Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, March 12, 2008


Let life happen to you. Believe me:
life is in the right, always.

- Rainer Maria Rilke, poet


This quote got me pondering. Just how much can you trust “Life”? Is Life always “in the right”, as Rilke boldly states???? Is this one of those principles you adopt “on faith”?? How much does this have to do with Rilke’s life?

Well, here’s my personal take. My fantasy - fantasy because it is tainted by some adjustments here and there, and by my selective memory - is that I have always “let Life happen”. Whether this is a principled position or a cowardly failure I don’t know. I have thought back over my Life. Never have I determinedly gone after something I thought I wanted. I have never plotted to make money. I have never maneuvered politically to get a job. I have never schemed to get anything. I have never sought a particular parish or place – I have always been “recommended” or “told about a place” or “had my name submitted”. Even in AZ, I knew I wanted to come West, and sent my resume in a scattered way. But in AZ, I left the choice of where I would go up to the bishop.

Actually, I think I do trust Life, and the Mystery that lies behind it. My line has always been, “Well, here is the path that’s opened up; I guess this is where God wants me to go!” Monkdom. Then not-Monkdom. Little parishes from Ohio to MA to RI to NY to AZ. “Yes” to a man I saw across a sanctuary, even though I have always poo-poo-ed such Romanticism. Yes to claiming a path to integrity as a Gay man and priest.

I do not accept letting abuse and negativity and ill-treatment take me over. No, sorry; I have learned I (and all of us) are too valuable and beloved for that nonsense! But I have either learned or am hard-wired to look in wonder at what Life offers and, on the whole, say “Yes”.

So far, it’s been fascinating!

Brian+