I conclude the “Origin Story” for this website and what guides all the content that will be put on this website with my contribution to the theological discussion I mentioned in Part Two. This is “The Story That Sustains Me.”
“The wonder that there is something rather than nothing and that this something includes me. A universe of defined time and space, currently understood to be approximately 13.7 billion light years, with a ‘physical’ unity at its beginning, with randomness and entropy built into its very structure, yet with increasing complexity, leading to matter, then to matter aware of itself (spirit), which is able to actively participate in the future unfolding of the universe, even to a ‘spiritual’ unity at its end.
Alive, aware of self and others, immersed in the mystery of life: one of limit, of failure, of sin, even of evil, yet one of goodness, of virtue, of amazing “rightness,” and of an unlimited openness to all that was, is, could, or will be, with a recognition that at the heart of who I am is desire, desire that finds only partial satisfaction in day-to-day life, and so yearns for a wholly Other who can satisfy that desire.
A desire that leads to discovering a rhythm at the heart of human life that just may be the rhythm of the entire universe which will reconcile all: specific, historically-situated (definite beginning and end) lives that experience themselves as graciously beloved even as they confront evil and the injustices and distortions evil causes, that forgive, heal, and reconcile, that announce the good news of a closeness and nearness to the Mystery beyond all life’s mysteries, that embrace and entrust themselves to that Mystery even in the face of death or those who would cause harm.
A rhythm I/we come to know in a definitive way in Jesus of Nazareth—in his life, death, resurrection and sending of the Spirit, which form a unity and reveal this deepest rhythm of life: communion with the Triune God, new life through death, the cross yet resurrection, hope, and the surprising creativity of the Holy Spirit—whose story intersects with and even consumes my own, intermittently yet incessantly, through the mediation of the community of disciples of Jesus, the Church, as we sacramentally celebrate and embody, imperfectly but really, this living communion with the God of Jesus Christ.
A rhythm that I resist yet willingly embrace, that I struggle against yet surrender to, again and again, and so discover the wonder of others who already live that rhythm, named and unnamed, past and present, Christian and non-Christian, which makes me face the horror of the suffering, harm, and injustice caused by myself and others in not embracing that rhythm, and in which I find a deep peace, strength, and trust to continue this journey of life wherever it leads.”
Fr. Dave
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