Repeating and varying
I SUPPOSE this is what we observe in life in general, especially when, as priests, we have to preach. We do the same things, say the same message, but we should also see to it that there is variation in what we do. Otherwise all parties involved fall into boredom and complacency.
This is a big challenge especially to those whose effectiveness and success in life and mission depend on saying or doing the same things every day. These people can be the clerics who say Mass every day, preach more or less the same message. These can also be people in the media who have to write or say something every day, etc.
These people can also be the audience who must listen to more or less the same things every day. They have to learn how to make some variations in the same things that they do, say, hear, read and handle every day.
The secret is for one to be truly a man of God who, in the Book of Revelation, is referred to as saying: “Behold, I am making all things new.” (21,5) With God, everything will be new. Nothing becomes old and stale no matter how many times something is repeated.
Certainly, this business of making repetitious things look and sound new will bring to mind the need for creativity and innovation. But we must understand also that creativity and innovation are not simply a function of human effort and genius. God’s grace is always needed before anything else comes into the picture.
We must realize more deeply that the ability to vary the same things that we do and say every day, to be creative and innovative, is not only a matter of techniques. There has to be a living spirit behind it, not other than God ultimately.
When we are truly inspired by God’s spirit — the Holy Spirit — we are able to say the same things in new ways. We would not even know how this happens. It goes beyond mere repackaging of things or rhetorical tricks and devices.
When the Holy Spirit truly inspires us, we would be like being born again and be acting like the wind, just as Christ described it. “You must be born again,” He said. “The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (Jn 3,7-8)
When we are inspired by the Holy Spirit, we would be driven with love for God and for others — empowered to transcend our human and earthly powers limitations.
With God’s grace, with love for God and for others, nothing will actually be the same even if materially, physically, socially, things appear similar.
We must do everything to be vitally engaged with God, asking for His grace and developing our love in accordance with His love. It’s when we can transcend, but not contradict the laws of nature, and be swept away by the spiritual laws of God’s grace and love.
For this to happen, we must pray to cultivate a recollected and contemplative lifestyle even as we are immersed in the things of the world. We must discipline our bodily and human powers to facilitate the way of God who makes all things new. This way, we can manage to vary the way we do and say things even if we have to repeat them often every day.
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