Talented

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How could we sum up the good news of salvation in one sentence? Just imagine Jesus visiting each one of us and saying: 'You are extraordinarily talented!' Let us imagine, how this would change for good the life of a kid, a teenager, or an adult with low self-esteem. Think of a low achieving child in the classroom; or someone ignored in the workplace. 'You are extraordinarily talented!' This positive encouragement would bring to fruition all our gifts, of which we are even not aware of.  

Actually, Jesus tells each of us, 'you are extraordinarily talented', in a different sense. The parable of the talents draws our attention to this very fact. We are given the extraordinary gift of being a Christian! God, as we read in Matthew's Gospel, 'summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them.' (Matthew 25:14) Each one of us are given talents, according to our ability. This is such good news. There is a part of the Kingdom of God, which can flourish only through your work. We are needed, individually, to bring its life to fruition, where we are, right now.  

Let us think about this chance. With these tasks we are given a ray of God's inner, eternal life. Without this Christian task we would be lacking in spiritual power. We would be left to ourselves; we would know nothing of the unseen world. Marked by 'God's talents', however, our soul has a talent to heavenly things, an inclination to love. 'Sir, you entrusted me with five talents; here are five more that I have made.' See, we are never lost in life, we are never lost in the Kingdom of Heaven if our source is our Lord's love for us: 'you are extraordinarily talented!'  

The destiny of the lazy servant is heartbreaking. He buried his gifts for the sake of something else. He thinks that he lives, but in God's sight he is dead. There is no life in his response either. It is only a cheap self-excuse, not even worth considering. He refused to be the partner and the image of God. And his punishment is deeply symbolic. If people forget that they are talented (tasked by God, employed by God), as a corporate act, it has fatal consequences. John Henry Newman's inviting his listeners at the time to opt for the life of the soul is equally timing today. He called for facing the opposite alternative when he said: 'Now reflect on the terrible state of the world in detail.' 

But today, let us reflect on the beauty and goodness, which we can bring about. I have a photo in front of me, as an illustration. This is the decoration of the wall in Rugrat's Nursery on 'Graduation Day', when the 5 year old leave. On that day, the little ones, are told the same Gospel-sentence, in their own language: 'go, you are extraordinarily talented!' And they leave, for year one, and embark on life's journey to prove their talents. 

Let us think and pray about the situations, places, persons, those particular parts of the Kingdom of God, which are waiting for our talents to be acted out. Remember, what he said? 'You are extraordinarily talented.' And now in the words of the Gospel he repeats it in these words: 'Well done, god and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master's happiness.' 

 

15.11.2020 

Carrying

There is a sudden constellation of themes, which connects, in a surprising way Leviticus with today's Gospel. 'Carrying' surfaces in three different meanings. The Leviticus with all its gloom can be summed up in terms of 'carrying the inevitable weights of live.' Here, life itself appears as an unbearable burden. There is no one to give support, there is none to carry our burdens.  

Then, we can see Joseph of Arimathea, who 'went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.' (Luke 23:52) He takes, and carries the body of Jesus to the tomb. Previously, we already saw him at the scene of the Pieta. There, when Jesus was taken from the cross, the body of Christ was supported by Mary, and Joseph of Arimathea. We can attach to this theme of 'carrying' Simon of Cyrene, who helped Jesus to carry his cross. 

Finally, in throughout the scenes of the Passion in Luke's account, we saw the Son of Man, carrying our sins. The full weight of humankind. 

What a profound theme, how these forms of 'carrying', their meanings, intersect. Leviticus sheds light on how futile it is to hope in our own 'gods' that they might carry us when life becomes tough. His pessimistic view of life is a judgement on the power of our 'idol-gods'. His realism repeats the profound theological insight of the Old Testament. When people were taken to exile, and had to flee, they carried them with themselves. They hoped for their help. But actually, these heavy idols, literally, became a burden to their worshipers. Carrying these false gods (false hopes) became pain and vexation. Instead of removing weariness from the people, they became the very source of weariness. Instead of rescuing their worshipers from exile, they are carried off into an existential exile. The Leviticus shows the nature and the futility of this overburdened journey.  

Simon of Cyrene, and Joseph of Arimathea start carrying the true God. The spell that paralysed Leviticus is immediately over; they will feel it soon. However, the real focus is how we are being carried, with all our weight, by the Loving God. In the Passion, the theological genius of the Old Testament culminates. In the person of Jesus, we are carried back, where we should be. Into God's outpouring life; where there are no false gods which could weight us down. 

 

14.11.2020  

Passion and Freedom

 

'Man makes his own life complex.' This sentence echoes in me from yesterday's Lectio Divina. I could not remember it exactly, so I looked it up: 'Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.' (Eccl 7:29) We indeed have the ability to create diversity, and multiple choices. The question, however, remains. Do our inventions, in the end, create more options, and enhance our freedom? Or, as Ecclesiastes reached the conclusion, just the opposite. We only get entangled in our cleverness. Our magnificent technical inventions, the book warns, only create the illusion of freedom. Well, we should not forget that Ecclesiastes is a 'closed system'. Liberation remains out of reach. Redemption is only hoped for, it is unimaginably distant.  

