Paul Kline and Fr. Dan Riley, OFM, offer us the gift of their reflections for the Feast of St. Irenaeus.*********************
By Paul Kline
I felt just a little anxiety when I was asked to offer a reflection marking the memorial of St. Irenaeus. Truthfully, I know very little about the life and good works of Irenaeus. I thought I might carry out some quick research in order to sound smarter and, perhaps, fool everyone! In the end, however, I decided to put my anxiety aside and wait and listen for where the invitation might lead me.
As a boy, I remember that I loved reading books written for children about the lives of the saints. They seemed very much like the people in my family and in my neighborhood. To me, they were men and women who could be funny, angry, and even silly. They were sometimes smart, sometimes foolish, and often seemed dedicated to shooting themselves in the foot! Many did not seem to be looking for sainthood. They argued with God even as they longed for wisdom and grace.
The stories of their lives were told in such a way that I felt that sainthood was not so far out of reach. It seemed to me that a common feature of their stories was the experience of a moment in their lives – a turning point - when their eyes and hearts were opened and they experienced an overpowering awareness of the miracle they were truly meant to be.
Over the years I have sometimes lost contact with the power and beauty of this lesson from childhood. We are all called to sainthood and to discovering and re-discovering our true self. Grace waits for us in the great and small moments of our lives; each moment offering a window into the miracle of whom we are in the eyes of a loving and merciful God.
Thomas Merton writes:
“The eyes of the saint make all beauty holy and the hands of the saint consecrate everything they touch to the glory of God…the saint is never offended by anything and judges no man’s sin … (the saint)…knows the mercy of God… (and)… brings that mercy to all….”
And so, on the feast of St. Irenaeus, I pray that I might always see, touch, and hold family and friends with the tenderness and love that respects and reveals their holiness. I pray that I may know God’s mercy ever more deeply and be generous in sharing the grace of forgiveness with others.
*********************
By Dan Riley, OFM
The tender, homey truthfulness of Paul's reflection invites me to say more about this early Christian saint, Irenaeus, Bishop and martyr. Irenaeus’ faith grew about a generation after the evangelist St. John and his Gospel of light and peace. The unity, beauty and community unfolding from God through Christ to all creation is amazingly illuminated by Irenaeus in his writings. The harmony he longed for and believed in, we long for and work for today.
Irenaeus defended the Christian faith. As well he is often quoted as saying, “The glory of God is a human person fully alive.” He opened reflections on God's goodness and love, seeing each of us “in Christ” in whom all creation and everyone began and comes to their final beauty and fullness of life.
We chose St. Irenaeus as a patron for our Franciscan Mountain Retreat because of the holy, gentle friar, Fr. Irenaeus, a long time friend of Thomas Merton's and the beloved St. Bonaventure University librarian.
Though many of us have come to say and think of "Old and New Testaments" and sacred scripture, Irenaeus saw and taught a flow of history formed by God as an unfolding covenant over and over again with human kind and all creation. From the prophets to the "Good News" to carrying "News" out to the world there is an out flowing and unfolding God ever creating and holding us ... holding us to love one another.
Let me only add now a little more - from St. Irenaeus - as a close to our sharing here and opening to your own reflection.
In our House of Peace at Mt. Irenaeus, on the wall of our entrance over jackets and sweaters, sneakers and flip flops, we have these lovely words of St. Irenaeus framed. As you reflect on them, my prayer is that all of us may be touched, as Paul Kline prays, “we are all called to sainthood and to discovery and rediscovery of our true self." We are called to be like "soft clay" in the loving hands of our God who holds and shapes us all.
"It is not you that shapes God, it is God that shapes you. If then you
are the work of God, await the hand of the artist who does all things in
due season. Offer God your heart, soft and tractable and keep the form
in which the artist has fashioned you. Let your clay be moist, lest you
grow hard and lose the imprint of God's own fingers!"
- St. Irenaeus of Lyon
(Post a comment below to share your thoughts.)
(Mt. Irenaeus Web Site)
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