Brian’s Reflection: Monday, January 16, 12

“Life is change. If you aren’t growing and evolving,
you’re standing still, and the rest of the world is surging
ahead. Most of these people are very immature, They
lead “still” lives, waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
“Waiting for someone to save them. Expecting someone
to save them or at least protect them from the big, bad
world. The thing is no one else can save them because
the problem is theirs and so is the solution. Only they
can get out of it.”

The character Myrna in Louise Penny’s book,
“Still Life”.


I pondered these words at 1am ….. found unexpectedly in a “mystery” novel that my dear friend Amma Donna gave me (she knew it would engage me because it is set in Montreal where I was born, and in the Eastern Townships).

Now, I have pondered Mystery and Life for a long time now. One Mystery, in the religious tradition I have “followed” nearly all my Life, is that of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. I can’t think how many times I’ve written or preached about it.

And then, at 1am, age 65, a sudden clarity washes over me. And I “see” it. One can “see” the Death and Resurrection of Jesus as “He who came to save you and protect you from the big bad world”. I have to say that in my many decades of priesthood and ministry, I have seen little salvation for those who expected and sat around waiting for Jesus/God to get their lives organized. Or, one can see the Death and Resurrection as a Path for one’s heart, mind, and spirit. Once we make the Mystery a reality in our own Life, once we see that we must “die and rise” – change in ourselves what has brought us to stagnation – then we Live.

The process of Living is a constant for every moment of our days.

And the key is: Change, Change, Change. Change is finding the dynamic God within. No one else – not even God – can change us until we see that God and we are One. We are the problem, and the solution.

Brian+