VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING
Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP
Hawaii Catholic Herald
It was on Halloween night, as I was in my third year of teaching in Cincinnati, that I got a call asking if I would go to Nigeria for three years. I said, “What?!” Struggling to discern, I did two things. First, I prayed over and over again “Lord, show me what to do.” And secondly, I talked with people. In the end, there was just a sense of surrender, a sense of Marian availability. In Swahili, I could make my prayer:
Salamu, Maria, umejaa neema Bwana yu nawe.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.
Umebarikiwa kuliko wanawake wote,
Blessed are you among women,
na Yesu, mzao wa tumbo lako amebarikiwa.
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
I ended up remaining in Nigeria for 27 years. Saying yes to that unexpected request opened up a world for me that I would never ever have had. My life has been absolutely and immeasurably enriched by that experience.
Formed in our Marianist spirituality of faith of the heart, I know that whether we experience it to be so or not, our prayers are always effective and answered. Likewise, we are at all times held within the loving embrace of God. Our Lord says that he knows what we need before we ask him. So, whatever is on my mind or in my heart, I just speak it out. Someone once told me regarding his prayer, “Sometimes I fall asleep. Sometimes, it’s really dry. Sometimes nothing happens. If God wants me, he knows where I am going to be.”
Fasting is also an important part of my spiritual practice. In recent years, the emphasis has been on not giving up, but on doing something positive. That is fine. I feel however, it is important to say “No” to yourself and to certain things. For example, celibacy is a real renunciation. But so is poverty in saying that you don’t own anything. And so is obedience, allowing my life to be shaped by the needs of the church, of the congregation, and by decisions of the superiors. Obedience allows us to do so much more. Our Lord said that anyone who said “No” to family and houses and so on, will receive a hundredfold more. The time I spent in Africa proves that is absolutely true.
Partaking in food, drink and recreation are not bad in themselves. But when they fill all the spaces of our lives and lead us away from remembering God at the center, we need to say “No” to such. We need to keep an open space for God residing within us.
This can be likened to the rose windows of medieval cathedrals. Invariably at the center of the window, is the image of Christ, or Christ and Mary. The medallions surrounding the focal point are in perfect symmetry. Thus, when Christ is in the center, everything else takes its proper value. Otherwise, we begin to put too much emphasis and too much value on things that can never satisfy the human heart. It is only God that can satisfy the human heart. Salamu, Maria, umejaa neema Bwana yu nawe.
Father Marty Solma is a Marianist priest serving as chaplain of Chaminade University of Honolulu. He is 52 years professed and 41 years ordained. He resides at Hale Malia on the Chaminade campus.
