Catholic Outlook Magazine | Ordinary Time| 2023 Issue

Looking Deeper
“We gain control by letting go. We come to know
by not knowing,” says Fr Michael Whelan SM as
he explains the power of listening within.
Life, sooner or later – if we let it – leads us into the
realisation that the more we know, the more we know
we do not know. In other words, we experience the
inexhaustible intelligibility of reality. This is what we
call mystery. Life does have many problems that invite
solutions. But life itself is not a problem. We should not
look for solutions to life. Life is a mystery to be lived.
As in life, there are many problems in the Church that
invite solutions. But, as in life, the Church – our life
together in Christ – is not a problem to be solved but
a mystery to be lived.
“Show us the way”
“Thomas said: ‘How can we know the way?’ Jesus
said: ‘I am the Way . . . ’” (John 14:6). Thomas sees a
problem and asks for a solution. Instead, Jesus invites
Thomas – and us – into the Source of all mystery.
Here we are immersed in paradox. We gain control
by letting go. We come to know by not knowing. We
discover that true success in life comes as a gift rather
than a conquest. We become fully alive by daily dying.
This demands commitment, hard work and patience.
Letting go is not easy, not knowing can be very painful,
surrendering can be frightening, dying daily can
demand every ounce of courage that we can muster.
There has to be a lot of unlearning. Our learned
inclination is to evade the discomfort of life’s
paradoxes by reducing everything to problems which
have solutions. Solutions promise control. So, we
set about developing strategies and plans, aims and
goals, we work out how we are going to get there . . .
just like Thomas! However, if we care to listen, we will
hear Jesus say repeatedly: “I am the way!” Then, and
only then, will the problem solving make sense.
Listening within
The first work – and it is hard work – is listening.
The first listening, without which all the subsequent
listening will be more or less impeded, is listening to
what is happening within. How I relate with myself is
going to significantly affect how I relate with you. There
is a helpful story from the Desert Fathers and Mothers:
Fr Michael Whelan SM is Director of the Aquinas Academy,
Sydney.
One of the best known of the Desert Fathers of
fourth-century Egypt, Saint Serapion the Sindonite,
travelled once on pilgrimage to Rome. Here he was
told of a celebrated recluse, a woman who lived
always in one small room, never going out. Sceptical
about her way of life – for he was himself a great
wanderer – Serapion called on her and asked: ‘Why
are you sitting here?’
To this she replied: ‘I am not sitting, I am on a
journey’ [Jean-Marie Howe OCSO, Secret of the Heart:
Spiritual Being, Cistercian Publications, 1999/2005, xiii].
Listening within can be aided by the practice of open
questioning. Open questions are asked, not to find
answers, but to be present in a non-judgemental and
attentive way. Open questioning can help us face
truth in our experience. Sometimes we would rather
not face truth because it is painful. It may help to
remember the rest of Jesus’ words to Thomas: “I am
the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus –
“the life” – comes to us disguised as truth.
Listening within can humble us. It can make us
aware of our broken humanity – a humanity that we
share with others. This can help move us beyond
our prejudices and towards unity with others. The
Spirit can thus lead us in a journey where “there is no
longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free,
there is no longer male and female; for all of you are
one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
Conversation and synodality
Conversation is crucial. It must play a central role in
our lives, especially in our becoming Church. But real
conversation does not just happen. Common usage
of the word hides its true subtleties, challenges and
life-giving possibilities.
Real conversation can, in fact, only happen when we
are open to change through encounter with the other.
Listening within can prepare us for this openness. If
I approach conversation, thinking that I am right and
you are wrong, there can be no real conversation.
There might be arguments, discussion, debate,
light-hearted pleasantries, but there will not be real
conversation – unless I change.
Real conversation is at the very heart of synodality.
There can be no synodality without real conversation
and it is the nature of the Church to be synodal.
Pope Francis reminds us that synodality is
Journeying together … The word of God
journeys with us. Everyone has a part to
play; no one is a mere extra.
(Address to the Faithful of the Diocese of Rome,
18 September 2021).
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