Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging (19 page)

1: Come Out of Hiding

[1]
Flannery O’Connor,
The Collected Works of Flannery O’Connor
(New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1991), 42–54.

[2]
Richard J. Foster,
Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home
(San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1992), 1.

[3]
Nicholas Harnan,
The Heart’s Journey Home: A Quest for Wisdom
(Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1992), 61.

[4]
Julian of Norwich,
Revelations of Divine Love
(New York: Penguin, 1966), 56.

[5]
Thomas Merton,
The Hidden Ground of Love: Letters
(New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1985), 146.

[6]
Simon Tugwell,
The Beatitudes: Soundings in Christian Tradition
(Springfield, IL: Templegate Publishers, 1980), 130.

[7]
Thomas Merton,
Contemplative Prayer
(New York: Doubleday Religion, 1969), 48.

[8]
David Seamands,
Healing for Damaged Emotions
(Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1981), 49.

[9]
Morton Kelsey,
Encounter with God: A Theology of Christian Experience
, quoted by Parker Palmer in “The Monastic Way to Church Renewal,”
Desert Call
(Winter 1987): 8–9.

[10]
Henri J. M. Nouwen,
Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World
(New York: Crossroad, 1992), 21.

[11]
James Finley,
Merton’s Palace of Nowhere: A Search for God Through Awareness of the True Self
(Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1978), 53.

[12]
Julian of Norwich, chapter 73.

[13]
Thornton Wilder,
The Angel That Troubled the Waters and Other Plays
(New York: Coward-McCann, 1928), 20.

[14]
Henri J. M. Nouwen,
The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society
(New York: Doubleday, 1972), 34.

[15]
James A. Knight, M.D., in
Psychiatry and Religion: Overlapping Concerns
, ed. Lillian Robinson, M.D. (Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 1986). Knight’s splendid article, “The Religio-Psychological Dimension of Wounded Healers,” is the principal source of my reflections here. My gratitude to him and Lillian Robinson for introducing me to the book.

[16]
Rainer Maria Rilke,
Letters to a Young Poet
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1962), quoted by Knight, 36.

[17]
Georges Bernanos,
Diary of a Country Priest
(New York: Sheed and Ward, 1936), 178.

2: The Impostor

[1]
Walter J. Burghardt,
To Christ I Look: Homilies at Twilight
(New York/Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 1989), 15. From “Zapping the Zelig” in another collection of his homilies,
Still Proclaiming Your Wonders
. He has mentored me through his books in the effective use of films, novels, poetry, music, and other contemporary American words and symbols in communicating the gospel. The London
Tablet
calls Burghardt “the grand old man of American homilists.”

[2]
James F. Masterson, M.D.,
The Search for the Real Self
(New York: Free Press, 1988), 67.

[3]
John Bradshaw,
Homecoming: Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child
(New York/Toronto: Bantam Books, 1990), 8.

[4]
Susan Howatch,
Glittering Images
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1987), 278.

[5]
Thomas Merton, quoted by James Finley in
Merton’s Palace of Nowhere:
A Search for God Through Awareness of the True Self
(Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1978), 34.

[6]
Howatch, 162.

[7]
Masterson, 63.

[8]
Masterson, 66.

[9]
Masterson, 65.

[10]
Jeffrey D. Imbach,
The Recovery of Love: Christian Mysticism and the Addictive Society
(New York: Crossroad, 1992), 62–63.

[11]
James Finley,
Merton’s Palace of Nowhere: A Search for God Through Awareness of the True Self
(Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1978), 36.

[12]
Parker Palmer, “The Monastic Way to Church Renewal,”
Desert Call
(Winter 1987): 8–9.

[13]
Thomas Merton,
New Seeds of Contemplation
(New York: New Directions, 1961), 35.

[14]
Simon Tugwell,
The Beatitudes: Soundings in Christian Tradition
(Springfield, IL: Templegate Publishers, 1980), 112.

[15]
Philomena Agudo,
Intimacy
, the third Psychotheological Symposium (Whitinsville, MA: Affirmation Books, 1978), 21.

[16]
C. G. Jung,
Modern Man in Search of a Soul
(New York: Harcourt, Brace & World Harvest Books, 1933), 235.

3: The Beloved

[1]
William Least Heat-Moon,
Blue Highways: A Journey into America
(New York: Fawcett Crest, 1982), 108–109.

[2]
Monica Furlong,
Merton: A Biography
(San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1980), 18.

