Article by William Barry SJ
I saw today that William A. Barry SJ, has an article in America magazine - Friends With God ... I really like his work, as there are few others who can so straightforwardly and optimistically set forth the possibilities of a relationship with God. In this article, he discusses the vulnerability of God and the mutuality that can exist in in an adult friendship with him. I have to admit, I kind of hate where he goes with the logical extension of this idea and petitionary prayer, but that's probably because I so much want God to fix things for me. Here below are some bits from the article ...
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Jesus called God “Abba” (“dear Father”), which tells us something about his relationship with God. In the same vein, he told his followers, “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father in heaven’” (Matt 6: 9), telling us that we have a similar relationship with God. Many people have been heartened by this image, less forbidding than older ones—one that has brought them to a better, easier love of God. When we use or hear the image of God as father (or mother, for that matter, since God has no gender), we generally envisage ourselves as small and needy children, not as adults. Our relationship with God, however, is more analogous to that between adult children and their parents ....
... God wants our friendship. Indeed, God can be defined as the vulnerable one who saves us by offering us friendship. My conviction has been reinforced after reading Liz Carmichael’s Friendship: Interpreting Christian Love. This is a book of solid scholarship that shows a long tradition of identifying caritas (love or charity) with friendship—and thus defining God, who is love, as friendship. Two historical examples should suffice. Aelred of Rievaulx, the 12th-century English Benedictine abbot, developed his own variant of “God is love” (1 John 4:16): “Shall I say God is friendship?” A century later, Thomas Aquinas defined this same love as friendship with God ...
... God is present and sustaining our world at all times, but God is not Mr. Fix-It. When we think of God as the ultimate fixer of everything, we get into trouble explaining tsunamis and hurricanes and earthquakes. God creates and sustains a world of shifting tectonic plates, of complex climatic interactions and other such phenomena that, at times, cause havoc in human lives. That is in the nature of the universe that God creates and we inhabit. God does not intervene to stop the shifting of the plates or to change climatic conditions.
And when it comes to human evil, if God did not stop the crucifixion of Jesus, then perhaps, we can reason, God cannot change human hearts unless those hearts agree to change. God will try to influence those hearts, but God cannot coerce them to change ...
... when grace works, I become aware of God creating and sustaining the whole world and, at the same time, attending to me. Sometimes I have also realized that God is present to hurricane and earthquake victims, to refugees driven from their homes by war and terror, to people mourning almost insupportable losses, such as the loss of their children, and so forth. I have been deeply moved with sympathy for the suffering of so many people. I then reflected, “If I can feel sympathy for these people from reading about their plight or seeing them on television, what must be God’s reactions?” God is, after all, not reading or hearing about them, but is right there sustaining them along with the whole universe. I believe that my best reactions are only pale reflections of God’s reactions. Perhaps, indeed, God is calling me to an adult relationship where there is mutuality, even a mutuality of compassion for one another.
Such mutuality is presumed by St. Ignatius Loyola in the last great exercise of his Spiritual Exercises, the “Contemplation to Obtain Love.” There he makes two preliminary observations: first, love ought to manifest itself more by deeds than by words. Second, love consists in a mutual communication between the two persons. That is, the one who loves gives and communicates to the beloved what he or she has, or part of what one has or can have; and the beloved in return does the same to the lover. Thus, if the one has knowledge, one gives it to the other who does not; and similarly in regard to honors or riches. Each shares with the other (No. 230-31) ....
It boils down to mutuality in friendship, cooperation, mutual compassion: “Abba” and us. “Abba” with us. Perhaps preaching and teaching about such an adult relationship with God, using the more engaging image, will not only challenge people, but also intrigue them enough to pursue such a relationship with their God.
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William A. Barry, S.J., a spiritual director and writer, is co-director of the tertianship program of the Jesuits’ New England Province.