Today's Gospel, the passion of Christ, gives us a not easy answer. Yes, regaining our freedom is possible. We don't have to deny our ability to create. Regaining control over the milliard fragments of life, can be achieved. However, this re-focusing is possible only through our compassionate turn to Christ's Passion. Jesus' trial and redeeming death gives back all our lost freedoms. This freedom is not salvation. The misunderstanding that we can redeem ourselves is our fatal delusion. We need our freedom - our 'inventions' - in order to respond to what Jesus did for us with our whole being. With our total history. This Passion alone can counteract the centrifugal forces, upon which forces' cross, our 'cleverness' put us. Without the Passion, we remain perpetuated in endless suffering. Or, if the horizon of Ecclesiastes is made whole again, in endless joy. Perhaps, this is expressed so mysteriously, in Lajos Vajda's enigmatic painting from 1942, 'Moon in Sunshine'. 

 

13.11.2020 

An Angel to Encourage

 

'And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him' (Luke 22:43) 

We are always in a situation when we need the support of that angel. Whether we are aware of it or not, that very angel is continuously on our side. We humans just don't have the nerve to face the shivering fact: without that angel, we could easily disappear into nothingness. The world, as it is, without that Angel, should not be here. When disaster strikes, in that moment we start appreciating that mysterious presence.  

This presence, however, is tremendously positive. If we exhaust this positive energy - grace - we can build and make our world grow. Where love is cultivated, this world is put into a better place, by us. Its chances for the above-mentioned survival will increase. So, this is a positive reading of the angelic presence that Jesus experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane. Actually, on the Mount of Olives, in those moment of consolation, it was the angel of Love, with all its positivity to lead Jesus. Let us be led by this supportive Sun. 

 

12.11.2020 

Good News that Breaks the Cycle

 The pessimism of Ecclasiastes keeps haunting us. It is amazing how one can be engulfed by the lack of hope. Repetition of misfortune, like a Beckettian endgame is around the corner. Yet, there is a tremendous value in these observations. A generation can be marked by history's coercion. There are times when history makes feel its full weights. The danger is if these scars go too deep, and become a trans-generational trauma.  

In this time of Covid 19, we have experienced something similar. The intensity of this experience is striking. Only within couple of months we experience losses and anxieties of long years, like in the case of a world war.  

That's why it was so so beautiful to hear that the redeeming vaccine is working, and is close at hand. This breaking of news changed the whole closed horizon around us. Colours have changed, emotions got reverted. Light is felt, hope, like morning has broken!  

As Christians, our call is to trace the root of this and similar game-changer good news. If the vaccine indeed arrives, and healing comes, if we recognize how it is part of God's providence, our joy will be doubled. We shall be able to look back to what had happened, to our present ordeals, as something already under the pressure of grace. 'But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.' (Luke 21:9) For God's love, human history, is never an impenetrable wall. Never an endless cycle of pain and lost orientation. Let us contemplate, in the announced good news about the medication, the widening circles of our coming Redemption. Beyond its contours, let us see our joyful encounter with the returning Christ. 

 

11.11.2020 

Jónás jele (’túlizgatottság’)

 

'A ininvei férfiak feltámadnak az ítéletkor ezzel a nezedékkel, és elítélik, mert ők megtértek Jónás prédikálására: de íme, itt nagyobb van Jónásnál' (Luke 11:32) 

Sok időt töltöttünk a szavak keresésével, mint 'posztmodern', 'késő-modernitás', és így tovább. S mind több új név kínálja magát, hogy leírjuk világunk változását, ami mindennapi tapasztalatunk. Egészen találó például 'Covid-19 előtti' és 'Covid-19 utáni' világról beszélni. 

A Szentírás e választékossággal szemben jóval koncentráltabb. A biblia tapasztalatában nincsenek cezúrák vagy hirtelen újrakezdések. Horizontja egyetlen, folytonos kibontakozás. A mai szakasz világossá teszi: Jónás után csak 'megtérő' vagy a megtérést visszautasító kultúráról beszélhetünk. Eredetünk, bukásra való hajlamunk miatt, Ninive. Ninive tökéletesen modellezi, az előttünk álló út vagy megtérés vagy elítéltetés. E tapasztalat nem enged okoskodó önfelmentést, vagy bújócskát a szavakban. Hacsak, eze az új nevek, mellyel megpróbáljuk leírni a kort, közelebb nem visznek a megtéréshez. 

Ha valaki mégis találni akar egy alkalmas kifejezést, van egy egészen pontos megoldás. Miért ne neveznénk korunkat így: 'izgatottság után.' S ennek valóban köze van a megtéréshez, nem is kicsit. Mert a megtérés alapfeltétele a vágyakozás képessége. A vágy valamire, valamit tenni, valamit élvezni, hogy valakivel együtt legyünk, aki számunkra a komplementer 'Másik.' Egyszóval, szükségünk van vágyni a Szentre. 

