Pope Francis and the radical theological importance of leisure

Pope Francis converses with two Argentinian journalists on “his life in his own words” in a new book released this week by Putnam (Pope Francis: His Life in His Own Words. 2013).

New York Times reviewer Mark Oppenheimer says the conversations reveal “cute facts” about the new Pope but “not much interesting theology.”

Oppenheimer is sharp enough, however, to see a slight “radical note” in the pontiff’s words. That note, which has to do with faith at ease, lies in Pope Francis’ admonition for us to “relax.” And contrary to Oppenheimer’s assertion that these conversations contain “not much interesting theology,” they may point to the single most important theological consideration addressing the overwhelming consumer culture in which we toil.

Asked by his interviewers, “Do we need to rediscover the meaning of leisure?” the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics responds: “Together with a culture of work, there must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport.”

The Pope lays the blame for modern culture’s inability to truly relax largely to the destruction wrought by the culture’s creeping elimination of a day of rest—a Sabbath.

Oppenheimer’s review provides a capsule history of Sabbatarianism in America, noting that it has been “a Protestant thing,” but his survey indicates that in America keeping the Sabbath has largely been a social and legal debate, not a theological one.

I began this blog, “Faith at Ease,” by calling attention to the exposition of German philosopher Josef Pieper’s 1948 book, Leisure, the Basis of Culture, in which the author suggests that the oft-quoted admonition of Psalm 45, “Be still, and know that I am God,” is more appropriately translated as: “Be at leisure, and know that I am God.”

Leisure, from Pieper’s perspective, is not just a time-out or a break from the usual action; it is a celebration of creation and its commands; it is, as Pieper’s title says, “the Basis of Culture.” Contrary to Oppenheimer’s “slight” aside, leisure is theology at its most basic, what John Dominic Crossan reminds us is the culmination of the Biblical Creation narrative in the book of Genesis.

[Readers may want to view my earlier posts on this topic. 

Regarding Pieper: 

http://faithatease.blogspot.com/2007/02/be-at-leisure-and-know-god.html and 

regarding Crossan: 

http://faithatease.blogspot.com/2009/03/ease-and-worship-gleaning.html]

Incidentally, the new book reveals that a favorite movie of Pope Francis is “Babette’s Feast,” a Danish film that won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Foreign Motion Picture.

I heartily urge you to see this film if you have not yet watched it. The story is a tale of grace and giving, and it will undoubtedly encourage you the next time you partake of a leisurely and sumptuous meal.

All is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir

Recommended reading: Brennan Manning's All Is Grace, with John Blase. [Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2011].

I'm not going to review Manning's memoir; there are many such reviews on the Web. A good start might be with co-author John Blase's review in the Huffington Post. 

Manning is almost 80 years old and is receiving constant care as he suffers from what is described as "liquid brain," a thiamine deficiency associated with alcohol abuse. Its formal name is Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome. Most commentators see All is Grace as his final publication.*see note at end of review.

For me, ever since I read his signal 1990 book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, Manning represents a life of faith at ease even though his biography illustrates someone whose tortured life is hardly at ease--unless one considers the gift of grace.

Others have seen this. A preliminary chapter of All Is Grace entitled "Reader Testimonies," contains a brief note by the spiritual writer-editor-teacher Robert Benson, who nails the influence of Manning:

"I learned the truth of the gospel from Brennan, the same gospel you will find in this book: That in the end, my sin will never outweigh God's love. That the Prodigal can never outrun the Father. That I am not measured by the good I do but by the grace I accept.That being lost is a prerequisite to being found. That living a life of faith is not lived in the light, it is discovered in the dark. That not being a saint here on earth will not necessarily keep you from being in that number when the march begins." (emphasis mine)

Want to hear the jazz of faith at ease? Read Manning's memoir. And pray for his ease as he deals with his disease.

*[On Friday, April 12, 2013, Richard Francis Xavier (Brennan) Manning died.]  

"Fear not": a reminder I need every day

Those who do such counting tell us the Bible uses the phrase "Fear not" or some permutation of that sentiment more than 300 times. One counter has suggested these words are mentioned 366 times, once for each day of the annual calender (including leap years).

If we were to include phrases such as, "Be at peace," the number goes higher; in fact, one Bible reference suggests the word peace appears more than 500 times and if we add the notion of quiet, the number increases still more.

Peace, quiet, and "Fear not" suggest to me that my faith should be at ease.  Yet, I fear.

Yesterday was World Peace Day, urging particularly that all pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Watch and listen while praying:


 

This embedded video is posted at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Choirparts?feature=watch

For copyright details, see the above site.

