“Taking in the good”

Dear Friends,

Today’s first reading from Isaiah has powerful imagery that responds to what I believe are universal yearnings:
         Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse t           together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors; together their young shall rest; the lion shall           eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.
Julie Beck, writing in a recent issue of The Atlantic says: “There is a motif, in fiction and in life, of people having wonderful things happen to them, but still ending up unhappy.” She goes on to quote neuropsychologist Dr. Rick Hanson: “... our brains are naturally wired to focus on the negative, which can make us feel stressed and unhappy even though there are a lot of positive things in our lives.”
Beck continues:
           Hanson’s book1 (a sort of self-help manual grounded in research on learning and brain structure) doesn’t suggest that we                    avoid dwelling on negative experiences altogether—that would be impossible. Instead, he advocates training our brains to                   appreciate    positive experiences when we do have them, by taking the time to focus on them and install them in
           the brain. I spoke with Hanson about this practice, which he calls “taking in the good”
When I read that, I thought, “Wait a minute! There is something familiar here!” Isn’t “taking in the good” just another way of expressing being thankful? Of practicing mindfulness? Dr. Paul Ford’s famous (around PSP) 10 second Lenten fast comes to mind.
Dr Hanson (to Beck):
      “So what my book’s about is taking the extra 10, 20, 30 seconds to enable everyday experiences to convert to neural structure              so that increasingly, you have these strengths with you wherever you go.”
       So modern science—neurological psychology!—reinforces what the Church has taught from the beginning: “And whatever you        do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (St. Paul                     writing  to the Colossians, 3:17)
In fact, our Eucharistic celebrations each Sunday take their name from the Greek word eucharisteo, which means “to give thanks.” We are encouraged to bring all our joys and sorrows to the altar and to trust that somehow they become part of a “living sacrifice of praise”. If this is true, then maybe the matter of our lives, and how we respond, is of truly cosmic significance, and can be part of bringing about the next verse in Isaiah’s beautiful prophecy referenced above: “There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea.”

Perhaps our yearnings can be satisfied—and maybe it all begins with cultivating gratefulness.
Siempre Adelante, and a blessed Advent,


Dominic MacAller
​

Director of Liturgy and Music 

---