Tag: Faith

Insightfully Blind

When you think about it, the story of Bartimaeus’s encounter with Jesus in Mark 10:46-52 is curious. In a way, Bartimaeus already has more than he asks for:

They came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage; get up, he is calling you.” He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.” Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

   You might say that he saw before he could see!
   The gospel story is clear. There was no doubt; the man was blind. He had to ask others who it was that was walking down the road that led from the town. But, as soon as he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he saw who it was.
   Never mind superficialities like how he was dressed or walked or talked—no matter. Was he short or tall, thin or fat, light or dark? Bartimaeus couldn’t “see” in the sense that his eyes did not work, but he had something greater—insight!
   He “saw” in the Nazarene a man of God. He “saw” in Jesus one with a divine power. He “saw” in this stranger the possibility of being healed and made new.

   And, what did Jesus recognize in this “blind” supplicant? That unlike so many others who saw him and were blind, this “blind” man had a deeper kind of vision. Jesus called it “faith”.
   Faith isn’t wishful thinking. Faith isn’t a kind of childish fantasy or imagination. Faith isn’t a sort of desperate groping in the dark. Faith is insight. Faith is discernment. Faith is certitude.
   This peculiar way of discernment and insight is not a matter of knowledge but of love and trust!
   Bartimaeus had certitude, no doubt whatsoever, that Jesus could heal him and give him physical vision. He was sure. He knew that Jesus could do it. He saw who Jesus really was.
   Crazy, wasn’t it? The “blind man” begging for vision saw far better than many an other who stood nearby with eyes wide open!
   But there’s more to the story: Bartimaeus’s insight—and Jesus’ gift—had consequences.
   Bartimaeus was now facing a fork in his life’s road: to follow the majority along the popular road that they thought they clearly saw or to take the narrower way that was harder to follow but for which he had insight and could really “see”.
   Jesus is an elusive guide to follow, not in that he is trying to deceive or mislead but in that his way, the right way, the best way, is a narrow path and needs to be traveled with great care and eyes wide open.
   To follow him isn’t a matter going with the flow. It requires not just sight but insight. It requires trust and confidence without reservations. It is a matter of faith.
   May the Lord tell each of us, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”

24 October 2021

Shekinah

It’s not a biblical word as such, although it does describe some things in the Bible. It’s an English transliteration of a Hebrew word that refers to the divine presence and particularly associated with a manifestation of the divine presence. For example:
   – the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night that led the Israelites through the desert towards the Promised Land.
   – the experiences of Moses (and later Ezekiel) on the mountain of God.
   – the manifestation of the presence of God that clouded the great Temple of Solomon during its consecration ceremony.
   – the vision Ezekiel had of the glory of God leaving the Temple and Jerusalem itself because of the faithlessness of so many of its people.
   The word also could be used in reference to other kinds of manifestations of the divine presence. For example,
   – the glory of God, sung by the angels, at the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem. (Luke 2:8-14)
   – the prayer of Simeon, the righteous and devout, who took the infant Jesus into his arms in the Temple and blessed God that he lived to see “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” (Luke 2:32)
   – Jesus’ teaching about prayer: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20)
   There are myriad ways for a manifestation of the divine presence in our lives, and rarely are they very dramatic and unmistakable. Most often they escape our attention and are unnoticed.
   Remember what St. Paul said to the Athenian intellectuals on the Areopagus about the one God, quoting from their literature: “For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’ as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’” (Acts 17:28)

   “In him we live and move and have our being” means that we are radically inseparable from God, whether we know it or realize it or not.
   Every time we awaken to a new day is a gift, every good new thought and insight is an inspiration, every act of patient endurance is an empowerment.
   Do you really think that of yourself alone you’re so healthy, so smart, so strong, so attractive, so successful, so effective?
   Are you frustrated that you pray and sacrifice and that God seems indifferent and doesn’t respond?
   In many ways, we’re all like the tired and disillusioned disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were so caught up in themselves and their disappointments that, although the Lord was walking with them, they were blind to his presence.
   We’re really good at complaining and asking God why did this happen? why have you done this? why don’t you listen to me?
   The manifestations of the presence of God could be crashes of thunder, flashes of lightning, torrents of rain, earthquakes, and other such things—but usually this is more our imagination than God’s action.
   You exist! You were born! You still live! You know things! You’ve been to places! You have friends and people who love you!
   You, me, we are not alone. Our lives are not a series of random, meaningless advances and setbacks. We’re not wandering aimlessly in a wilderness. We’re travelers en route. We have a destiny and destination.
   Maybe you’ve recognized a manifestation of God in your life and maybe you haven’t.
   Just because you don’t recognize God walking with you doesn’t mean you’re walking alone.


