Faith Without Seeing

Second Sunday of Easter – Year B

Acts 4:32-36 / Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24 / 1 John 5:1-6 / John 20:19-31

Faith Without Seeing

Often enough we hear people saying they wish they were alive when Jesus walked the earth. If only I could have seen him heal with my own eyes and heard him teach with my own ears, I would really believe in him. When we say this we forget that the Pharisees and other leaders of the people saw him work wonders and still did not come to faith.

People who go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land walk in the footsteps of the historical Jesus. They go to the Jordan where he was baptized by John and see the site of the Sermon on the Mount. They see his birthplace and walk the Way of the Cross. But if they don't have faith before they go, they will not come back with it. If they don't have the gift of faith in Jesus the Risen Lord, no amount of scientific proof, be it an archaeological dig, a burial shroud or a book of the Bible, will convince them. Faith is not an intellectual exercise of proof and belief, but it is a matter of meaning, and is ultimately a matter of love and hope. That may be why moments of tragedy often put our faith to the test. That's also why it's often faith and nothing less that is able to help us through those moments.

We all go through crises of varying intensity: the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, a broken marriage. Perhaps we wonder how God could allow such things to happen to us if he really loves us. Perhaps Thomas wondered the same thing as he tried to make sense out of his own master's crucifixion, as he tried to find a reason to hope, a reason to love, a reason to go on living. 

Perhaps it wasn't seeing the wounds in the hands and feet of Christ that brought Thomas to a firmer faith. Maybe it was the look of forgiveness and unconditional acceptance on the face of our Lord that let Thomas know death hadn't swallowed up the one he loved. Rather the light of God had triumphed over the darkness of sin. The love of Christ had conquered the hate of his enemies. Thomas had his day of doubt. He also had a lifetime of faith.

No doubt, we too will have our times of wondering if it’s all true, but John's Gospel is written for us, so that we might believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world. That we might not flee from doubt and crises of meaning, but see in doubt and crises the first step of a deeper faith, a faith not simply in a man who taught well, or healed a few, but in a Lord who is the giver of life.

Blest indeed are they who have not seen, yet believe. Blest are we who believe.

·         What has gotten you through your moments of doubt? Is there a particular encounter with Christ in your life or in scripture that was your moment to believe without seeing?

The Filter of the 'Our Father'

Classic Catholic advice on prayer includes praying an Our Father and a Hail Mary at the beginning and end of the day.  It is some of the basic stuff Mary talked about at La Salette in 1846 - the community I once belonged to keeps the memory of this event alive today. 

What if we used this routine of the most basic (but not simplisitc) of prayers as the filter for our day?  What if the Our Father became a way for us to set our intention for the day? 

Our Father... AM: I raise my awareness or recall that God is with me at every moment. I am loved at every moment. PM: I thank God that he was with me all day, and I recall specific moments in which I was aware or unaware at the time, that God was near.

who art in heaven... AM: I am accountable at every moment according to higher standards than just my wants and needs. PM: How have I been accountable to God's law today?

hallowed be thy name... AM: My life ought to reflect God's holiness. PM: How have I glorified God today?

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven... AM: I ask of each activity today, what is the will of God at this moment?  How shall I conduct myself so as to reflect the presence of God's reign breaking in at this moment? PM: Where did I see God's reign breaking in today? How did I cooperate with God's will or fail to?

Give us this day our daily bread... AM: Dependence on God at every moment. I acknolwedge that I do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. PM: I give thanks to God for all the grace I have been supported by today.

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us... AM: Where are the traps for me today?  What habits do I need to be freed from so I can truly live in the freedom of the children of God? Who will I deal with who I have trouble with?  PM: In addition to God, whose forgiveness do I need from today and for what? Will there be a chance to apolgize and ask forgiveness tomorrow? PM: I ask forgiveness of God for my sins.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil... AM: What situations will pose challenges to my virtuous living today?  How will might I be tempted to take glory, rather than give it to God? For what might I need to fast and pray to remain in God's grace? PM: I thank God for keeping me free from sin and for protecting me from harm, and for helping me to weather the storms that came to my life today.

Stray thoughts on questions Noah raises for me about God

God said to Noah... "I will establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth." (Gen. 9:8, 11)
No wonder the insurance companies call natural disasters, "Acts of God." It's right there in the Bible. Acts of God are beyond one's comprehension. And while this story of Noah seems to end well - with a new beginning - it is a little unsettling when we consider that the same God who sent a Savior for us, is said to once have send a storm to wipe everyone but eight people away.

