Ps. 116:5, NIRV
us . . . [who is] with us, a pilgrim, a worker, a guest at our table, a
sharer at all hazards in life. . . . [We] witness to this story. . . .
[T]his sublime encounter. . . .”[1]
Paul
Tournier speaks from experience of having discovered
such “encounter”—such Companionship. Before describing
Tournier’s discovery, we pause to explain who Tournier is. He
was among the first medical doctors to realize the importance
of a holistic attitude toward patients—viewing them as whole
persons with healing needs of body, mind, spirit, and soul.
Thus, to treat a patient properly, the doctor addresses the
interrelated concerns of the whole person. Tournier wrote
about this in his highly influential book The Meaning of Persons
(1956, 1997).
such “encounter”—such Companionship. Before describing
Tournier’s discovery, we pause to explain who Tournier is. He
was among the first medical doctors to realize the importance
of a holistic attitude toward patients—viewing them as whole
persons with healing needs of body, mind, spirit, and soul.
Thus, to treat a patient properly, the doctor addresses the
interrelated concerns of the whole person. Tournier wrote
about this in his highly influential book The Meaning of Persons
(1956, 1997).
We turn now
to Tournier’s discussion of a life-changing experience:
Paul Tournier tells how one of life’s greatest
discoveries came to
him. He used to visit an old Christian pastor who never let him
go without praying with him. He was struck by the extreme
simplicity of the old man’s prayers. It seemed just a
continuation of an intimate conversation that the old saint
was always carrying on. . . .[2]
him. He used to visit an old Christian pastor who never let him
go without praying with him. He was struck by the extreme
simplicity of the old man’s prayers. It seemed just a
continuation of an intimate conversation that the old saint
was always carrying on. . . .[2]
Tournier continues, in his own words:
When I got back home I talked it over with my wife,
and together we asked God to give us also the close fellowship with Jesus the
old pastor had. Since then he has been
the centre of my devotion and my
traveling companion. He takes
pleasure in what I do (cf. Ecclesiastes 9:7), and concerns himself with
it. He is a friend with whom I can discuss everything that happens in my
life. He shares my joy and my pain, my
hopes and fears. He is there when a
patient speaks to me from his heart, listening to him with me and better than I
can. And when the patient is gone I can
talk to him about it (emphasis added).[3]
What a
lovely idea: that we have a “traveling companion” and
“friend” in life who never leaves us. It is not a new idea, of course:
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want . . . though I walk through
the valley . . . I will fear no evil, for you are with me . . . (Ps. 23, NIV).
No, it’s not a new idea, but it is a deeply moving one. Similarly,
we read: “[D]estinies are controlled by the delicacy of your
calmness within, by your turning to the divine companion who
never leaves nor forsakes thee" (M. Strong).[4] There is indeed
a Companion upon our way . . . just beyond the veil of sight.
“friend” in life who never leaves us. It is not a new idea, of course:
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want . . . though I walk through
the valley . . . I will fear no evil, for you are with me . . . (Ps. 23, NIV).
No, it’s not a new idea, but it is a deeply moving one. Similarly,
we read: “[D]estinies are controlled by the delicacy of your
calmness within, by your turning to the divine companion who
never leaves nor forsakes thee" (M. Strong).[4] There is indeed
a Companion upon our way . . . just beyond the veil of sight.
St. Gertrude of
Helfa prayed: “[M]ay you bear with me the burden of the day’s heat; and may I
have you as consolation for all my labor, as my partner on the road, as guide
and companion.”[5]
Harry Emerson Fosdick writes that we have "an inborn capacity for spiritual companionship." Or again: "[O]ur souls have an unseen Friend, an invisible Companion. . . ."[6]
And why should One so great wish to be our Companion? Julian of Norwich answers: "For we are His joy and His delight. . . ."[7] Similarly, Joseph Tetlow writes: "The Son's great joy is to be with humankind, and His joy is so great that he came back [even] after He had been driven out of our flesh.[8]
Harry Emerson Fosdick writes that we have "an inborn capacity for spiritual companionship." Or again: "[O]ur souls have an unseen Friend, an invisible Companion. . . ."[6]
And why should One so great wish to be our Companion? Julian of Norwich answers: "For we are His joy and His delight. . . ."[7] Similarly, Joseph Tetlow writes: "The Son's great joy is to be with humankind, and His joy is so great that he came back [even] after He had been driven out of our flesh.[8]
Psalm 8 asks: “[W]hat are human beings
that you [Lord] think about them; what are human beings that you pay attention
to them?” (v. 4, CEB). The whole Bible gives the answer: God is
mindful of us because God loves us and wants to be with us—desires our companionship (e.g.,
see 1 Jn. 4:7, 16).