3 October 2021

Expansive in Folly, Limited in Sense

Solomon finally slept with his fathers,
   and left behind him one of his sons,
Expansive in folly, limited in sense,
   Rehoboam, who by his policy made the people rebel;
   (Wisdom of Ben Sira (Sirach) 47:23a)

   “Expansive in folly, limited in sense.”
   What a blunt summary of the life of the third ruler of the united kingdom of Judah and Israel, Rehoboam, son of Solomon, son of David.
   They weren’t a dynasty of angels. David, hailed in tradition as the greatest king of Israel, the very prototype of the good king, was an enterprising young man, a military tactician, a renowned battle leader, fighter and killer.
   He also was a man who contrived to sleep with the wife of one of his officers, Uriah, who was away on active duty. And, later finding her pregnant, he ordered that her husband should be placed in the front line of a major attack and then abandoned to die there.
   When his bastard child died, David repented, and God forgave him. He married the widow, Bathsheba, and fathered another child with her, Solomon, who ultimately succeeded him.
   Solomon ruled a peaceful, united kingdom. He went down in history as the prototype of the wise man, but he also was a womanizer, who for political reasons introduced pagan worship into his kingdom to satisfy some of his many foreign wives.
   With the ascent of his son Rehoboam, the briefly united kingdom began to fracture and fail. There’s not much said about him in the Bible beyond the brief summary, “Expansive in folly, limited in sense.”
   David and Solomon also had their follies, misjudgments, mistakes, and failures—but at least they regretted, repented, and amended their ways.

   The morals of this little history are many, but one thing stands out—that nobody is perfect, always gets things right, doesn’t make stupid and even destructive decisions.
   However, some people do come to their senses, realize that they have failed or damaged others, and change. They admit their mistakes and strive to do better.
   Every idolized human person has clay feet. Short of divine intervention, of a special act of God, no one is faultless, and sometimes the faults are major, monumental, and their unintended consequences may live on and can’t be remedied.
   We would need superhuman wisdom and strength never to fail. Everyone’s biography has sections we’d love to edit away. But our failures are not the ultimate measure and judgment of our lives, no matter how great or consequential they may be.
   In this regard, St. Paul’s message to the Corinthians is consoling (1 Co 1:25-31):

   Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.”

1 August 2021

The Early Christian Community

The first summary description of life in the early Christian community is found in the Acts of the Apostles (2:42-47):

They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. (Acts 2:42)

   – The teaching of the apostles referred to instructions for the members of the Christian community, explaining the scriptures in the light of the life and teachings of Jesus.
   – The communal life (or brotherhood or fellowship) referred to the sharing of goods and possessions which expressed and strengthened the community (or communion) of spirit.
   – The breaking of the bread referred to the Jewish meal at which the presider pronounces a blessing before dividing the bread (or distributing the food). For the early Christians, it denoted the Eucharist.
   – The prayers referred to the prayers in common (later, especially, the prayers of the Divine Liturgy or Mass).
   Verse 46 says:

Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes.

   It seems to refer to a simpler version of what later evolved into what we now call the Divine Liturgy or Mass, before it became elaborated with ritual ceremonies and vesture and presided only by an ordained minister.
   This “communion” implied not only communion with the Lord, but also the communion of their common faith and fidelity to the apostolic teachings, of their sharing of goods and unity of spirit, and of their remembrance and thanksgiving for salvation in Jesus and unity in the one Spirit.

   “Common”—“communal”—“community”—“communion”—even “communism” are all related words, although they certainly have a very wide range of meanings and usages nowadays.
   But, it helps to know what they share in their root meanings and how they have evolved and changed in their usage. It may help us to use and understand them better.
   Under Pope Pius XII, archeological investigations were initiated to unearth the grave and relics of St. Peter the Apostle.
   According to tradition, the main altar of St. Peter’s basilica was built over his tomb.
   Researchers began to explore the area.
   Beneath today’s basilica were the remains of the first basilica. Beneath the remains of that Constantinian era basilica were the remains of a much earlier monument.
   That monument was built in a Roman cemetery, even damaging some of the nearby graves. The cemetery was next to the Circus of Nero on a road out of the city near the Vatican hill.
   How hard it is to imagine the original site of Peter’s crucifixion and burial as one stands in the great basilica of our day—but it is the very place!
   As the centuries passed and as one structure was built on and elaborated over another it became harder and harder to recognize the grave site itself.
   Our words are like that, especially our religious words. They sometimes have been elaborated and embellished, successively enlarged and rebuilt almost to the point that it’s hard to imagine their original meanings.
   Dig carefully for the original sense, but don’t destroy all the good, grandeur and development over the centuries!


