Sister Joan Chittister from the wonderful Benedictine monastery in Erie has written another reflection. I have admitted before, whenever she writes anything, I will read it and ponder it. Sister Joan has been at it a long time. She has been heralded world-wide for her prophetic witness in the greater church---not only the Catholic Church nor even in the larger Christian tradition. Chittister has been a tireless worker for peace and justice. She challenges me in very good ways. If I want to take my faith seriously, I cannot ignore her.
Her latest piece is on one of the Beatitudes found in the Sermon on the Mount speech as Matthew presents it. Chittister begins in her normal, ornery way. She confesses that much of the stuff in the Bible needs interpretation and some nuance to be relevant to our twenty-first century. Anyone who has struggled with parts of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) should agree. But having said that, Chittister then claims “not everything in Scripture lies behind a plexiglass of uncertainty, of confusion and ancient script. Not, for instance, in the first six Beatitudes of Jesus.” In case you have some doubt, listen to Chittister say, “the Beatitudes have a very clear place in life”
I can imagine some feelings like the Beatitudes are for advanced spiritual folks or the professionals. Again, we do well to listen to the Benedictine Sister. “The Beatitudes are not a denominational code of professional religion. They are the about the parameters of what it means to be equally human, always needy, forever aware of what it is to be one of the 'children of God.’” Hence, if we want to be spiritual, we are on the Beatitude hook!
Chittister always has a way of looking at something and articulating it, I have to take notice. I love how she describes the Beatitudes. “The Beatitudes are verbs. They set out to do things. They change us and everything around us. In fact, to be real at all, they require a very public demonstration of very important dimensions of life.” I appreciate her sense of the grammar of not only sentences, but of life. Verbs are the action words. Verbs precede nouns, which are states of being. She is correct; verbs set out to do things. We are supposed to make peace and mourn and all the rest. The Beatitudes are public demonstrations of our faith.
She always challenges me to do better. Only by doing better can I be better---verbs before nouns. For example, I cannot claim to be a peacemaker or to be for peace if I am not actually working for peace. Most of us know our world sorely has quite enough war, conflict, revenge and all the rest. The question is whether there can be peace and healing? To become pure in heart means we are actively engaging the Spirit of God in the work of the Spirit.
Having said all this, I was very intrigued that Chittister then declared that the “Being 'pure of heart’ is not satisfied by physical behaviors or mere acts of public charity.” This seems to contradict what was just said. But she knows more than I do. She pushes behind and beneath any action to the motive. She says to be pure of heart is “all about motives.” She develops this when she helps us see that “…purity of heart has to do with intentionality, with why I really do things. With my motives. With the real reason for what I do, which, however good it makes me look on the outside, may indeed be poisonous on the inside.” We are right to detect hypocrisy. Without right motives, I can do something for show---to claim purity of heart without putting any of my heart into it!
I go one more step with Chittister. As she develops her thoughts, she chooses an amazing image to help us picture the Beatitudes---especially purity of heart. She says they are “the steel spine of life.” The spine of life---the backbone. That enables us to stand up straight. Let’s listen to her arrive at this image. “Jesus did not preach the Beatitudes as lulling examples of soft poetry, though poetry they are.” No, they are sturdy stuff---the “core of life,” as she calls them. They form the backbone of our life---our spiritual life. We know what it means to be called “spineless.” We can imagine what it means to be spiritual slouches. In fact, that is a personal concern that I don’t go slouching through my life.
In my case I know enough theology to make it sound like I am very engaged. Yet I can be doing theology and still causing conflict, inflicting pain and making war and hell for everyone in my sphere---the classroom and everywhere else. That would be hypocritical. I want to avoid this, but how? Humility is a good start. Set the ego aside. Learn to love and, better yet, do love. Remember, verbs come before nouns.
As I ponder this, it now makes more sense why Sister Joan talked about motives and intentionality. Without proper motivation, I won’t be acting with a pure heart. I recognize it is easy to claim my heart is pure. This is the place for friends and community. I could check with them. How do they see me in action? How do they see you? Of course, no of us is perfect, but we can’t use that as an excuse not to try anything.
I am very grateful to this Benedictine nun for the challenge and the encouragement to keep developing my backbone. It comes with purity of heart.
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