Journal of Sr. Carla Mae Streeter, O.P.

The Orthodox have gifted all of us in many ways. Our schism with them has deprived both them and ourselves. In recent years much dialogue has resumed, and part of this discussion bore great fruit for the doctrine of God.

We in the West, in the Roman Catholic Church, have resorted to triangles and clovers as standard images for the Triune Mystery in the past. Now Orthodoxy offers an image much more profound, and in my view, mush more helpful.

The image is that of the living flame of Love. The flame is familiar in worship, both for East and West. It adorns our altars and adds beauty to our homes. So common is it, that it provides an excellent image for the Triune Mystery of God, so present yet overlooked.

The flame can be known to be present only by its light. It’s light is its “outer manifestation” as it were. But if your were blind, you would know its presence by its heat, not its light. The heat radiates out…you might say it is the very outreach of the flame.

You might ask what this has to do with the Trinity. The flame itself symbolizes the hiddeness of the persona in God we name “Father.”   Hidden in the depths of the godhead, the Father is not known except through the Word, who we name “Son.” Just as the flame will not be known except through its light, so the Father will not be known except through the Word. And when we are blind…which is a good part of the time, this Mystery makes itself known by the dynamic outreaching love of the Spirit.

These are three distinct realities: flame, light, heat, yet they cannot be separated. Each “needs” the other to be what it is. So in this image, given us by our Eastern brothers and sisters, we have a beautiful symbol of a Oneness that is Three, and a Threeness that is inseparably bound in the Oneness of a God that is pure dynamic self-giving Love.

A parting thought: the candle is the cosmos…we hold the flame.

Carla Mae Streeter, OP
Aquinas Institute of Theology
23 South Spring Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63108-3323
streeter@slu.edu
phone: 314-256-8882
fax: 314-256-8888

In our day there is a renewed interest in this woman who birthed the Son of God. What possible model can she be for the common man and woman struggling in a society that has largely settled for secularism? More, what possible meaning can her privileges have for us who are all too conscious of our sin-struggles?

The teaching of the Church, that this woman was spared the infection of the sin of the world at the moment of her conception, may mean more for each of us than we thought. We have a sneaking suspicion that what we say of her pertains to us as Church, and as individuals. Me? I’m about as far from being an immaculate conception as I am from being a millionaire.

Are you so sure? Merton claims there is a “spot” at the depths of the soul, a “point of light” that belongs to God alone, untouched by human sin; a place where who we are comes forth from God. This spot is long forgotten by us, and as consciousness unfolds, we become infested with the decisions of those who went before us. We come “under the influence” of the sin of others, and the infection attempts to influence our choices to add to the dis-ease. In our sin-amnesia have we lost sight of our original face? Do we only know ourselves as marred, as scarred?

This Lady is our mirror. When we look at her we see ourselves as we shall be when the Holy Spirit has its way with us, when our resistance to the will of God has melted, and we shine because we are so full of God - a good thought coming out of May and into the sun of summer…

These honest questions aren’t as strange as they might first appear. They are very real questions for some people. For many out among us in the pews, the Trinity is completely irrelevant…it has no meaning for their work-a-day lives. The Triune God is merely and abstraction…a doctrine lost back in history with little or no relation to my everyday struggles.

What’s the answer to this state of affairs? First, we need to honor the questions. Then we need to probe for honest answers, for a good question deserves an intelligent response! So let’s explore the Jesus/God relation just a bit.

Let’s be honest. We wouldn’t know anything about a “Father” or “Holy Spirit” except for the fact that Jesus talked about them. So the early Church had a real problem. Jesus acted “Godly.” So does that mean we have three gods? Our answer was a resounding “no,” but then we had to explain ourselves. The result was a marvelous insight into a great Mystery. God is hidden…an immense Mystery of open, self-giving love. It is of Love’s nature to express itself, and to give itself away. When this Mystery is self-disclosing, we name this the “Word.” Now we have two “somethings” in God…God’s deepest Mystery (Father) and God’s self-expression (Word). But we can’t stop there to have a full notion of Love. Love gives of itself. And so, we name this self-giving “Holy Spirit.” God is still God…One…but there is a three “somethingness” in the Oneness.

So we need to recapture the integrated vision of the early Church, and never consider the three “Personas” separate from one another. Distinct, yes, but separate, no. The Orthodox use a candle flame to try to capture this profound Mystery. The flame is one thing, and I can talk about it. But I know the flame is there because I can see its light or feel its heat. I can also talk just about the light or heat. But all of us know we cannot separate the flame from its light or its heat.

