Talk the talk - walk the talk

Sometimes it is hard not to watch those around you, their behaviour, the way you do things, especially in Mass. I notice so often that the bread and wine is received and people turn towards the tabernacle and bow - as a gesture of respect as if the Presence is still there. I noticed this in Melbourne during Easter, when the tabernacle is empty, people bow as either an unconscious behaviour that if they see tabernacle they bow, or maybe awareness for the reason to bow is not fully understood. I am a little puzzled by this really.

Trying my best to observe and not judge, apart of me is left with a feeling of wondering if we have fully understood what has just taken place before us. Transference of identity from the Eucharist to us… We are the living, walking, moving tabernacle, just like the Ark of the Covenant. 

I’m taken by this, as for me personally there is a moment after receiving the sacrament I can feel within me a physical change, a sense of union that is greater than myself. It is very hard to put into words, it is something that I don’t feel I should try to box into the limitations of the English language. 

Some days, I pass through the Mass with longing for a familiar word, to be feed orally, to hear the Word and let it bounce between my ears and sink into my heart. Often the only word I know and can pronounce with a sense of great affirmation is ‘Alleluia and Amen’. 

During Mass I have learnt from the people the mass parts, how to chant in time and tune, what all the words mean I have no idea as the Gloria is super long and a lot of Chua - God - is repeated. 

There is one mass part though I can not get the words to sink within me, I know the tune to the chant and when its sang, I could nearly write the music notes out for you, yet the words, these words will not sink within me - The Creed - 

It is interesting I was reflecting on this and just happened to read a chapter in Richard Rohr book that speaks about the creed in light of ‘doing and saying’. In English I know both creeds off by heart, like so many catholics. Often at mass the words pass my lips without second thought and sometimes I know it has been great conversation within the community about the language, the meaning and the way it is written. 

Richard Rohr points out that between saying “born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried;….. 

There is simply a single comma that accounts essentially for the life of Christ, it connects the two statements, is everything Jesus said and did between his birth and death. 

Rohr leaves questions in the air 

“Did all the things Jesus said and did in those years not count for much? Were they nothing to “believe” in? Was it only his birth and death that mattered? Does the gap in some way explain Christianity’s often dismal record of imitating Jesus’s actual life and teaching?” 

(The Universal Christ book) 

The Creed is an important document of theological summary and history. There is question if everyone realises this, and if it is fully understood. As its reciting during Sunday Mass one has to question the value of it, as it is called a ‘Creed’, meaning it is a guide for our daily practical behaviour. It is a public testimony of what we believe, of what we hold sacred within us. 

Given the way we have changed and our spirituality expression and awareness of God has changed as a communion body, the creed leaves a sense of addressing a static and unchaining universe with a God that is remote. 

I guess I wonder if the reason I have not learnt the Creed in a church language that this far has been easy for my ears to attune to, is that really I find myself questioning the meaning of making a statement that has little mission focus and rather seems mostly mind with little heart. 

“Is our only mission to merely keep announcing our vision and philosophy statement?” Rohr asks. 

My reflections leave me with this one thing that I carry over into my living in formation house that for me at this time seems to ofter me a deeper and more connected sight of Jesus. 

It is clear that we ‘talk the talk’ yet do we ‘walk the talk’… Through Jesus teachings it is clear to see he was more focused on right action (orthopraxy is the technical word) than with right saying, or even thinking. The parable that shouts this is found in Matthew (21:28-31) with the story of two sons. One son says he would not work only to change his mind and work, the other saying yes he would work yet didn’t work. Jesus tells his listeners he prefers the one who did the work even though saying the wrong words, over the one who says the right words yet does not act. 

HOW DID WE MISS THIS??

Anyone who truly knows me, is aware I have little tolerance for people who say one thing yet do another. I often label it ‘pet peeve’ yet it is more than this. I have struggled as forgiveness needs to come into this equation, yet apart of me has a deep awareness and sense of the just towards this. I realise that this parable teaching gives me light. 

It reminds me of how more than ever, society needs a Jesus who has walked the talk, whose life can save use even more than his death. A Jesus who is human, like us, practically imitate, that gives us awareness of what it means to be fully human. Jesus who holds all creation together in one harmonious unity.  Jesus is all this, and more.