LESSON FOR A YOUNG PADRE

The first insight I've had as a Canadian Forces Chaplain has come to me by virtue of the transient nature of the CF workplace.

In a typical job, you begin work knowing you're going to have time to bond with your coworkers, so you become more casual in terms of getting to know them. The time spent together say at lunch or walking to a meeting together is often taken for granted because you anticipate this sort of thing to be routine over the course of your worklife.

But I've discovered at CFB Stadacona that Chaplains here have many work locations, and I have moved into my second office in just 6 short weeks. Plus, because its a Navy base Chaplains are often deployed to sea for months on end, and my office has been a revolving door of co-workers (co-Padres) coming and going. Furthermore, we are ready to recieve two new Chaplains, while others are leaving for courses, postings etc. all the time.

So far the only consistency has been inconsistency.

And here's the thing; I really like my co-workers and have become friends with many of them... So I've really been trying to be more deliberate about making the most of our time together, given the ever-shifting nature of our workplace. I really want to make every encounter count; to have the ears to hear what needs to be heard, and
to have the grace to know what needs to be said.

But then I took a step back and realized that this was really no different than any other situation in life; we truly never know what life will bring, or how and when we will be separated from those we love. What was happening in my workplace was really just a heightening my appreciation for the transient nature of reality, period.

This being said, I must remain attentive to slipping back into autopilot mode where encounters with others slip through the filters of appreciation. A wonderful teacher I've recently discovered along this path has been Evelyn Underhill, through a book of guided meditations called: "Grace through Simplicity: The Practical Spirituality of Evelyn Underhill." Here's a reflection that's been a great help:

Reality is with us
inviting our comtemplation pertpetually
but we are, to be honest,
more often than not too frightened,
lazy, and suspicious to respond.
We are too arrogant to still our thought
and let Reality in,
to let God have his way.

Our vision is hung
with the cobwebs of the mind;
prejudice, cowardice, sloth.

Our souls need a spring cleaning
a turning out, a rearrangement
of our mental furniture;
a wide opening of closed windows
so that the notes of the wild birds
beyond our garden
come to us
fully charged with wonder and freshness
and drown with their music
the noise of the gramophone within.

Opening our souls to reality
requires faith and hard work.

But work at it and we will discover
we have been living in a stuffy world
while our inheritance
is a world of morning glory
where every field mouse
is a celestial messenger
and every thrusting bud
is charged with the full significance of life.