Right or Righteousness?

Right or righteousness. That’s the title of the reflection today. I wonder what the difference is. Do I want to be right, or do I want to be righteous? 

Righteousness is one of those words that has been co-opted dramatically by society in recent years. Let’s focus on a couple of definitions to begin with. In the Christian world being righteous means doing the will of God rather than your own. Your will or suggestions may co-incidentally be the same, but you were being driven by a requirement to let God take the lead. 

Of course, in practical terms this means dumping your own self-serving requirements into touch, and following the need for the common good, for what would be right, what  we think would be right in God’s eyes, and following that cause or course of action regardless of the negative consequences to ourselves.

Being right could be a whole other thing. A typical example might be, we know this is the way that something should be, and it’s the way we want it to be, and it may or may not be righteous, by the definition I just outlined earlier. But we’re going to go ahead and do it. Because we are right, and we know we are right. Or at least we’re convinced enough that we’re right, that we don’t want to leave any room for misinterpretation. 

This can work out OK if we have enough authority that no one’s going to question whether we’re right or wrong to complete the task or do our will, sometimes necessary with children, slightly less effective in the adult world. But if we don’t have the right authority, and, God forbid we turn out to be wrong and that can start a whole different series of events to occur. Now we found out that even though we were sure we were right, and we told everyone we were right, and we instructed them to do what was right, by us, and then it turned out to be wrong. 

Now what should we do? Admit we were wrong, cover it up, explain to others that they misinterpreted the instructions, or blame someone else. I think we’ve seen all these strategies in use around us in our lives at some point. Being 100% right, or rather being 100% sure that we’re right, can be a dangerous place to be. Certitude has been the predictor of many a downfall. Often our pride, and unwillingness to admit an error, lead us to lose credibility and trust amongst others, and our ability to learn from our mistakes. 

I started this reflection by comparing right from righteous or righteousness. But there’s another little interloper in this process as well. Those who are self-righteous. Now while being self-righteous should be self-defining in some ways. It is about being right and righteous at the same time. Which may or may not be possible. I think for the most part people see someone as self-righteous, as someone who is defining their acts or words as coming from a higher source, with the added certitude of themselves thrown in for good measure. When someone accuses you of being self-righteous it’s usually not a compliment. 

So where do we sit in the spectrum of right, righteousness and self-righteousness. We have probably all suffered at some point from all three points of this triangle. When we think about this in prayer terms, in our disposition towards God, a mindset or heartset on surrender is the only way that we can come to a righteous decision. And when we do can we proclaim it as being righteous? Without appearing to be self-righteous. Where do others in your life sit on this spectrum? As our sensitivity towards others increases, do we make the adjustments to accommodate their rightness, their righteousness, or their self-righteousness. Something to consider. Right or righteousness. 

Both sides of the fence

Photograph and Reflection Copyright 2023 Michael J. Cunningham OFS 

Is God there … only to disappear from view?

Our spiritual journeys take us on many hikes. Sometimes through difficult canyons with loose footings and steep slopes, at other times a walk in the Meadow surrounded by the majesty of nature and those that love us.

For much of this journey, we recognize God’s presence at the times when we are given the gift of Grace and the associated consolations. These may be times of great love, of reconciliation, of being at peace with God and with one another. These are easy to recognize, wonderful memories to fall back into when we’re not feeling so good.

However, as our journey continues, and we have these highs and lows of God’s presence, of dopamine-filled joy, punctuated by lows of sadness; these things tend to smooth out.

Over time during this journey, we begin to notice, sometimes in the very small things, that God is present when we are not having an uplifting experience. A time when we have a “felt presence” of God in our hearts and at our core. It’s as if the store of God’s grace, of inner peace is held within us, gradually being released, and at the same time being restored. Many things can upset this equilibrium. In the secular world it may be described as work-life balance, stress reduction, mindfulness, and other means to keep us in sync with our soul.

A secular world may tell us that the search we are all along is for happiness. Rather I might suggest that joy is the better option. Joy is pervasive whereas happiness tends to be fleeting. But joy does not mean that we are dancing on the streets like Saint Francis in the 13th century. Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course.

Joy is a continuous movement towards God, sometimes loud, but often just quietly resident within us. Being exuded to others as they need it. No more no less.

Sometimes when this quietness overcomes us, when we aren’t getting those adrenalin-filled moments of the earlier consolations, we might think that God has left us. Nothing could be further from the truth.

For it is here, with the apparent disappearance of God that we start to become one with God. One with our family. One with those around us. One with nature. One even with our enemies. Perhaps the last part is a bit of a stretch.

This movement where we begin to blend into nature and those around us God delivers us this change, a change that occurs sometimes so imperceptibly that we barely notice it ourselves, and yet the others around us see and feel the difference.

This Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to visit the redwoods in the northern part of California. I’ve been to the Sequoia Forest in California a few years ago and was colored impressed. However, as I walked through the trails in Northern California, with the redwoods towering over me hundreds of feet above me, surrounding me at a cool, refrigerator temperature, saying nothing but deafening me with their silence I was at one with them, and with nature.

Times like this we receive a glimpse, a glimpse of what it’s like to be in the permanent presence of God. Of the majestic nature of what is creation. What is US. And the US is we. And we are one.

The spiritual nature of all faith paths leads us in this direction. To be at one. To coexist in peace with each other and creation. It is a path that we are being led, one which requires us to listen to the power of silence and what surrounds us. All of what’s around us.

So, if God appears to have disappeared from view it may be that you’re not looking hard enough, you’re not listening quietly enough, or you’re pursuing God in your life as if not already present.

Of course, we know God is omnipresent, so perhaps we need to stop looking, and just be. As God is there, and always will be.

Amongst the Redwoods

Reflection and image Copyright 2023 Michael J. Cunningham OFS