The Few, the Called, the Consumed

"It is not enough for the priests and ministers of the future to be moral people, well trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and able to respond creatively to the burning issues of their time. All of that is very valuable and important, but it is not the heart of Christian leadership. The central question is, are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to dwell in God's presence, to listen to God's voice, to look at God's beauty, to touch God's incarnate Word and to taste fully God's infinite goodness?"

Henri Nouwen, Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership

Hungering for the Holy

I have this goofy expression i say sometimes when i haven't eaten in a while: "I'm so hungry my belly button is touching my backbone." It's one of those funny sayings (according to my husband, we Joneses have a lot of them!) that i picked up sometime in my youth, though i don't remember where i heard it first.

Well, I was just getting started in a new philosophy book - Roots of Wisdom by Helen Buss Mitchell - when, lo and behold, an explanation to my goofy expression:

"He [Siddhartha of the Gautama clan] spent some time with monks who lived in extreme asceticism, fasting and discipling their bodies while they practiced yogic meditation. Although he fasted to the point that the texts claim he could feel his backbone when he sucked in his stomach and touched his navel, Siddhartha did not find what he was looking for" (p. 5).

OK, so i have never been this hungry...for food, that is. But, i do feel that gnawing sense when i haven't spent enough time with the Forever One. St.Catherine of Siena was so consumed with her passion for Christ, that in her final days (she was 33 when she died) tradition says that she lived only on the wine and the bread from the daily Mass. Holy Anorexia, Batman!