Helmut Tielicke describes this divine love: "The very greatness of God lies in the fact that he condescends so low. His omnipotence is surpassed only by one attribute: his love. And that love comes down to those who cry out for it, and his love is also there to listen to . . . [that] for which
Helmut Tielicke describes this divine love: "The very greatness of God lies in the fact that he condescends so low. His omnipotence is surpassed only by one attribute: his love. And that love comes down to those who cry out for it, and his love is also there to listen to . . . [that] for which
they pray. . . . In this lowliness lies the supreme greatness of God."[9]
Jesus himself promises that he will never leave us "orphans" and also says: "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Jn. 14:18; Mt. 28:20, NIV).
Because of such promises, Fosdick writes: "[W]e can thrust our roots
into . . . [this truth] and draw sustenance from it; our souls have . . . an
invisible Companion. . . ."[10]
Of course, we ourselves have an important role to play in this possibility of Companionship. What is our part? Fosdick writes: "Spiritual hospitality finds a guest [Guest] waiting to come in." Our role is "spiritual hospitality" to the divine Guest. And this is not so difficult; for we have "an inborn capacity for spiritual companionship," Fosdick promises."[11]
"Spiritual hospitality" also, by its very nature, presupposes another desire--one that is voiced by the prophet Micah: the increasing desire to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God (Mic. 6:8). How could the divine traveling Companion cooperate with us in any other way?
And there is an additional role that we play--learning to walk with trust in the tender love of our Guest. In Psalm 13 we read: "But I have trusted in your faithful love" (13:5, CEB). By learning to live in such trust, Fosdick tell us "our spirits can be raised . . . until upon a higher level they sail out again." In this "Spiritual Environment . . . we can live in vital contact . . . from which we can draw replenishing power."[12]
Mary Strong offers insight into one further aspect of our own role in this walk--cultivating awareness: “[Seek] an awareness of God’s awareness of you, of the immense love of his spirit for you. There is no must nor effort in this, for once the heart is touched by an awareness of him it is comforted, reassured, content. . . . [This is] confident companionship, it is a gift given to him [her] who takes time to rest in the desire for Him. . . .”[13]
Jesus himself promises that he will never leave us "orphans" and also says: "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Jn. 14:18; Mt. 28:20, NIV).
Because of such promises, Fosdick writes: "[W]e can thrust our roots
into . . . [this truth] and draw sustenance from it; our souls have . . . an
invisible Companion. . . ."[10]
Of course, we ourselves have an important role to play in this possibility of Companionship. What is our part? Fosdick writes: "Spiritual hospitality finds a guest [Guest] waiting to come in." Our role is "spiritual hospitality" to the divine Guest. And this is not so difficult; for we have "an inborn capacity for spiritual companionship," Fosdick promises."[11]
"Spiritual hospitality" also, by its very nature, presupposes another desire--one that is voiced by the prophet Micah: the increasing desire to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God (Mic. 6:8). How could the divine traveling Companion cooperate with us in any other way?
And there is an additional role that we play--learning to walk with trust in the tender love of our Guest. In Psalm 13 we read: "But I have trusted in your faithful love" (13:5, CEB). By learning to live in such trust, Fosdick tell us "our spirits can be raised . . . until upon a higher level they sail out again." In this "Spiritual Environment . . . we can live in vital contact . . . from which we can draw replenishing power."[12]
Mary Strong offers insight into one further aspect of our own role in this walk--cultivating awareness: “[Seek] an awareness of God’s awareness of you, of the immense love of his spirit for you. There is no must nor effort in this, for once the heart is touched by an awareness of him it is comforted, reassured, content. . . . [This is] confident companionship, it is a gift given to him [her] who takes time to rest in the desire for Him. . . .”[13]
The idea of
the Companion of the soul also comes from John 14:16-17 (CEB) and great teachers like St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Catherine
of Genoa[14] (the first two are Doctors of the Church in Catholic
tradition). Sometimes the word Companion is interchanged with Friend—there is a great Friend of the soul.[15]
Julian of
Norwich speaks of Christ, the “Everlasting Friend,”
and tells us this Friend “has great tenderness, and
therefore He will Himself make them [divine secrets] more open to us whereby we
may know Him and love Him and cleave to Him” in companionship.[16] Or she says: “For our
courteous Lord willeth that we should be as homely [intimately comfortable]
with Him as heart may think or soul may desire.”[17] Why?