2 May 2021

Wise Guys and Gals

The prophet Baruch (6th century BC) admonished his fellow Israelites, who were exiled, living in the land of their foes, growing old in a foreign land:
“You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom! Had you walked in the way of God, you would have dwelt in enduring peace.”
He didn’t rebuke them for their politics, for following the wrong leader or belong to the wrong partisan group.
He didn’t criticize them for greed or egoism, for feathering their own nests, while indifferent to the destitute and powerless.
He didn’t denounce them for their faithlessness, worshiping false gods that seemed to promise power and prestige, wealth and influence, lands and lordships, sensual satisfactions and fulfillment.
He didn’t waste time and words on symptoms and side effects. His diagnosis was of the root cause of all their failings and corruption:
“You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom!” You have forsaken the wellspring, the precious source, the essence of life.

“Learn where prudence is,
where strength, where understanding;
That you may know also
where are length of days, and life,
where light of the eyes, and peace.
Who has found the place of wisdom,
who has entered into her treasures?

“Yet he who knows all things knows her,
he has probed her by his knowledge…
Traced out all the way of understanding,
and has given her to Jacob his servant,
to Israel, his beloved son.
Since then she has appeared on earth,
and moved among men.

“She is the book of the precepts of God,
the law that endures forever;
All who cling to her will live…”

Solomon, David’s son, the third king of Israel was famed for his wisdom. When the Lord promised to give him whatever he asked for, Solomon asked for “a listening heart to judge your people and to distinguish between good and evil.”
The Lord responded, “I now do as you request. I give you a heart so wise and discerning that there has never been anyone like you until now, nor after you will there be anyone to equal you.” (1 Kings 3:5-14)
Alas, although King Solomon still remains the very prototype of the wise man, he had many failings in spite of his many achievements. History has been kind to him!
Wisdom is not merely knowledge; in fact one can have great wisdom without great knowledge.
Wisdom is to know what is true or right coupled with just judgement as to action; it involves sagacity, discernment, and insight.
The root and fountain of all wisdom is God and God’s revelation to humankind. To be wise is ever to seek to discern the will of God, the design and purpose of the Creator—and to conform our lives to it.
When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert, the evil one showed him all the kingdoms of the world and offered to give him all their power and glory if Jesus would worship him.
Jesus, embodiment of wisdom, told him, “You shall worship the Lord, your God,, and him alone shall you serve. (Luke 4:1-13)
We all have been given something of Solomon’s gift of a heart wise and discerning, and we all are tempted by worldly power and glory.
No more wise guys and gals, please, but more wise and discerning men and women.


13 December 2020

Watch Out

Pope Francis concelebrated Mass last Sunday in St. Peter’s Basilica with 11 of the 13 new cardinals he had created the day before. His homily was striking. Here are some excerpts:
“Advent is the season for remembering that closeness of God who came down to dwell in our midst…
“The first step of faith is to tell God that we need him, that we need him to be close to us…
“Let us make our own the traditional Advent prayer: ‘Come, Lord Jesus’…
“If we ask Jesus to come close to us, we will train ourselves to be watchful…It is important to remain watchful, because one great mistake in life is to get absorbed in a thousand things and not to notice God.
“Saint Augustine said: ‘I fear that Jesus will pass by me unnoticed’. Caught up in our own daily concerns (how well we know this!), and distracted by so many vain things, we risk losing sight of what is essential…Be watchful, attentive…
“Being watchful in expectation of his coming means not letting ourselves be overcome by discouragement. It is to live in hope. Just as before our birth, our loved ones expectantly awaited our coming into the world, so now Love in person awaits us.
“If we are awaited in Heaven, why should we be caught up with earthly concerns? Why should we be anxious about money, fame, success, all of which will pass away? Why should we waste time complaining about the night, when the light of day awaits us?…Be watchful, the Lord tells us.
   “Staying awake is not easy…Even Jesus’ disciples did not manage to stay awake…They did not keep watch, They fell asleep. But that same drowsiness can also overtake us…it is the slumber of mediocrity. It comes when we forget our first love and grow satisfied with indifference, concerned only for an untroubled existence.

