Holy Wholly Holy

God is...

John Carradine as Casey:

            I’ve got nothing to preach about no more.  That’s all.  I ain’t so sure of things.   My heart ain’t in it.  All that lives is holy.

Henry Fonda as Tom Joad:

            A fellow ain’t got a soul of his own, just a piece of one big soul that belongs to everyone.  Find out what’s wrong and see if something can be done about it.

Carradine and Fonda spoke those words in a 1940 film based on John Steinbeck’s prize-winning novel, “Grapes of Wrath.“  It is the story of an Oklahoma family who lost their farm during the Great Depression/Dust Bowl in the 1930’s and their grueling trip west to California in search of work.  Their roles showed how personal hardship created an opening to understanding and holiness.  They touched my ecumenical soul and led me to ask, what if common people really do have common sense?

Carl Jung said that we respect what we regard as holy.  What if we could see the intrinsic holiness in everyone?  Could it moderate our egos and allow us to be much more respectful and accepting of all people regardless of whom they are or what they have done?  What if we could see the inherent  holiness in our planet’s resources, plants and animals?  Would our respect and care for them grow?

Maybe the first step is to know our own indewelling holiness regardless of our failures and shortcomings and therefore know this holiness exists in all other people and all things.  Like Steinbeck’s Casey and Tom Joad, the privilege of that experience often comes through graced hardship.

Theologian Richard Rohr, “People who don’t get it teach us how to love.”

Nun, None or None of the Above

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I once thought I wanted to be a nun, but that was not my path.  In a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article last spring Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist said, “You are crazy to mess with nuns.”  Brave, tough, admirable, saintly and crafty were adjectives Kristof used in praise of the women he call “the first female feminists earning doctorates or working as surgeons long before it was fashionable for women to hold jobs.”  Instead, my path led me to leave the church of my birth at age 60 with no desire to formally join another religion.  For me it has been a good choice, broadening my spirituality, infusing me with a blessed freedom, and leading me to explore a variety of spiritual practices that speak to me.  Does that make me a none?

What if there was an Ecumenical box to check when asked to state a religious affiliation?  How many millions of people, who currently know they are none of the commonly listed faiths, would check that box when asked to state a religious preference?  There are pages and pages of beautiful related words in my thesaurus for ecumenical such as universal, heaven-wide, galactic, all-inclusive, cooperating.  When Kristof titled his article, “We Are All Nuns,” I suspect he understood their ecumenical nature and that we are all one family. 

Many years ago I had an aha moment when listening to the wise Sr. Joan Chittister talk about how the church might have done its job too well in taking over the care of the poor, sick and disenfranchised, thereby relieving the rest of us of the responsibility.  I suspect Kristof knows we all are called to be nuns when he cited the “median age is well over 70 of the 57,000 dedicated women who work tirelessly for a more just world.”  What would it take to walk in the sensible shoes of a nun?  What if each and every one of us lived more simply and sustainably, and shared a fraction our time, talent and treasure when and where we could to relieve others’ suffering.  Could all of us together do the job each in our own unique way?  Are you a nun, none, or none of the above?