Now we come to Jesus. To express God’s deepest Love, God’s very Self, the Word fused itself to human DNA. Now our human “stuff” is joined to God, never to be parted. In other words, God married us in Jesus, and the woman, Mary, was the bridal chamber. (Ever wonder why Jesus often talks about wedding banquets and worked his first miracle at Cana?) So, the Word, joined to our humanness, becomes the window, the Way to the heart of God through the self-giving Love of the Spirit.

A challenge: pick up your scripture and read any part of the Gospel. Pay close attention to Jesus in whatever he is saying or doing. Ask yourself two questions: What do I know now of God by what he has said? What do I now know of God by what he is doing? In doing this, you are allowing Jesus to be the window, the icon, the Way, the Door…into the very heart of God as Love, disclosing Itself and giving Itself. God will be One, yet self-disclosing to you, and revealing too, how God is self-giving Love.

Where did she get it? The alabaster jar, I mean. Did she buy the jar at the market? Was it a family treasure? Alabaster is very special material. There is a church in Israel, the Church of the Agony, that has alabaster windows. They are translucent, and the light comes flooding through them.  She broke open the jar. It was full of very costly ointment, and she poured it all over Jesus’ head. Was she nervous? Did she fear they would stop her if they realized what she intended to do? Was she fearful that she might lose her resolve if they disapproved? A little four year-old child that traveled to Europe with its parents returned from his visits to the old cathedrals to his Sunday School class. It was the Feast of All Saints, November 1, and the teacher wanted to know what a “saint” was.  Wide eyes and silence greeted her question. Then the little boy who had just returned from the cathedrals raised his hand. “Saints are people the light shines through.” he said. The teached blinked, swallowed hard, and nodded her head.

Are we the alabaster that the light shines through? How do we need to be “broken open” so that the precious costly humanness that is ours might flow down upon that sacred face like refreshing dew? What is worth wasting our precious life for?

She has done what she could. She has performed a good service for me. Let her alone. In the recounting of our personal experiences as the raw material for our theological reflection these days, we need to celebrate that we too have been doing what we can. We have poured out the preciousness of our loving lives over the heads of the Christus in disguise, the Christ of the abandoned child, the abused woman, the jail inmate, the troubled priest. Our lives have been broken open, our days often unfolding far from how we plan them.

This gospel does not suggest we reproach ourselves for doing too little. This Word would have us ponder what “doing what she could” means. We are being asked to ponder the breaking open of our ordinary loving, our ordinary living. Make no mistake. The ointment’s fragrance fills the air. This word calls us to lift our hearts in the midst of insurmmountable obstacles, in the midst of challenges that test our faith daily. It calls us to silence the self-scolding that haunts us for not doing enough. It calls us to rejoice in hope over what we do so ordinarily that we don’t even notice it anymore.

Wherever the good news is proclaimed…in the whole world…this pouring out will be remembered…he has given his word. So take a deep breath and wake up tomorrow to continue the breaking open of your humble alabaster humanness. Let the precious ointment of yourself pour out. Your gift bonds with his dying and rising. You are, and will continue to be, a piece of good news.

How can Jesus be “divine” and God remain one? Do we have a “three-headed” God? What are Christians proposing in talking about a “triune” God? Where does Jesus fit into this picture?

These honest questions aren’t as strange as they might first appear. They are very real questions for some people. For many out among us in the pews, the Trinity is completely irrelevant…it has no meaning for their work-a-day lives. The Triune God is merely and abstraction…a doctrine lost back in history with little or no relation to my everyday struggles.

What’s the answer to this state of affairs? First, we need to honor the questions. Then we need to probe for honest answers, for a good question deserves an intelligent response! So let’s explore the Jesus/God relation just a bit.

Let’s be honest. We wouldn’t know anything about a “Father” or “Holy Spirit” except for the fact that Jesus talked about them. So the early Church had a real problem. Jesus acted “Godly.” So does that mean we have three gods? Our answer was a resounding “no,” but then we had to explain ourselves. The result was a marvelous insight into a great Mystery. God is hidden…an immense Mystery of open, self-giving love. It is of Love’s nature to express itself, and to give itself away. When this Mystery is self-disclosing, we name this the “Word.” Now we have two “somethings” in God…God’s deepest Mystery (Father) and God’s self-expression (Word). But we can’t stop there to have a full notion of Love. Love gives of itself. And so, we name this self-giving “Holy Spirit.” God is still God…One…but there is a three “somethingness” in the Oneness.

So we need to recapture the integrated vision of the early Church, and never consider the three “Personas” separate from one another. Distinct, yes, but separate, no. The Orthodox use a candle flame to try to capture this profound Mystery. The flame is one thing, and I can talk about it. But I know the flame is there because I can see its light or feel its heat. I can also talk just about the light or heat. But all of us know we cannot separate the flame from its light or its heat.