“Without making an effort to love God daily and awaiting the newness he constantly brings, we become mediocre, lukewarm, worldly. And this slowly eats away at our faith, for faith is…an ardent desire for God, a bold effort to change, the courage to love, constant progress. Faith…is fire that burns; it is not a tranquilizer for people under stress, it is a love story for people in love!…
“How can we rouse ourselves from the slumber of mediocrity? With the vigilance of prayer…Prayer rouses us from the tepidity of a purely horizontal existence and makes us lift our gaze to higher things; it makes us attuned to the Lord…Prayer allows God to be close to us; it frees us from our solitude and gives us hope. Prayer is vital for life…
“There is also another kind of interior slumber: the slumber of indifference. Those who are indifferent see everything the same…they are unconcerned about those all around them. When everything revolves around us and our needs, and we are indifferent to the needs of others, night descends in our heart…
“How do we rouse ourselves from the slumber of indifference? With the watchfulness of charity. Charity is the beating heart of the Christian…being compassionate, helping and serving others…are the only things that win us the victory, since they are already aiming towards the future, the day of the Lord, when all else will pass away and love alone will remain.
“…praying and loving: that is what it means to be watchful…Come, Lord Jesus, take our distracted hearts and make them watchful. Awaken within us the desire to pray and the need to love.”


6 December 2020

Veni, Vidi, Vici

“I came, I saw, I conquered!” Probably this is the shortest report on a successful military campaign ever written (Julius Caesar, to the Senate of Rome, 47 BC).
It could easily be accommodated as a short report by Thomas the apostle on the resurrection (cf. the Gospel reading for the Second Sunday of Easter): “I came, I saw, I believed!”
Perhaps Thomas’s report could serve as a short report about each of our lives:
– I came (to know Christ through his disciples),
– I saw (his love and mercy in them), and
– believed (and lived my life accordingly).
But, is that our report? Is it a good summary description to date of the ongoing campaign and struggle of our lives? Are we clear sighted, do we really see? Is ours a victory story—or is the battle still raging?
They called him Doubting Thomas, because even with the unanimous testimony of all of his closest friends and colleagues, he wouldn’t, couldn’t believe their excited reports that they had seen the risen Jesus.
To be brutally honest, it makes sense. Put yourself in his shoes:
– Dead people don’t come back to life—but it’s understandable that love and desire can blind even your best friends to facts and logic.
– Delusional thinking isn’t just a personal peculiarity—even groups can succumb to it, whether family, neighborhoods, tribes, or nations.
– You have to think with your head and feel with your heart, not vice-versa. God gave us capacities to love strongly and to think clearly, but there’s no virtue in mixing them up.
– To use a tired contemporary phrase, isn’t this a good example of “Fake News”? Everybody saying what they want to be true doesn’t make it true.

Sure, that all makes sense—but we’re still faced with what seems to be too good to be true! (What a weird expression—how can something be “too good to be true”? The degree of goodness has nothing to do with veracity.
Just because everybody “believes” something doesn’t make it true—but the clear and uncontested testimony of more than one eyewitness is still a commonly accepted standard for judgement.
When Thomas saw Jesus with his own eyes, he believed—actually, he didn’t “believe,” he “knew.” I wonder how many people to whom he gave his testimony in the ensuring years believed him?
Anyway, as far as you and I are concerned, let’s think critically and have no delusions, but let’s not forget to trust in the proven testimony of witnesses, even if we’ve never had their experience.
Let’s not cling to past events, and experiences, and religious practices as though they are unalterable and deny the possibility of new ones.
Caesar didn’t win his victories by clinging to the proven tactics and strategies of the past. New enemies may mean new challenges and demand new solutions. He did it. He came and saw what needed to be done, and he did it. He reported victory!
Thomas brought Gospel tidings all the way to southern India. He “conquered” with new language, new tactics, new strategies—and brought Good News.
Our campaign is not over yet, no matter what—so God speed with your life, eyes and heart wide open, and trust in all the testimonies of the love and mercy of God.


19 April 2020