift to us, not only is the fact that we exist a gift, but we exist precisely in order to be able to be given the gift of God.
“We can give nothing to God which God needs. Indeed as many of the thanksgiving prayers of the liturgy remind us, whatever we can give to God has first been God’s gift to us. We are not created to be gifts to God; we are created to be recipients of God’s gift to us.
“That is why we are. And the primary gift that God gives to us is God. So our basic stance before God is gratitude. We are the part of creation which is given knowledge and tongue to say what all creation longs to say: Thank you” (p. 128).
I was thinking as I typed that paragraph that I could probably spend the rest of my life meditating and contemplating on the insights expressed in it. Michael has written about the most profound truths about Robert Lauder and about everyone who is reading this column or who has read Michael’s book.
Pope Francis has said that the name of God is Mercy. He could have attributed many names to God, such as Love or Beauty or Power.
Why did the Holy Father pick Mercy? My guess is that in his spirituality, Pope Francis sees Mercy as summing up the way God relates to us. Mercy sums up for Pope Francis God as always reaching out to us to help us no matter how sinful we are. Pope Francis, I imagine, has named God Mercy to stress that there is nothing we can do, no sin that we can commit, that will turn God away from us.
In relation to us, God’s mercy is infinite, so powerful that we can place our trust in God always no matter how often we fail through our sins.
If Mercy is God’s name, then I suggest our name could be gratitude. That word perhaps more than any other word may suggest how we should relate to God.
We are the recipients of God’s gifts. Perhaps it might be helpful occasionally to try to think of gifts and blessings that are part of our lives. Of course the list could be endless. At the head of the list of gifts given to us by God should be God. God’s gift of self to every human person is probably the most important truth about us.
I am grateful not only to God but also to Michael Himes who I am confident is now with God in paradise. Michael used his exceptional intelligence and learning to serve the Catholic community. He was a special gift in the lives of many. I cannot imagine how many, but I am grateful to count myself among that number.
Father Lauder is a philosophy professor at St. John’s University, Jamaica. He presents two 15-minute talks from his lecture series on the Catholic Novel, 10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday on NET-TV.