“For He beholdeth us so tenderly”; there is “preciousness and
tenderness” in God’s love for us.”[18] It seems that Julian can never speak enough
of God’s LOVE, “which is so tender that he may never desert us.”[19]
Divine Companionship, Everlasting Friendship, a traveling
Companion: What simple ideas! What exquisite ideas! What help when our
lives become storm-tossed! Brother Lawrence says: “If the vessel of our
soul is still tossed with winds and storms let us wake the Lord, who reposes in
it, and He will quickly calm the seas. . . . He is nearer than you think” (an allusion to Mt. 8:23 -27).
Modern life
can be very lonely, as well as storm-tossed. We distract ourselves with frenetic
busyness—sometimes to run away from such loneliness. And all the while (in spite of our neglect)
the gentle Hound of Heaven, the
potential Friend and traveling Companion of the soul, waits
in tender love to meet our deepest needs.
Paul
Tournier has given us a tender, restorative, healing image: one that supports
mind, spirit, and soul and therefore also (as medical science is increasingly
realizing) the health of the body as well. There is a traveling
Companion who wishes to be with us.
We need never feel lost or alone.
We can meditate upon such healing, restorative
images. Medical practitioners today tell
us that meditation has been shown to have a beneficial effect upon both mind
and body. The Lord is my Shepherd; there is a tender traveling Companion who desires my company: these are wonderful images to base our
meditations upon!
* * *
* * *
We close with thoughts for meditation, prayer/poetry/proverbs :
An opening to prayer/meditation:
(With reflection upon Jn. 14:16-17, CEB [Jesus speaks of the
“Companion, who will be with you forever”] and Eph. 3:21, KJV.)
“Companion, who will be with you forever”] and Eph. 3:21, KJV.)
* * *
An opening to prayer/meditation:
(With meditation upon Psalm 46:10 and Psalm 23.)
* * *
A prayer of “Companionship” and the lack thereof:
Deliver us, Lord, from the “land of unlikeness,” [20]
a land that is far from You.
A land that relinquishes Your Companionship,
Your Tenderness,
Your Grace and gentle love,
Your “music in the ear, and … jubilation in the heart”--
♬ Sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.” [21]
Relinquished all for self-will
and lonely, hollow autonomy.
Deliver us, Hound of Heaven! [22]
Oh, why do we flee from Companionship?
Why do we flee from Such Love? [23]
* *
*
A meditation upon the Companion--Healer of the heart:
“God shall be knitted [to you] with the ghostly glue of grace.”
- The anonymous author of The Epistle of Prayer, a classic of English
spirituality. [24]
* * *
“Not Knowing (a Meditation)”
(With meditation upon Mt. 6:26-34; Ex. 3:14.)
* * *
“Something Waits (commenting on a Mystery--or the 'Companion'--within)"
“[T]his Holy Thing within us [is found] to be the most
precious thing in the world….”
– Thomas R. Kelly
Softly, slowly as the hours
Creep across the evening’s face
One may feel a gentle pulling—
SomeThing waits in time and space,
Drawing, calling us away from
All that crowds and cramps the mind
To a realm where Something’s waiting . . .
Deep inside us, we can find
A stillness that walks out to meet YOU,
A stillness that rests in YOUR spell,
A stillness that meets hints of worlds
That words but stretch and strain . . . to tell.
(What is this mysterious Holy Something within? It might well
be called the “Companion.” Or, Thomas R. Kelly speaks of “the Inner
Instructor,” the “Spirit,” “the Hound of Heaven,” and that within us
which is “great with eternity.”[25] And Julian of Norwich sees that
the human soul is God’s “own City [‘citadel’] and … dwelling-place,”
which God--in great love and tender longing for us--cannot give up.[26]
Or, as we will see, others (like Luther) speak of a "chamber"
within.[27] Also see Eph. 3:16; 1 Jn. 4:12, NIV, NRSV, ASV.)
