What is Loving the Questions?

What is Loving the Questions? This is a question I have repeatedly asked myself, and I continue to ask God to show me. One particular way we describe ourselves is as a community of discernment.

Discernment is often conceived as something reserved only for certain occasions, or for the “big” decisions of life. For example, choosing to take a job or quit one. Whether to marry this person or not. Whether to pursue the priesthood, the diaconate, or neither. Whether to pursue a particular course of study. The truth is, life’s questions are manifold and never cease. Implicit in much of my questioning is whether to stay where I am or to move to greener pastures elsewhere.

This impulse for ‘greener pastures’ is rooted in a desire for more out of life. And sometimes, if I'm honest, the impulse to move on is more of an excuse to leave a difficult time and space that may be better for me to remain in. But beneath it all is a longing to be more truly alive. Deep within, there is an impulse for more than mere survival, for more than simply observing the world. I want to engage more deeply somehow. Those who have come to Loving the Questions desire more.

The desire for something more evokes an image from Matthew's gospel where Jesus is addressing a so-called “great crowd of confused people.” The crowd has recently traveled far and wide, into the desert wilderness to see The Baptizer. They were blind, physically challenged, many sick, and many, many close to death. These people were outsiders. They were oppressed. They were people longing for more. They likely experienced many tensions and nagging temptations that they could not escape from. They likely made many mistakes along the way.

Jesus asked them what they went out to see in the wilderness. He wanted them to see that the response to their seeking, to their questions, started and ended with an encounter with God. The 'more’ that they were seeking started and ended up in God

The reality is that life's struggles and pain don't go away very easily …if at all. Furthermore, the world around us is not capable of providing abiding comfort. True life and healing for ourselves and the world can only be found as we mysteriously begin to turn our faces toward God. In deeply turning to God, we discover one who is closer than our breath, and the only One that provides ‘the more’ that we seek.

Our lives move at a fast clip, and we seem unable to slow down enough to catch a glimpse of God, to experience moments of deep encounter. Likewise, the same goes for experiencing our neighbor. Encounter necessitates greater attentiveness and deeper listening than we're accustomed to. Encounter requires a place where we can be still enough to hear the heartbeat of life, the heartbeat of God, and our neighbor within and without.

“I am going to allure her;

I will lead her into the wilderness

And speak tenderly to her.”

Hosea 2:14