COVID Contemplation

Discovering the value of silence and solitude in this crisis

03/18/2020

Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24A Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ. Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.

Do you know what the whole world has suddenly transformed into? A huge Carmelite monastery! These “extraordinary times” you and I are experiencing are but the very “ordinary times” of a Carmelite friar or nun in their cloister. Like consecrated Carmelites, we unconsecrated Christians try to limit social interaction to spend time in our hermitages at home, so-called social distancing. We are increasingly being asked to avoid the public square, such as restaurants and bars, malls and movie theaters, and even our spiritual public squares called churches. You don’t see Carmelites hanging out at Corky’s BBQ. Social distancing may be “new” to many of us, but it has been very “old” to the great Carmelite contemplatives of the past and present, like the prophet Elijah, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (better known as Edith Stein).

For the Carmelite saints, social distancing was not intended to avoid a COVID-19 infection; quite the contrary, it was in order to be infected by the love of Christ. Increasingly, the Carmelites retreated toward “nothing” in order to gain “everything,” namely, Jesus. This Carmelite way of holiness reached one of its highest and most sublime expressions in the poetry of St. John of the Cross. In the Ascent of Mt. Carmel, we read: “To reach satisfaction in all, desire satisfaction in nothing. To come to possess all, desire the possession of nothing. To arrive at being all, desire to be nothing. To come to the knowledge of all, desire the knowledge of nothing.” This poem encapsulated John’s famous spirituality called “the nada doctrine.” “Nada” is Spanish for “nothing.” The sooner the saints embraced nothing, the faster they felt they could embrace everything, that is, Jesus. Empty arms give the best hugs.

March 19 is the feast of St. Joseph, the Husband of Mary, the Foster-Father of Jesus. I believe St. Joseph embodies many of the spiritual characteristics of the Carmelites, without officially being one. Above all, he is silent. Not once do the sacred scriptures record St. Joseph opening his mouth to speak. Joseph beholds, he listens, and he obeys, without a word. Mark Gungor, a comedian, once said all men have a “nothing box” where we retreat and think about nothing, and feel undisturbed by the world. The nothing box is a man’s happy place.

It might be said that the nothing box was St. Joseph’s favorite box in his brain, a sort of cerebral Carmelite cloister, from where he quietly contemplated the Christ-Child and his marvelous Mother, and the rest of the world. But it should also be added that Joseph did not flee to his nothing box, his nada box, to escape from the worries of the world. Rather from that strategic vantage, almost like a pillbox on the front lines of a war, he engaged the enemy more fully and fiercely by obeying God’s will more unreservedly. Like a true Carmelite, Joseph did not ultimately seek “nothing,” but rather everything. That everything we Christians call “Jesus Christ.”

My friends, what lessons are you learning during this recess from life, an opportune moment for retreat and reflection? Certainly there are lots of lessons to be learned in terms of healthy habits and communal coexistence. Facebook is full of them, and they are indeed valuable. Have we, however, also culled any specifically Christian and spiritual lessons from this crisis? One such spiritual lesson may be the inestimable value of silence, and its necessary correlative solitude, or as we say today, social distancing.

I mentioned to Fr. Martin, our associate here at I.C., that our brother priests were live-streaming daily Masses on social media. He dismissively waved his hand and said, “Yeah, that’s enough.” He was half joking. But he was also half serious. Chaucer reminded us: “Be n't angry with this fellow, I protest / That many a true word hath been spoke in jest.” Of course, harnessing the power of technology to spread the gospel is good and necessary. In fact, we will live-stream our Sunday Masses here at I.C. each weekend. Have we, however, unintentionally perhaps, merely replaced our everyday busy lives on the street with another equally busy life on social media?

Maybe St. Joseph today can suggest another path, that is, the way of quiet contemplation. Indeed, this silent saint invites us to spend time in our nothing box, and experience more fully the nada doctrine of the great Carmelite contemplatives, who assured us: “To reach satisfaction in all, desire satisfaction in nothing. To come to possess all, desire the possession of nothing. To arrive at being all, desire to be nothing. To come to the knowledge of all, desire the knowledge of nothing.” Put in layman's terms, empty arms give the best hugs.

Praised be Jesus Christ!