Korunk maga épp ezt veszítette el, az 'izgalmat' magát. Az elmúlt néhány évtizedben, mint kultúra, végletesen túl-izgattuk magunkat. Mint a késő-római orgiák résztvevői. Számukra már nem volt semmi motiváló, senki követendő, semmi, ami ébredést adott volna. 'Jónás szavára megtértek.' Igen, Ninivében még meg volt a vágy éljen. De a fordulópont után, a vágy elvesztése, hogy jobb önmagunkká váljunk, arányos az Ítélettel.  

Mégis, épp mai idézetünk mutatja, van egy utolsó reménysugár. Ez képes újraindítani szívünk fotoszintézisét, ha élünk ösztönzésével. Nem, ez nem 'csali'. Jézus sem annak szánta hallgatóságához szólva. Megváltást és gyógyulást hordoznak záró szavai. Mint egy a kimerült ('túl-izgatott') szívnek küldött végső mentő-jel. Ízleljük, hogy telünk meg reménnyel, miközben befogadjuk e bátorítást: 'De íme, itt nagyobb van Jónásná.l' 

 

08.11.2020 

Eyes That Have Seen Too Much

 

Gábor Bálint 'Médiumkísérlet/ Mítoszteremtés' (1986)

All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.' (Ecclesiastes 1:8)  

Another way of describing our age is through the human eye. Recently, we speak of the 'ecological footprint' which denotes the overconsumption of Earth's resources. A kind of mirror image to this is 'the over-consuming eye.' The powerful king in Ecclesiastes is profoundly unhappy, because he had seen too much. All possible richness, physical and spiritual, has overflown through his eyes. Through that eye which is regarded as the organ of 'possession'. For we own the world through vision. The most powerful organ of manipulation and source of insatiable desire.  

'I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine… and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life…I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces… So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem.' (Ecclesiastes 2:3-9) 

Ours is an age of the tired eye. The problem is not simply that it is exhausted, but the exhaustion of our imagination, and the visions of hope. We no longer have a hopeful eye, a humble eye, a searching eye. Instead, our eye has become that of a colonist. In the end, we ourselves became colonised by what we amassed and possessed.  

In the end, it is true that unexamined life leads to depression. Un-processed visions, the eye over-flooded with images and information, lead to the melancholy to which the unhappy king of Ecclesiastes gives voice. 'And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind.' (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11) 

Mihail Bulgakov said somewhere that there are no longer angels, only demons have been trumpeting. Actually, it was his diagnosis of how state atheism transformed Russia in the aftermath of the Soviet Revolution. But in our own age, is it voice of the demons of acedia, which has the final word? We Christians are always in protest against this. Yes, we can recognise the pain of Ecclesiastes in us. We must be honest that our vision is wounded. Yet, is not this malady of our eye, is the birth of a new monastic focusing? Is not it a turn to not what we have seen, but to what we have ignored to see? 

 

09.11.2020

 

The Sign of Jonah ('Over-excitement')

 

'On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.' (Luke 11:32) 

We played so much with words, like 'post-modernity', 'late modernity'. Now new terms offer themselves to describe the changes we recently have been experiencing. Quite rightly, some speak of a 'pre-Covid 19' and 'post-Covid 19' world.  

The Bible is far more concentrated. There are no caesuras, new beginnings. From the Biblical perspective, there is only one, great unfolding continuity. Today's passage makes it clear: after Jonah, we can speak only of 'repentant' and 'unrepentent' cultures. Our beginning, because of our being prone to failure, is Niniveh. Niniveh models perfectly our options: repentance or condemnation. There are no excuses for clever self-acquittals, no names in which 'to hide' Unless those names, describing an age, help in getting closer to repentance.  

If one wants to find an apt name, however, there seems to be a suitable one. Why not call our age as that of 'post-excitement'? It does have to do with repentance, a lot. For repentance requires the ability of desire. Desire to do something, desire to enjoy something, desire to be with someone, our 'Other'. Briefly, the desire for the Sacred.  

Our age has lost the sense of excitement itself. In the past few decades, as a culture, we over-stimulated ourselves. Like the attendants of late-Roman orgies. There was nothing to be motivated by, nothing to follow, nothing to be awakened by. 'Johan preached and they repented.' Ninive still had the desire to live. After that tipping point, the loss of desire for our better selves is proportionate with Judgement. Yet: there is a last resource. A last light that can re-trigger the 'photosynthesis of our hearts' by turning to this stimulus. It is not a bate. It is our last chance to listen to. There is a redemptive, healing element in this ultimate rescue (wake-up) signal sent to our over-excited hearts: '…and there is something grater than Johan here'  

 

08.11.2020

 

Freshly Hatched Quails (Coming to us soon:))