[3]
John Eagan,
A Traveler Toward the Dawn: The Spiritual Journey of John Eagan
(Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1990), xii.

[4]
Thomas Merton, quoted by James Finley in
Merton’s Palace of Nowhere: A Search for God Through Awareness of the True Self
(Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1978), 71.

[5]
Eagan, 150–151.

[6]
Henri J. M. Nouwen,
Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World
(New York: Crossroad, 1992), 26.

[7]
Finley, 96.

[8]
Mike Yaconelli,
The Back Door
. A column written by Yaconelli, editor of
The Door
, a bimonthly Christian periodical that was biting, irreverent, satirical, often serious, occasionally sophomoric, frequently hilarious, never dull, frequently provocative, surprisingly spiritual
 
—my favorite, most enjoyable subscription, and as the advertisement says, “the perfect gift for the closed mind.”

[9]
Walker Percy,
The Second Coming
(New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1980), 124. Two of Percy’s novels
 
—
The Moviegoer,
which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1952, and
Lancelot
 
—explore the search for the true self and use this literary form to examine authentic and bogus Christianity.

[10]
Edward Schillebeeckx,
The Church and Mankind
(New York: Seabury Press, 1976), 118.

[11]
Anthony Padovano, an excerpt from “The Ministerial Crisis in Today’s Church,” his Saturday morning address during the FCM annual convention on August 18, 1984, Chicago, Illinois.

[12]
Abraham Heschel,
Between God and Man: An Interpretation of Judaism
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1959), 41.

[13]
Frederich Buechner,
The Clown in the Belfry: Writings on Faith and Fiction
(San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992), 171.

4: Abba’s Child

[1]
Joachim Jeremias,
The Parables of Jesus
(New York: Scribner, 1970), 128.

[2]
Gerald G. May, M. D.,
Addiction and Grace
(San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1988), 168.

[3]
Richard J. Foster,
Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home
(San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 1992), 85.

[4]
Hans Küng,
On Being a Christian
(New York: Doubleday, 1976), 32.

[5]
Küng, 33.

[6]
Donald Gray,
Jesus: The Way to Freedom
(Winona, MN: St. Mary’s College Press, 1979), 70.

[7]
Stephen Covey,
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
, Audio Cassette Seminar (Provo, UT: Center for Strategic Leadership, 1984).

[8]
“Fox Hunt,”
Life
, March 13, 1944, 67–69.

[9]
Alan Jones,
Exploring Spiritual Direction: An Essay in Christian Friendship
(Minneapolis, MN: Winston Press, 1982), 17. This book and another by Jones,
Soul Making: The Desert Way of Spirituality
(Harper & Row, 1985), have been a source of deep insight and endless meditation.

[10]
Henri J. M. Nouwen,
Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World
(New York: Crossroad, 1992), 34.

[11]
Robert J. Wicks,
Touching the Holy: Ordinariness, Self-Esteem, and Friendship
(Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1992), 87. The theme of this little gem of a book is that true ordinariness is tangible holiness. Drawing on the experience of contemporary Christians and the wisdom of the desert fathers and mothers, Wicks says, “The Spirit of ordinariness invites each of us to . . . find out what our inner motivations and talents are and then to express them without reserve or self-consciousness.”

[12]
Adapted from Wendell Berry,
The Hidden Wound
(San Francisco, CA: North Point Press, 1989), 4. I appropriated Berry’s thoughts and words on his struggle with racism and expanded them to include homosexuality.

[13]
Frederich Buechner,
The Clown in the Belfry: Writings on Faith and Fiction
(San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992), 146.

[14]
Anthony De Mello,
The Way to Love: Meditations for Life
(New York: Doubleday, 1991), 77.

5: The Pharisee and the Child

[1]
Bertrand Russell,
Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1957), 35.

[2]
Anthony De Mello,
The Way to Love: Meditations for Life
(New York: Doubleday, 1991), 54.

[3]
Eugene C. Kennedy,
The Choice to Be Human: Jesus Alive in the Gospel of Matthew
(New York: Doubleday, 1985), 211.

[4]
Kennedy, 128.

[5]
Thomas Moore,
Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life
(New York: HarperCollins, 1992), 166.

[6]
Kennedy, 211.

[7]
Kennedy, 211.

[8]
Alan Jones,
Soul Making: The Desert Way of Spirituality
(New York: HarperCollins, 1989), 37.

[9]
James Finley,
Merton’s Palace of Nowhere: A Search for God Through Awareness of the True Self
(Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1978), 54.