Is this how we understand God?  Wiping out most of life as punishment for sin?  Is this an example of the sharp contrast between the First and Second (Old and New) Testaments? 

I can sympathize with Noah's God, however. I have had times when I would have liked to go back and start all over again.  It seems that God wanted to do this when he saw how wicked his human creatures were.  It seems like God had a change of heart at the end.  Did God wish for a do-over? 

Wiping out sin; isn't this what support for capital punishment is about? 

If you knew that someone had a previous history of violence, wouldn't you be on your guard around them?  The story of Noah seems to attribute a history of violence to God.  It also seems to attribute a history of repentance to God.  Is Noah's story about God's repentance?  Is Noah's story about our new beginning? 

I have to admit, I have trouble sorting out the understanding of God in this story.  I usually try to look at it as a God who means no harm to us now. But we only get to that through an avenging God as the starting point of the story.  Did God change?  If so, will God change again? 

Somehow I believe in a God who would not have sent the flood.  I want God's metaphorical flood waters (the waters of baptism) to wash away my sins.  This is where I see the plant to include this story in our Lenten lectionary.  Lent is about preparation to renew our baptismal covenant with God in Christ Jesus. 

As I "appeal to God for a clear conscience" (1 Peter 3:21) I ask you to sit with me in the tension of multiple understandings of God presented in our faith tradition - understandings that sit along side in tension with each other.  And let us consider what those images not only say of God, but also of us.
May God renew his covenant with us each day.

Privilege

In an email I get from Catholic Charities USA, Glenn Leach wrote,
      "According to Isaiah, I must first stop being oppressive to others in action, word and
       speech."
Later in his reflection on the daily readings he prays,
     "Lord, prevent the blessings already given from allowing me to confuse my ways with
     yours." 

Perhaps this Lent we who have privilege (e.g. white, male, Christian, straight - like me) in our society should reflect on our power, and how we might use it to help even the playing field that has been corrupted by history of which we often remain conveniently ignorant.  Perhaps this Lent we could ask God to give us the gift of konwledge, that we may understand the oppression in our land and the systems that make it possible. 

Let us together sing of the God of Justice who knows no favorties!

True Self, False Self? Determined Self, Dynamic Self?

I have been reading a little about Thomas Merton, actually it is James Finley's classic book, Merton's Place of Nowhere. In it Finley describes Merton's conept of the true and the False Self.  As I reflected on this idea of two (or more) selves, I began to wonder if the True Self is set, determined, fixed.  Is there a certain "self" that I should be, a predetermined identity? Or do I create my "self" freely (not totally freely, but within the constraints of what is possible, and more or less likely)?

There are implications for conversion in this consideration.  If I am to turn back to God, it may not involve turning back to a former self, or even to a predetemined version of my self that I have not yet achieved.  But perhaps conversion is about co-creating the self with God, without either of us having a predetermined notion of what that is. 

If conversion is "turning around" is it necessarily "turning back?" As in turning back to a plan (God's presumably) that I abandoned through sin.  Or is it a "turning toward" something predetermined?  Or is it a turning toward a possibilitiy or possibilities for the self I could become?

I apologize for not having this so clearly mapped out for your consideration.  I hope you who read this will comment and we can dialogue.  And in dialoguing, perhaps we come to know Christ better than before (and ourselves as well) which is the point of this blog any way.

Peace, and a Blessed Lent.

Coming to Love What Is Within

As Lent approaches, perhaps we could consider a different kind of penance, than what most traditionally think of.  Perhaps we could pray for the grace to understand, accept and love what is within us.  That may be the true meaning of conversion. 

This might involve asking for forgiveness - for rejecting what we have found inside ourselves - from God and others, and even from ourselves. 

For sure, we are aware of a few things - or more - that we need to repent of, things we keep going back to though we know that they do not contribute to our being our best selves. Maybe those sins flow from the rejection of the wounds and the limitations we all have within us.  Perhaps we are trying to fill the emptiness within with something that cannot fill it.

Prepare the way!
I know - that's the cry of Advent.
Perhaps in Lent we can listen to this cry as: "Prepare the way of the cross. Prepare the way of bearing the burden that is myself - a burden that Christ in his mercy makes lighter and easier.

Now is the moment.  This day there is salvation - in acceptance of the sinner, and healing for the sin.