In all places today, we’re advised that the most effective coverage is “no surprises.” Our world is obsessive about management, planning, and danger administration. Dad and mom of young children, coaches, managers, therapists, spouses, and associates are suggested to be regular and predictable, to keep away from sudden adjustments, to be clear, and to elucidate expectations clearly. A lot counsel in non secular issues has a “no surprises” taste. We’re suggested to stay to routines and develop good habits of prayer. We are able to depend on what we all know to be true, as a result of God is trustworthy. In spite of everything, says the author of Hebrews, “Jesus Christ is identical yesterday and right this moment and without end” (13:8). The Apostle James says of God, “there isn’t any variation or shadow as a result of change” (1:17).
However does that imply “no surprises”? Possibly not. Nobody was extra shocked than Abraham when God advised him to go away his snug house and set out on a journey with no map. Nobody was extra shocked than Mary when the angel of God visited her with an surprising announcement. Similar for Elizabeth and Zechariah, the Galilean fishermen mending their nets when Jesus walked by, and Saul on his strategy to Damascus to persecute Christians. Jesus didn’t assume the regular, predictable, precise, clear, and exact “no surprises” non secular observance of the Pharisees was something to be praised. In actual fact, he condemned it. Jesus consistently overturned the expectations of people that listened to him, together with, particularly, the expectations of his disciples, who have been with him on a regular basis and have been startled again and again by what he needed to say.
Pope Francis typically spoke warmly of the “God of surprises.” He talked concerning the Holy Spirit’s creativity in at all times bringing new issues into the lifetime of the Church: “The Spirit is the reward of God, of this God, our Father, who at all times surprises us: the God of surprises” (Morning Meditation, “God of Surprises,” Might 8, 2017). Francis warned about “non secular rigidity.” He was essential of those that resisted change. Their angle of, “That is the way it has at all times been carried out,” “kills freedom; it kills pleasure; it kills faithfulness to the Holy Spirit who at all times strikes ahead, main the Church ahead.”
The issue is that we are able to fall right into a rut. Routine can harden into rigidity. As soon as open minds can shut. Sticking to “the way it has at all times been carried out” appears to work properly, or properly sufficient. When the brand new factor comes alongside and we’re shocked by the God of surprises, we’ll frown and say, “That’s not how we do issues round right here.”
Many statues of St. Ignatius present him with one foot raised, alert, eyes ahead, and striding into an unknown future. That appears to be the precise posture. Ignatius didn’t at all times know the place he was going. However he served a God who makes all issues new, a God of surprises. He didn’t know what the following factor could be, the place it might take him, or what it might demand of him. However he was prepared for it.
I’m reminded of one in every of my favourite novels, Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen. On the finish of the e-book, a lady who had highly effective mystical visions in her youth writes to a buddy, who needs to know if she nonetheless has such an intimate relationship with Jesus. She replies, “We attempt to be shaped and held and saved by him, however as an alternative he provides us freedom. And now when I attempt to know his will, his kindness floods me, his nice love overwhelms me, and I hear him whisper, Shock me.”
We crave certainty. As a substitute God provides us freedom. Are you shocked?