"Letting go of those things in order to find that person can be a difficult trial."
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Are we afraid to answer God's call because we are afraid of what we may have to give up?
Charlemagne's Justice
There are many stories told of Charlemagne, king of the Franks and Lombards, and Emperor of the Romans. His prowess on the battlefield was legendary and more than one army fled in fear when they heard the “Iron King” was advancing upon them.
But there was another side to this great emperor.
When Charlemagne wished to enlarge his palace, the ground he needed was occupied by an old woman living in a simple thatched hut. She was offered ten times its value but she would not sell the home where she was born, where her mother died, and her father and his father before him were born.
The nobles threatened her but she rebuked them, “you would not make such threats if the king could hear you.”
When Charlemagne heard of it he likewise chastised his nobles and went to see the old woman himself. He told her she need not be troubled or afraid.
“I was not afraid,” she replied, “for I trusted in the King's justice. But I have considered how foolish it is to cling to things of this world which are ours for so little a time, and which may so easily be taken from us by wind or fire or snow. Take the house, only give me some other place to live.”
Charlemagne made sure that the old woman would never be in want. But he ordered that the hut remain untouched. There it stood for many years among the arcades of bright stone and marble columns of the palace, as a reminder of how men should value justice.
The Journey of the Spirit
The journey of the spirit through life is the journey of the soul seeking its True Self. We spend our lives trying to be the person God meant for us to be. Our challenge is to discover that person beneath all the baggage we have accumulated throughout our lives. So much of what we value, what we believe comprises our identity, can be taken from us in an instant. We can lose jobs, suffer financial setbacks, lose things to theft or disaster and even lose relationships. But our true nature, our True Self, cannot be taken from us.
In the play “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmund Rostand, (I'm not sure we need a spoiler warning for a play written over 120 years ago but consider yourself warned,) Cyrano is a man who has lost much of what we would consider worldly success because he refuses to compromise his ideals.
In addition to being the finest swordsman in Paris, he is an artist, a playwright. But he is plagiarized by more prominent writers and resigned to obscurity. When given the chance to have his own play published, an opportunity for worldly acclaim, he refuses rather than have lesser talents change his words.
He fares no better in matters of love, not because he is undeserving but because of his pride and self-pity. He accepts all of this because as he says, he may not stand high but he stands alone.
Selling Out
In our day we frequently hear of artists who are accused of “selling out.” In recent years this term has been applied to any artist who profits from their work. But profiting from their work is not “selling out.” All artists need to profit somewhat from their work in order to live and continue to practice their craft. “Selling out” means to compromise your ideals and beliefs, your “panache” for worldly gain.
At the end of the play, as Cyrano lay near death, he laments that he has lost laurels and roses. That is, worldly honors have been denied him and love has escaped him. But in spite of it all, when he has lost everything there is one thing that he will take with him when he enters heaven, His panache.
By “panache” we can interpret to mean his character, those characteristics that make him who he is, his True Self. At this moment Cyrano realizes his own faults, the dragons that he has battled all his life, falsehood, compromise, prejudice, cowardice, and vanity. All those inner demons that would have afforded him an easy life of wealth, privilege, and love. But he has spent his life resisting them so that he may hold fast to who he truly is.
All of the impermanent things we chase after, money, prestige, power, fame, can all obscure the person we truly are. Letting go of those things in order to find that person can be a difficult trial.
When we embark upon our journey of the spirit we embark upon a road of trials and tests. We are resolved to answer God's call and live “in the spirit” but we are still encumbered by our past wants and desires.
We have been baptized into life with Christ but we still feel the strong pull of selfishness, laziness, lust and greed, and all the other temptations of the world that threaten to draw us from the path.
Our fallen human nature weighs us down and resists the tug of the Spirit. The devil delights in our weakness and is constantly trying to convince us to live in the flesh, and not the Spirit.
We need only recognize that it is fear that makes us cling to things that are so easily taken from us. We are afraid to give up what little we have, because we fear the unknown. We fear that the path we are called to will be difficult, and we will not have the strength to prevail. But in truth, what we may have to give up, pales in comparison to what we will receive.
Trust in the justice of the King. Let go of the selfish desires of the world and venture into the unknown world of the Spirit. There you will find that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.
Pax Vobiscum
©Lawrence Klimecki
Pontifex University is an online university offering a Master’s Degree in Sacred Arts. For more information visit the website at www.pontifex.university
Lawrence Klimecki, MSA, is a deacon in the Diocese of Sacramento. He is a public speaker, writer, and artist, reflecting on the intersection of art and faith and the spiritual “hero’s journey” that is part of every person’s life. He maintains a blog at www.DeaconLawrence.org and can be reached at Lawrence@deaconlawrence.com
Lawrence draws on ancient Christian tradition to create new contemporary visions of sacred art. For more information on original art, prints and commissions, Please visit www.DeaconLawrence.org
Purchase fine art prints of Deacon Lawrence’s work here.
