Robin Ryan, CP, Ph.D. Catholic Theological Union. 1 of 6 03/30/2015

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1 1 of 6 03/30/2015 This webinar is sponsored by the Religious Formation Conference celebrating over 60 years of service to women s and men s religious congregations through initial and lifelong formation. Religious Formation Conference, 3025 Fourth St., N.E., Washington, DC Phone: Robin Ryan, CP, Ph.D. Catholic Theological Union

2 2 of 6 03/30/2015 The contemporary experience of religious life: grappling with diminishment My sister s question: how should we be praying? What constitutes good or effective prayer? No experts on this topic Psalm 22: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? The people of Israel did not suffer in silence D. Harrington: lament helps people in pain to get in touch with their intense emotions and address God directly and without religious censorship (Why Do We Suffer?, 3) Lament is the prayer of a bruised faith (P. Zylla, The Roots of Sorrow, 86) Brueggemann: laments are psalms of disorientation represent an act of bold faith and transformed faith Bold Faith There is nothing out of bounds, nothing precluded or inappropriate. Everything belongs properly to this conversation of the heart... Transformed Faith reflect an image of the God who participates in the darkness, displacement and pain of life (The Message of the Psalms, 52)

3 3 of 6 03/30/2015 Mark 1:14-15 Snapshots of Jesus kingdom ministry: That evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. (1: 32-34) The drawing near of God to a beloved creation Proclaiming the reign of God through story Table fellowship: including the outcasts Healings and exorcisms The leper (Mark1:40-45): a visceral reaction When the reign of God became present in and through Jesus, people found life - shalom (see E. Johnson, She Who Is, 157) The glory of God is the human being fully alive (Irenaeus of Lyons) Jesus himself was less engaged in interpreting suffering than he was in actively working to overcome it. (W. Schrage, Suffering, 139) His healings were signs pointing to the fullness of God s kingdom, where there will be no more suffering. But for now, suffering remains part of human existence. (Harrington, 103)

4 4 of 6 03/30/2015 The crucifixion as a scandalous event see Paul on the wisdom of the cross:1 Cor 1: The experience of Easter see the tradition in 1 Cor 15:3-8 a transformative experience God had ultimately been revealed in Jesus The reign of God had been inaugurated in and through Jesus Jesus death as an act of loving service had been accepted by the Father In short, the resurrection fully and finally revealed the meaning and truth of Christ s life, person, work and death. It set a divine seal on Jesus and his ministry. (G. O Collins, Christology, 104) The Easter experience gives rise to a renewed understanding of God: God can be found present in the suffering one; Calvary was an experience of communion, not abandonment; God s signature activity is to bring life out of death See Rom 12:4-5; Eph 4:15-16 More than a metaphor The vital, organic connection between Christ and the Church Augustine homilies on the psalms the Whole Christ

5 5 of 6 03/30/2015 God could have granted no greater gift to human beings than to cause his Word, through whom he created all things, to be their head, and to fit them to him as his members.... When the Body of the Son prays it does not separate its head from itself. The one sole Savior of his body is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who prays for us, prays in us, and is prayed to by us.... [Christ] prays for us as our priest, he prays in us as our head, and he is prayed to by us as our God (Exposition of Psalm 85, 1)... when we hear his voice, we must hearken to it as coming from both head and body; for whatever he suffered, we too suffered in him, and whatever we suffer, he too suffers in us... This solidarity meant that when Christ suffered, we suffered in him; and it follows that now that he has ascended into heaven and is seated at the Father s right hand, he still undergoes in the person of the Church whatever it may suffer amid the troubles of this world, whether temptations, or hardship or oppression... (Exposition of Psalm 62, 2) The power of the lament The vital organic link between Christ and the members of the Church The God of life Suffering as a mystery, not a problem God is not in competition with us My sister s question Karl Rahner on the prayer of petition: We feel a deep need to turn to God and lift pleading hands of prayer to God. (On Prayer, 70):

6 6 of 6 03/30/2015 The Why Question an open wound in human history and in our lives (J. Moltmann) The Where question God is encountered right in the midst of human suffering The How Question God on the move to bring life out of deathly situations Romans 8 a groaning creation Upcoming Remaining Events: Hope: Invitation and Impetus to Transformative Life an Mission Saturday April 18, 2015 Saturday May 2, 2015 Saturday May 18, 2015 Hope: The We(e) Virtue Michael Downey, PhD Regis College, Weston, MA Re vivifying Mission: Religious Life, Prophetic Dialogue and the Signs of the Times Eduardo Fernandez, SJ, PhD St. Thomas University, Houston, TX The Scriptures: Living Source of Hope Mary Schneiders, OP, PhD The Flaget Center, Louisville, KY