The Second Wednesday in Lent
On humility, love, and joy…with some pride sprinkled in.
I am sitting at our graciously cluttered dining room table. The coffee is warm and satisfying. The spring birds are chirping outside. You would not know it is February. The birds clearly don’t care. I have taken my meds and am contemplating the day ahead.
Today’s Franciscan Nugget: “Day Twenty One - The Three Notes of the Order - Humility, love, and joy are the three notes which mark the lives of Tertiaries. When these characteristics are evident throughout the Order, its work will be fruitful. Without them, all that it attempts will be in vain.”
I like this day every month. I like it like I like the striking of midnight on a grandfather clock. This is when things turn. The Three Notes of the Order are a driving force. Each is a gift of the Holy Spirit that can be cultivated individually and collectively. They are each postures through which we engage the world. Without them, this whole Tertiary endeavor falls apart. We stumble and fall.
Is it strange that in Lent I am contemplating joy in particular?
This is a season of repentance after all. I could say that I am repenting of what keeps me from joyfulness. But that’s not what I’m doing. I am aware, however, that joy feels elusive to me. I forget about it. I want this Franciscan journey to be onerous. I want to be saddened by it. Melancholy is addictive.
There is a certain pride in doing something that is onerous. That I can repent of. Ha! Is pride the opposite of joy? I thought it was the opposite of humility, but now I am not so sure. Pride does tend to show up everywhere, though. It is pernicious stuff.
Here’s a little something by John Greenleaf Whittier.
My heart was heavy, for its trust had been Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong; So, turning gloomily from my fellow-men, One summer Sabbath day I strolled among The green mounds of the village burial-place; Where, pondering how all human love and hate Find one sad level; and how, soon or late, Wronged and wrongdoer, each with meekened face, And cold hands folded over a still heart, Pass the green threshold of our common grave, Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart, Awed for myself, and pitying my race, Our common sorrow, like a mighty wave, Swept all my pride away, and trembling I forgave!
Might forgiveness and repentance be the foundation of humility, love, and joy?
I wish to comment on the three notes being gifts of the Holy Spirit. "Each is a gift of the Holy Spirit that can be cultivated individually and collectively. " I have found it helpful to notice that as gifts, they are given out of nothing. They are ex nihilo, like all of creation. That means we cannot try to grab them out of the universe. All we can do is receive them. I picture arms down by my side to the elbow, and then the forearms reaching out with palms up, a perfect position to receive. Openness, mentioned on day 8 as our chief aim, is the key--openness to receive.
I love, Tripp, how you said that "They are each postures through which we engage the world." I think of openness to receive others as that posture. Like Francis we are beggars who receive from others. The posture to receive is the same posture to offer or give.
I wonder if there are other postures that would be fruitful for me to think of in light of the notes.