* * *
An opening to prayer:
There is a place where we may enter in
when not a sound is made,
and we are all alone.
And in that place Love waits within,
Love reigns within in an aura
of the dearest peace, the sweetest joy,
that we may ever know.
There is a place where we may enter in!
(With reflection upon St. Augustine’s words: “… O Beauty ever
ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but
I was outside. … I was not with you” [Confessions, Ch. X]. Also
see Eph. 3:16-19, NIV.)
* * *
(See additional blog posts after the "Notes"--Newer/Older Posts.)
…………………………
Notes:
1. Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism (New York: Meridian Books, 1955), p. 450.
2. William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark (Louisville, KY: Westminster John
Knox Press, 1975, 2001), pp. 42-3.
3. Ibid., p. 43.
4. Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood, ed. Mary Strong (HarperSanFrancisco,
1948), p. 155.
5. Elizabeth A. Dreyer, Passionate Spirituality: Hildegard of Bingen and
Hadewijch of Brabant (New York: Paulist Press, 2005), p. 24 (from Gertrude
of Helfa, Spiritual Exercises).
6. Harry Emerson Fosdick, A Faith for Tough Times (New York: Harper
& Brothers, 1952), pp. 97, 104.
7. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ed. Grace Warrack
(London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1901, 1949), p. 193 (Chap. 79).
8. Joseph Tetlow, S.J., Choosing Christ in the World: Directing the
Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola According to Annotations Eighteen
and Nineteen (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1989), p. 226.
9. Helmut Thielicke, Our Heavenly Father: Sermons on the Lord’s Prayer,
trans. John W. Doberstein (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960),
pp. 86-7.
10. Fosdick, A Faith for Tough Times, pp. 103-104.
11. Ibid., pp. 100, 97.
12. Ibid., pp. 96, 98.
13. Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood, ed. Mary Strong, p. 190.
14. See Underhill, Mysticism, pp. 252, 356, 436-437.
15. The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila trans. Kieran
Kavanaugh, O.C.D. and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D. (Washington,
DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1976, 1980), Vol. 1, p. 67;
Vol. 2, pp. 240, 237.
16. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, p. 187 (Chap. 76);
P. Franklin Chambers, Juliana of Norwich: An Introductory Appreciation
and An Interpretative Anthology (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955), p. 148 (from Revelations of
Divine Love, Chap. 34).
Divine Love, Chap. 34).
17. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, p. 189 (Chap. 77).
18. Ibid., p. 196 (Chap. 81); Julian of Norwich: Showings, trans.
Edmund Colledge, O.S.A. and James Walsh, S.J. (New York:
Paulist Press, 1978), p. 213 (Chap. 20 ).
19. Julian of Norwich: Showings, p. 130 (Chap. 4, Short Text).
20. Gertrude of Helfta: The Herald of Divine Love, trans. Margaret
20. Gertrude of Helfta: The Herald of Divine Love, trans. Margaret
Winkworth (New York: Paulist Press, 1993), p. 87, note 3 (quoting
St. Augustine, Confessions VII, 10).
21. Ibid., p. 53 (quoting Ps. 19:10).
22. Referring to Francis Thompson’s amazing poem “The Hound
of Heaven.”
23. Meditations, prayer/poetry/proverbs by Lorraine B. Eshleman.
24. Part of The Cell of Self-Knowledge, printed by Henry Pepwell,
MDXXI.
25. Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion (New York: Harper & Row,
1941), pp. 116, 49, 51, 75 (a book that explains this mystery in profound terms);
Thomas R. Kelly, “The Eternal Promise,” Quaker Spirituality: Selected
Writings, Douglas V. Steere, ed. (New York: Paulist Press, 1984), pp. 310-311.
Also see Francis Thompson’s poem “The Hound of Heaven.”
26. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, p. 113 (Chap. 51);
Julian of Norwich: Showings, p. 312 (Chap. 68). (Also see further thoughts
about this mystery in "The 'Divine Romance,' the 'Bride Price,' and the
Cross,"Note 11 and the final entry and quotations that accompany it;
27. See the latter references in Note 26 above.
