Posted on by Kurt Bodling

why the magi didn’t go to Bethlehem first of all

The 3 magi went first to Jerusalem rather than directly to Bethlehem. Martin Luther had thoughts on why that was:

“Here we ask why Christ did not lead these magi up to Bethlehem with the star, but instead permitted his birth, which was now known, to be searched for in Scripture. He did this to teach us to cling to Scripture and not to follow our own presumptuous ideas or any human teaching. For it was not his desire to give us his Scripture in vain. It is in Scripture and nowhere else, that he permits himself to be found. He who despises Scripture and sets it aside, will never find him.”

Luther, Martin. “The Gospel for the Festival of the Epiphany, Matthew 2:1-12” from his Christmas Postil (1522) Luther’s Works Vol. 52. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974, page 171.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

lawyers and theologians.

“But after all, it is a mistake to be as unsuspecting in legal matters as I am; it brings home to one what a different atmosphere the lawyer must live in from the theologian; but it is instructive too, and everything has its proper place.” Bonhoeffer writing to his parents, Whit Sunday 14 June 1943

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Letters and Papers from Prison. The Enlarged edition. Edited by Eberhard Bethge. “A Touchstone Book.” New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997, p. 54.

Comment: Bonhoeffer was writing from prison near the end of his life. Just what good a lawyer could have done him in the face of Hitler’s personal opposition? But, yes, ‘all things in their place.’

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

no virtue in a typewriter

“How weary I am of being a writer. How necessary it is for monks to work in the fields, in the rain, in the sun, in the mud, in the clay, in the wind: these are our spiritual directors and our novice-masters. They form our contemplation. They instill us with virtue. They make us as stable as the land we live in. You do not get that out of a typewriter.” (3 March 1951)

Merton, Thomas. The Sign of Jonas. San Diego: Harcourt, Inc., 1981, p. 321. (originally published 1953)

Comment: When you see how much Merton wrote over his shortened life, you can sort of wonder about snippets like this. He’s right, of course, that even prolific writers like himself need to get out away from the keyboard regularly and connect with creation. Also non-writers and non-prolific ones.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

individual vocations and paths

“Why are people so intent on refusing others the right to see a special value in a life apart from the world, a life dedicated to God in prayer ‘on the mountain alone’ when the New Testament itself repeatedly shows Christ retiring to solitary prayer which he himself loved? Certainly one can find God ‘in the world’ and in an active life but this is not the only way, any more than the monastic life is the only way. There are varieties of graces and vocations in the Church and these varieties must always be respected.”

Merton, Thomas. “The Monastic Renewal: Problems and Prospects.” (1966) in Selected Essays. Edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013, pages 397-398.

Comment: in this new year, may you know freedom to walk the path you’ve been called to travel

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

God is present everywhere

“For Luther God exists literally as a vibrant and vigorous force in every creature, also in inanimate creatures, in fire, in water, in a leaf, in a stone. Luther rejects the childishly anthropomorphizing picture of the Creator, who, after creating the world, now sits enthroned in heaven far away from it; he rejects the God of naive preachers, the God who so tormented Jakob Boehme, for example. Mysticism never expressed the idea of God’s immanence in the world more forcefully than Luther did.”

Heinrich Bornkamm. Luther’s World of Thought. Translated by Martin H. Bertram. St. Louis: Concordia, 1958, page 113.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

at the close of the year

"If devout and thankful souls rejoice when God has permitted them to pass a week in safety, why should they not much more rejoice when under God’s protection they have lived through a whole year? How much suffering may come to us in a single day! how much more in a whole year! Consequently, when a devout Christian beholds the end of the year, he lifts his hands and heart and voice to heaven, and closes the year with praise, thanksgiving, and prayer. …

"Thy goodness and faithfulness have been with me from the beginning to the end of the year. Thy wisdom has led me; Thy love has guarded me; Thy help has gladdened me; thy grace has preserved me; Thy omnipotence has ever upheld me; Thy tender Father-hand has given me all things that I needed; Thine all-seeing eye has kept watch over me, guarded my going out and my coming in, and warded off all harm. …

"If at times Thou didst permit me to experience great distress, Thou didst deliver me again. …

“O Lord God, I now close the old year with thanksgiving and praise and prayer. Remain, I humbly beseech Thee, my Shield and gracious God in the new year also. Keep Thy guarding hand over me. Yea, let me be entrusted to Thy care and love and grace in all time to come. Amen.”

John Frederick Starck. Daily Hand-book in Good and Evil Days, containing all the meditations and prayers of the complete German original edition, together with an appropriate selection of standard English hymns for general use, for the afflicted, the sick, and the dying. Translated by Joseph Stump. Burlington, Iowa: German Literary Board, 1904, pp. 121, 124-125.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

the mind’s place in prayer

“As I have said before, I do not want anyone to feel bound by my words or thoughts. I only want to offer an example for those who may wish to follow it; let anyone improve it who is able to do so and let him meditate either upon all commandments at one time or on as many as he may desire. For the mind, once it is seriously occupied with a matter, be it good or evil, can ponder more in one moment than the tongue can recite in ten hours or the pen write in ten days. There is something quick, subtle, and mighty about the mind and soul.”

Luther, Martin. “A Simple Way to Pray” (1535) Luther’s Works Vol. 43. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969, page 207.

comment: Luther on meditation, strongly advocating it, clearly declaring its benefits. And NOT wanting people to feel bound by his words, he basically says ‘this is the way I pray, but you should pray however works for you.’ I find his words here refreshing.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

technology’s failure

“Though he now has the capacity to communicate anything, anywhere, instantly, man finds himself with nothing to say. Not that there are not many things he could communicate, or should attempt to communicate. He should, for instance, be able to meet his fellow man and discuss ways of building a peaceful world. He is incapable of this kind of confrontation.”

Merton, Thomas. “Symbolism: Communication or Communion?.” (1966) in Selected Essays. Edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013, p. 247.

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Comment: And he wrote this way back in 1966, years before cell phones, blogs, social media, and the 24-hour news cycle! What would Merton have said about all these things and our continuing incapability of building a peaceful world?

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

he who has ears to hear

“The ears with which one hears the message of the Gospel are hidden in man’s heart, and these ears do not hear anything unless they are favored with a certain interior solitude and silence.”

Merton, Thomas. Thoughts in Solitude. NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1958. (pbk ed 1999), Preface, pp. xii-xiii.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

the statements are important, but don’t forget the rest

"Christianity begins with revelation. Though it would be misleading to classify this revelation simply as a ‘doctrine’ and an ‘explanation’ (it is far more than that–the revelation of God Himself in the mystery of Christ) it is nevertheless communicated to us in words, in statements, and everything depends on the believer’s accepting the truth of these statements.

"Therefore Christianity has always been profoundly concerned with these statements: with the accuracy of their transmission from the original sources, with the precise understanding of their exact meaning, with the elimination and indeed the condemnation of false interpretations. At times this concern has been exaggerated almost to the point of an obsession, accompanied by arbitrary and fanatical insistence on hairsplitting distinctions and the purest niceties of theological detail.

“This obsession with doctrinal formulas, juridical order, and ritual exactitude has often made people forget that the heart of Catholicism, too, is a living experience of unity in Christ which far transcends all conceptual formulations.”

Merton, Thomas. “A Christian Looks at Zen.” (1967) in Selected Essays. Edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013, p. 347.