Living The Incarnation
The whole of the Clifton diocese is at present engaged in taking a long hard look at diocesan priorities and providing guidelines for the future. The programme of discussion is called "Seeking the face of Christ." As we are engaged in this process we do well to recall the implications of the feast of Pentecost as we celebrate it liturgically. The gift of the Holy Spirit encourages us with the awareness that in the face of all the difficulties we have the Holy Spirit as our guide and source of energy and wisdom.
Clearly the Holy Spirit is to be found everywhere as indeed we can seek the face of Christ in a multitude of the most unlikely places. Given that I want us to consider a particular aspect of this seeking and awareness of Christ's presence and the action of the Holy Spirit. I have a suspicion that many (most!) of us, when thinking of seeking the presence of Christ, look outside ourselves. But it really is important to start nearer home and in our prayer to become aware of the true presence of Christ within us. When St. Paul declared that "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me" he was not arrogantly suggesting that he was unique but was offering us an invitation to follow his example and to become aware of the inner presence of Christ within ourselves.
Now we might ask that if Christ is present within why we are not aware of it? Could it be that the cultural conditioning of living in a meritocracy with its emphasis on achievement and ego-centeredness (i.e. our false and superficial self) obscures our true nature? If this is the case then what we need is a regular prayer practice of silence so that the clamour of ego insistence for power, possessions, and prestige can be surrendered to the grateful silence for the very gift of life itself. Just to sit for a few minutes each day aware of this basic gift of life itself as manifested in one's breath. The practice is to relax as you are consciously aware of breathing in and to smile in gratitude for everything as you breathe out. By doing this we also come into touch with the Holy Spirit. You will remember that in the Bible the words used for "Spirit" are the same as the word for "breath."
Such a prayer of attention to the breath activates our awareness of the immediacy of the Holy Spirit enlivening our whole being. Just as the breath is received into the lungs so that the oxygen can be carried physically by the blood to every fibre and cell of our being whether we are consciously aware of it or not, so similarly the presence and Spirit of the living Christ is alive and active in us whether we are conscious of it or not.. But, when we are conscious of it, it changes the whole tenor of our lives. To parody the words of a well-known hymn:
Breathe in me Breath of God,
Fill me with life anew.
The truth of the matter is that we are sharers in the Divine Nature. Already, not in the receding past or in the unpredictable future but absolutely right here now. That is the Good News of the Christian scriptures and the experience of all the great spiritual teachers down through the ages from St Paul to Thomas Merton. When we experience it for ourselves we naturally earnestly want to share its truth with others or at least tell them ways in which they too can experience it for themselves. The late Dom Aelred Graham, a monk of Ampleforth Abbey wrote in his book "Contemplative Christianity" published in 1974 "Priests of the future it may be will learn not only to preside at the Eucharist but to lead the faithful in silent meditation." That may well be true but let us not wait for that but to start now to seek the Christ within and to know that the Holy Spirit is there to empower us in living life to the full.