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Jesus called God “Abba” (“dear Father”), which tells us something about his relationship with God. In the same vein, he told his followers, “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father in heaven’” (Matt 6: 9), telling us that we have a similar relationship with God. Many people have been heartened by this image, less forbidding than older ones—one that has brought them to a better, easier love of God. When we use or hear the image of God as father (or mother, for that matter, since God has no gender), we generally envisage ourselves as small and needy children, not as adults. Our relationship with God, however, is more analogous to that between adult children and their parents ....
... God wants our friendship. Indeed, God can be defined as the vulnerable one who saves us by offering us friendship. My conviction has been reinforced after reading Liz Carmichael’s Friendship: Interpreting Christian Love. This is a book of solid scholarship that shows a long tradition of identifying caritas (love or charity) with friendship—and thus defining God, who is love, as friendship. Two historical examples should suffice. Aelred of Rievaulx, the 12th-century English Benedictine abbot, developed his own variant of “God is love” (1 John 4:16): “Shall I say God is friendship?” A century later, Thomas Aquinas defined this same love as friendship with God ...
... God is present and sustaining our world at all times, but God is not Mr. Fix-It. When we think of God as the ultimate fixer of everything, we get into trouble explaining tsunamis and hurricanes and earthquakes. God creates and sustains a world of shifting tectonic plates, of complex climatic interactions and other such phenomena that, at times, cause havoc in human lives. That is in the nature of the universe that God creates and we inhabit. God does not intervene to stop the shifting of the plates or to change climatic conditions.
And when it comes to human evil, if God did not stop the crucifixion of Jesus, then perhaps, we can reason, God cannot change human hearts unless those hearts agree to change. God will try to influence those hearts, but God cannot coerce them to change ...
... when grace works, I become aware of God creating and sustaining the whole world and, at the same time, attending to me. Sometimes I have also realized that God is present to hurricane and earthquake victims, to refugees driven from their homes by war and terror, to people mourning almost insupportable losses, such as the loss of their children, and so forth. I have been deeply moved with sympathy for the suffering of so many people. I then reflected, “If I can feel sympathy for these people from reading about their plight or seeing them on television, what must be God’s reactions?” God is, after all, not reading or hearing about them, but is right there sustaining them along with the whole universe. I believe that my best reactions are only pale reflections of God’s reactions. Perhaps, indeed, God is calling me to an adult relationship where there is mutuality, even a mutuality of compassion for one another.
Such mutuality is presumed by St. Ignatius Loyola in the last great exercise of his Spiritual Exercises, the “Contemplation to Obtain Love.” There he makes two preliminary observations: first, love ought to manifest itself more by deeds than by words. Second, love consists in a mutual communication between the two persons. That is, the one who loves gives and communicates to the beloved what he or she has, or part of what one has or can have; and the beloved in return does the same to the lover. Thus, if the one has knowledge, one gives it to the other who does not; and similarly in regard to honors or riches. Each shares with the other (No. 230-31) ....
It boils down to mutuality in friendship, cooperation, mutual compassion: “Abba” and us. “Abba” with us. Perhaps preaching and teaching about such an adult relationship with God, using the more engaging image, will not only challenge people, but also intrigue them enough to pursue such a relationship with their God.
************************
William A. Barry, S.J., a spiritual director and writer, is co-director of the tertianship program of the Jesuits’ New England Province.
posted by crystal | 6:35 PM
4 Comments:
His view is refreshing. I think much of the Christian world (again, my opinion) is stuck in a more juvenile relationship with God. They see God as Mr Fix-it, and as Barry points out, that doesn't lead anywhere good.
Hi Steve. yes ... I have a lot of his books and like them very much. He wrote a great one on spiritual direction.
Another reference to Aelred of Rievaulx! I will have to read some of him.
I like Steve's description of many people's relationship as "juvenile." I think that's very perceptive.
Ni Liam,
I keep meaning to read Aelred's work on spiritual friendship, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
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