[10]
Simon Tugwell,
The Beatitudes: Soundings in Christian Traditions
(Springfield, IL: Templegate Publishers, 1980), 138. Here I came across the quotation of Thérèse of Lisieux.

[11]
Brennan Manning,
A Stranger to Self-Hatred: A Glimpse of Jesus
(Denville, NJ: Dimension Books, 1982), 97.

[12]
Anthony De Mello,
Awareness: A Spirituality Conference in His Own Words
(New York: Doubleday, 1990), 28.

[13]
John Shea,
Starlight: Beholding the Christmas Miracle All Year Long
(New York: Crossroad, 1993), 92. A seminal thinker who has profoundly touched my life and deepened my understanding of the gospel, Shea’s book develops the idea that Christmas is not one day of naïveté and idealism in a year of unrelenting realism. It is the day of the real in a year of illusion. If we wake up on Christmas morning, we may realize we have been sleepwalking through the rest of the year.

[14]
John L. McKenzie,
The Power and the Wisdom: An Interpretation of the New Testament
(New York: Doubleday, 1972), 208.

[15]
De Mello,
The Way to Love
, 73.

[16]
Brennan Manning,
The Gentle Revolutionaries: Breaking Through to Christian Maturity
(Denville, NJ: Dimension Books, 1976), 39.

[17]
De Mello,
The Way to Love
, 76.

[18]
William McNamara,
Mystical Passion: Spirituality for a Bored Society
(Amity, NY: Amity House, 1977), 57.

[19]
Jeffrey D. Imbach,
The Recovery of Love: Christian Mysticism and the Addictive Society
(New York: Crossroad, 1992), 103.

[20]
Jean Gill,
Unless You Become Like a Little Child: Seeking the Inner Child in Our Spiritual Journey
(New York: Paulist, 1985), 39.

[21]
Anne Tyler,
Saint Maybe
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982), 124.

[22]
Frederick Buechner,
The Magnificent Defeat
(San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1966), 135.

6: Present Risenness

[1]
H. A. Williams,
True Resurrection
(London: Mitchell Begley Limited, 1972), 5.

[2]
Williams, 5.

[3]
William A. Barry,
God’s Passionate Desire and Our Response
(Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1993), 109.

[4]
John Shea,
Starlight: Beholding the Christmas Miracle All Year Long
(New York: Crossroad, 1993), 165. The words
Thus, thou shalt not die
are excerpted from Gabriel Marcel’s
The Mystery of Being, Volume II: Faith and Reality
(Chicago, IL: Henry Regnery Press, 1960), 171.

[5]
“A Conversation with Frederick Buechner”
Image:
A Journal of the Arts and Religion
(Spring 1989): 56–57.

[6]
Brennan Manning,
The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out
(Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1990), 89.

[7]
Edward Schillebeeckx,
For the Sake of the Gospel
(New York: Crossroad, 1992), 73.

[8]
Schillebeeckx, 73.

[9]
Peter G. van Breeman,
Certain as the Dawn
(Denville, NJ: Dimension Books, 1980), 83. Here I came across Garaudy’s surprising statement.

[10]
Barry, 87. In a chapter entitled “Mysticism in Hell,” Barry relates the astonishing story of the Dutch Jewess who journaled her conviction that God was not absent in the concentration camp.

[11]
Anne Tyler,
Saint Maybe
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982), 199–200.

[12]
Dom Aelred Watkin,
The Heart of the World
(London: Burns and Dates, 1954), 94.

[13]
Barry, 115.

[14]
Harper Lee,
To Kill a Mockingbird
(New York: Grand Central Publishing, 1982), 374.

[15]
van Breeman, 125. I relied on the Dutch Jesuit with a doctoral degree in atomic physics for the schema of the four main points while developing them in a considerably different manner.

[16]
Herman Wouk,
Inside, Outside
(New York: Little, Brown, 1985), 185–186.

[17]
F. M. Cornford, quoted in
Source: What the Bible Says About the Problems of Contemporary Life
by John McKenzie (Chicago: Thomas More Press, 1984), 206.

[18]
Richard Schickel, “More Than a Heart Warmer: Frank Capra: 1897–1991,”
Time
138, no. 11 (September 16, 1991): 77. Extracted by Walter J. Burghardt,
When Christ Meets Christ: Homilies on the Just Word
(Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 1993), 77.

[19]
M. Scott Peck,
The Road Less Traveled
(New York: Touchstone, 2003), 15–16.