Last Wednesday, on the feast of the birth of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, I finally gave in and endured a rather unpleasant medical procedure. I reckon that many of you have journeyed through a similar ‘catharsis’ of the body, which is like a coming of age. I began to think how a good ‘catharsis’ could benefit our spiritual and prayer life.

While I was recovering from the “procedure”, Sister Mercy introduced me to the word ‘catharsis’. She brought out this huge and old dictionary; 32 years old to be exact. I had never used the word ‘catharsis’ in my speech or writing. At least I didn’t use it correctly. This is the definition:

Catharisis n. (Gr. Katharsis, purification, from kathairein, to purify)

1. purgation
2. the purifying or relieving of the emotions by art: an Aristotelian concept, applied originally to the effects of tragic drama.
3. In psychiatry, the alleviation of fears, problems, and complexes by bringing them to consciousness and giving them expression.

I was blown away by this definition. In the States of Prayer that I have shared with you in the past, the purgative is the third state. In order for any of us to journey deeper into the heart of God, we must go through a purging (or catharsis) of our heart and soul. The purgative state is what we call the Lenten experience, which is similar to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Once we go through the “Awakening State” we all must go through a purging of what we thought was the truth. Jesus often used parables to loosen up those teachings that were more about following rules rather than love, equality and social justice for all people.

After Jesus was baptized in the Jordon, the catharsis (the purifying) took place when he spent 40 days in the desert without food or water. Jesus did not need to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and neither did he need to be purified. He did desire to invite us to this very necessary and difficult cleansing of our body, mind, emotions, spirit and soul.

After his catharsis, Jesus began his ministry fresh by entering his hometown synagogue and quoting the prophet Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

I was reading in the U.S. Catholic magazine this month:

Lately there have been accusations that a church with a social justice mission is one that supports socialism. Conservative TV personality Glenn Beck told Christians, “I beg you, look for the words ‘social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words…. If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop.”

It seems that Mr. Glenn Beck is full of… himself. He is misinformed and truly needs a catharsis. This past week we had to endure the “media” in their news coverage of an obviously obscure pastor in Gainesville. It would never have been news had the media restrained themselves and covered the real news of the world like the continued struggle of our brothers and sisters in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, the floods in Pakistan and the unending incompetency of our congress to work on issues rather than blame the other party for our problems, rather looking at themselves. I believe that our country needs to repent…all of us. When I fail to restrain my passions and when I fail to conserve energy and when I fail to speak about social injustice… I must realize that I, Ron, am the one who cries out, “Lord, Lord!” and yet fail to do what Jesus has commanded me to do.

Archbishop Oscar Romero, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Pope John Paul II, Padre Pio, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Vincent de Paul were all about social justice and economic justice. Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed in Caritas in Veritate, “If we love others with charity then first of all we are just towards them…. Justice is the primary way of charity.”

Social justice means living in right relationship. We must live justly not only with God, but also with our neighbor and all of humanity. How we treat the least among us becomes a measure of how well we honor our relationship with God. By honoring the least, we are challenged to look at how they are denied the chance to sustain their own life. If our actions, our consumption, or our materialism make it difficult for others to simply live, then we are not loving our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.

Within the mission of the church, each member has a voice to add and a value and worth as an individual. But we must never forget that we are all one body and no one part is more deserving of dignity and life than any other.

May I suggest that we imitate Jesus and go through a true spiritual catharsis before we speak without thought? Remember, Jesus suffered great persecution because he spoke out for the poor, the oppressed and those treated without social justice and economic justice. How many, if any, of the talking heads on the major cable and radio networks have suffered anything? Where is the love?

Once we go through the “Purgative State” we can enter the “Illuminative State” of enlightenment. I was enlightened in my journey when I spent time with the desperately poor in Haiti, the mentally and physically challenged of Faith and Sharing, and the women who struggled for the hand of Jesus after they aborted their child in the womb. People, we are all sinners and need a good purifying cleansing or catharsis before we ever try to correct our brothers and sisters. And if we happen to be invited by God into the “Dark Night of the Soul” we will join the great saints like St. John of the Cross, Catherine of Sienna and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. By the way, “Catherine” has a direct correlation to “Catharsis” (Kathairein), which means to purify. St. Catherine is a hoot, she corrected the pope of the time…and he obliged because he sensed that Catherine had been so purified that she spoke the truth from God.

And only after the second catharsis of the “Dark Night of the Soul” can we even hope for the “Union State of Prayer” when we simply rest in the arms and heart of God. With nothing but the fruit of the Holy Spirit within us because everything, except the love of God, has been purged, people will know we are followers of Jesus Christ because they will know us by our fruit…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, generosity, self-control (purity), and faithfulness.

Have a blessed and cathartic week!

Love, joy, peace,

Father Ron Moses +

www.tearinthedesert.com

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