Now we come to Jesus. To express God’s deepest Love, God’s very Self, the Word fused itself to human DNA. Now our human “stuff” is joined to God, never to be parted. In other words, God married us in Jesus, and the woman, Mary, was the bridal chamber. (Ever wonder why Jesus often talks about wedding banquets and worked his first miracle at Cana?) So, the Word, joined to our humanness, becomes the window, the Way to the heart of God through the self-giving Love of the Spirit.

A challenge: pick up your scripture and read any part of the Gospel. Pay close attention to Jesus in whatever he is saying or doing. Ask yourself two questions: What do I know now of God by what he has said? What do I now know of God by what he is doing? In doing this, you are allowing Jesus to be the window, the icon, the Way, the Door…into the very heart of God as Love, disclosing Itself and giving Itself. God will be One, yet self-disclosing to you, and revealing too, how God is self-giving Love.

From: Carla Mae Streeter, OP

You are nearing the end of this formal educational jouney. You have searched into areas of belief and practice that have changed your life. I offer you here just a few thoughts on the state of affairs we find ourselves in…the state of tension between faith and culture, and the state of being torn at times between being an American and being a deeply committed Catholic in these times.

Faith is a kind of knowing that comes from loving. Culture is the collected meanings and values of a group of people. They are not opposed…especially if you are in-love with God, with people, with the world.

I begin by reminding us all that we have two eyes…interesting, isn’t it? We have two eyes in our heads, but we have a singleness of vision. In fact, if we see double, we go to the doctor pronto. This image is helpful as we reflect on religion and culture in today’s world.

There are those who see double. There is the secular world with all its demands: taxes, and trade, food and fashion, economics and entertainment. Then there is the world of faith: the parish and the youth group, worship and RCIA, celebration and counseling, doctrine and devotion. Many keep one eye on one world and one eye on the other.

Then there are those with a singleness of vision. Culture with its daily demands and ethnic richness is the skin of faith, the lantern for the light. Faith and religion shine through the culture or are smothered by it, like the light under a bushel. Here there is no double-eyed vision of two worlds. There is but one world: faith in the midst of culture.

Why do we need to have this wholeness of vision? Because the incarnate Word stands before us, God in human skin, and when we look, we see a marriage, a wholeness, one united reality, integrated and integral. God is in love with the world. God grieves over it like a parent grieving over the brokenness of a child. This is what we have learned in our study.

Those we serve will not all have this integrated view. They will be seeing double, and so they will contribute to the ongoing decline of culture. They will make decisions that will dehumanize themselves and possibly the rest of us. But then there are those who long to be whole and holy. They want to learn and see clearly. They are open to the truth, no matter from where it may come. These folks will hear you. Their very presence and openness will augment the progress of culture, because the human will flourish in their presence.

And so, the progress and decline of culture will ebb and flow with the progress of its very soul: the deepening of faith and religious meaning. You have completed this formal part of your journey. But now the time has come for you to help heal the double vision of others. As you enter your roles as mentors and guides, as teachers and healers, remember to regularly keep company with that One who lays hands on your own eyes saying, “Receive your sight…” It is time now to intentionally wash feet with your new towel. Your degree is your foot-washing towel with a special monogram in the corner. You will foot-wash with your intelligence. You are among your brothers and sisters as one who serves. Blessings!

Carla Mae Streeter, OP

Since Vatican II, several theologians have made this outstretched hand the major thrust of their theological work. What they have learned and what they have begun to craft in new language is unfortunately not referred to in Dominus Iesus. The language we use within our own house is used instead.

Unfortunately, although clear enough to us, its meaning is a puzzle to our neighbors. They think we mean exactly what we say, no more, and from the reception of the document it is clear that the dogmatic language we have been accustomed to in the past is not sufficient as we try to talk with our neighbors.

It may be helpful as we begin this Christological consideration in light of World Religions to meet our neighbors. The following is a very brief introduction, including the central value or emphasis for the group.

PRIMAL Traditions (tribal): the connection of the human with nature

SINO Traditions (Confucian, Taoist, Shinto): proper relationship among humans

INDIC Traditions (Hindu, Jain, Zoroastrian, Buddhist): clarifying consciousness

JUDAIC Tradition: the Holy moving in history and law

CHRISTIAN Tradition: the Holy comes to meet us in the human (incarnation)

ISLAMIC Tradition: total submission of the human to the Holy

Firmly committed to its Lord as the Savior of all, the Christian then moves into the preparation for evangelization…listening. This preparation, being the listening Church, prepares her for the first act of evangelization: dialogue. And so, we must begin…to learn to talk to the neighbors, for without dialogue, we cannot open our treasure, the Christ, to them.