"Dream Muse"

Dream Muse

by Allan Roy Andrews 

I seek the diction for my poem

and lonely as a cloud I roam

the pages of anthologies;

but finding there no words to please,

I gentle go to that good night

and in my dancing dream I write

a poem as clear as ear has heard

then wake--and can’t recall a word.

Posted on the Website "Author Amok" 

[ http://authoramok.blogspot.com/2012/04/30-habits-of-highly-effective-poets-3.html  ]

April 3, 2012, with permission.

It's always a wonderful and somewhat serendipitous pleasure to find others wanting to post my poems on their Websites. This poem was actually solicited on the blind during National Poetry Month this year, but it took me about another month or more to actually visit the Website and see my attempt at humor posted to the world.

Mother of Exiles at 125

Mother of Exiles

By Allan Roy Andrews

I grew up a neighbor to the Statue of Liberty.

From the apartment in which we lived during my youth in Brooklyn, I could glance down the street toward New York Harbor and see the statue on Liberty Island (which we knew as Bedloe’s Island; it was renamed in 1956). The statue gleamed at night as floodlights shone upon it; during the day it showed the green tint of weathering copper.

On October 28, 2011, the statue celebrated the 125^th anniversary of its dedication.

New York City children in the late 19^th century donated pennies that went toward the building of the pedestal upon which the statue stands. Newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian immigrant, promised to publish the names of every donor to the pedestal fund. The French, who presented the statue to the United States--a gift celebrating America’s 1876 centennial--called it “Liberty Enlightening the World.”

Almost every New York City school child recalls the 1883 poem of Emma Lazarus dedicated to the statue. Thousands have heard or read Lazarus’s poem; not many, however, recall its official name, “The New Colossus,” a name the poet chose to emphasize that the Statue of Liberty was “Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame” providing a defiant defensive stance, but one that would be a beacon of “world-wide welcome.”

Lazarus, a well-known New York poet, was asked to write a commemorative poem to be auctioned as part of the pedestal fundraising, and she responded that she couldn’t write a poem about a statue; however, she turned her compassion for Jewish Russian refugees—many of whom she taught--into a compelling appeal on their behalf. She understood the statue’s imagery and its powerful message to those sailing into a welcoming haven.

The most memorable lines of her sonnet are words given the “mighty woman with a torch”:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe 
        free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed 
        to me,

I  lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Lazarus turned the French appellation of enlightenment into a compassionate symbol of freedom and opportunity, a promise of liberty to those oppressed in foreign lands. In her sonnet, she called the woman with the torch that gleams with that message of welcome the “Mother of Exiles.”

Lazarus was not on Bedloe’s Island when the statue was dedicated in 1886. Her poem was read but barely noticed and little recalled following the celebration. 

The poet died the following year. She was 38. Her poem later became immortalized on the pedestal of the statue in 1903.

Despite being raised in New York City, I’ve never visited Liberty Island; I’ve never stood at the base of the statue or climbed up inside its magnificent structure. I’ve never taken a tourist’s stance toward Lady Liberty; to me, she was a neighbor and friend. Even as the son of immigrants I’ve never felt a need for a compulsory visit to her island home. Nevertheless, with a little help from Emma Lazarus, I knew deeply what the Mother of Exiles exemplified about my country.

A victim of frequent neglect, the statue has been refurbished twice, once in 1938 and again in 1986. On October 29 of this year she was closed again to inside climbers so alterations could make her safer.

We may recover her safety and sheen, but we have neglected to polish her symbolic message.

Sentiments such as those promoted by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), for example, suggest the statue’s beckoning of openness in this era is “an invitation to national disaster.” Playing on mean-spirited and misguided fear-arguments of job losses and national security, FAIR apparently would rather we muffle or extinguish the lamp of freedom blazing above New York Harbor as we seek to ferret out terrorism and illegal aliens. Emma Lazarus would disagree.

What is now in need of refurbishment in a time of selfish anti-immigration attitudes in several state legislatures of America are the sentiments of compassion, freedom, and welcome to the legitimately tired and poor yearning to breathe free, sentiments that Lazarus symbolically attributed to the copper-clad gift from France.

Protectionism often inhibits enlightenment. Should I decide soon to take my family to Liberty Island, it won’t be to focus arrogantly on Liberty enlightening the world or on some warped sense of national security. Our visit will be to appreciate the Mother of Exiles and her enduring message of openness to poor and tired immigrants and refugees.

ALLAN ROY ANDREWS, a Brooklyn native whose parents sailed into New York harbor in the 1920s, is a retired editor of the Pacific Stars and Stripes newspaper and a poet living in Augusta, GA.