The prayer after Communion for this past Sunday and Monday's Mass is a bit confusing:
May these mysteries, O Lord,
in which we have participated,
profit us, we pray,
for even now, as we walk amid passing things,
you teach us by them
to love the things of heaven
and hold fast to what endures.
Through Christ our Lord.
I think that a grammarian would say that "them" refers to the preceding noun, (passing) things. However, I think that what teaches us are the mysteries we have celebrated.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Not What but Who
One of the characteristics of the Catholic faith is its intellectual content. From the formulas of the early Ecumenical Councils, trhough Scholasticism's systemization of theology, to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, our church has developed a rich intellectual tradition.
However such emphasis on content runs the risk of focusing our attention on the things to be learned. Yet this knowledge is mean to help us come to know God and to enter into a relationship with God. The goal of our faith is a relationship with the God who loves us.
"In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature. Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God out of the abundance of His love speaks to men and lives among them so that He may invite them into fellowship with Himself." (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation #2)
God chose to reveal Himself so that we might come to share the divine nature! The 1st Letter of John puts it this way:
"See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are... Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:1-2)
In the Gospel according to John, Jesus prays for his disciples at the last supper:
"I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also mey be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory that you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world." (John 17:20-21)
One in Christ with the Father, sharing the glory the Father bestowed on Christ. This is Jesus' prayer for us whom the Father loves as he loves Christ. This is good news.
However such emphasis on content runs the risk of focusing our attention on the things to be learned. Yet this knowledge is mean to help us come to know God and to enter into a relationship with God. The goal of our faith is a relationship with the God who loves us.
"In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature. Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God out of the abundance of His love speaks to men and lives among them so that He may invite them into fellowship with Himself." (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation #2)
God chose to reveal Himself so that we might come to share the divine nature! The 1st Letter of John puts it this way:
"See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are... Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:1-2)
In the Gospel according to John, Jesus prays for his disciples at the last supper:
"I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also mey be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory that you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world." (John 17:20-21)
One in Christ with the Father, sharing the glory the Father bestowed on Christ. This is Jesus' prayer for us whom the Father loves as he loves Christ. This is good news.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
The heart of the good news
In Bo Caldwell's book, "City of Tranquil Light," the main character, Will Kiehn, is a man seemingly destined for life as a farmer in the Midwest, who finds himself called by God to travel to the North China Plain in the early twentieth century to labor as a Mennonite missionary. At the end of the book, Will, now a widower in his 80's who lives in a home for retired missionaries, says:
"Over time I have come to believe that God's will is a mystery, fluid and surprising. Following it is like stepping into something I cannot see, and I am frequently unsure about whether I am doing God's will until after the fact. But I have learned that while I don't always know when I am doing something right, I always know when I am doing something wrong, and I rely on this as I go forward, trusting that He will use my mistakes as well as my triumphs and knowing that He does not ask me to be perfect, or even good. He simply asks me to be His, which to me is the heart of His good news: that I am deeply and passionately loved exactly as I am, despite the faults that grieve me most, by a God who delights in me more than I can know - a God who created me so He could love me. With the gift of that renewed certainty when I awake each morning, I rise to meet the day and to praise my dear Lord, and to finish my course with joy."
Indeed this is the heart of the good news: God loves me deeply and passionately exactly as I am.
It is not possible to understand the God of Jesus Christ except as a God of love. Such love is never comprehended simply by the intellect. Such love, to be comprehended must touch the soul; it must be experienced.
In Bo Caldwell,s book, it is the lifetime of relationships with family members, spouse, fellow Mennonites, neophytes who respond to Will's preaching, even those who do not come to faith in Christ, it is this lifetime of relationships that reveal a loving God to Will Kiehn.
God's love for us is mediated by the experiences of each of our lives. As Richard Rohr writes in "Things Hidden, Scripture as Spirituality," "God comes to us disguised as our life."
"Over time I have come to believe that God's will is a mystery, fluid and surprising. Following it is like stepping into something I cannot see, and I am frequently unsure about whether I am doing God's will until after the fact. But I have learned that while I don't always know when I am doing something right, I always know when I am doing something wrong, and I rely on this as I go forward, trusting that He will use my mistakes as well as my triumphs and knowing that He does not ask me to be perfect, or even good. He simply asks me to be His, which to me is the heart of His good news: that I am deeply and passionately loved exactly as I am, despite the faults that grieve me most, by a God who delights in me more than I can know - a God who created me so He could love me. With the gift of that renewed certainty when I awake each morning, I rise to meet the day and to praise my dear Lord, and to finish my course with joy."
Indeed this is the heart of the good news: God loves me deeply and passionately exactly as I am.
It is not possible to understand the God of Jesus Christ except as a God of love. Such love is never comprehended simply by the intellect. Such love, to be comprehended must touch the soul; it must be experienced.
In Bo Caldwell,s book, it is the lifetime of relationships with family members, spouse, fellow Mennonites, neophytes who respond to Will's preaching, even those who do not come to faith in Christ, it is this lifetime of relationships that reveal a loving God to Will Kiehn.
God's love for us is mediated by the experiences of each of our lives. As Richard Rohr writes in "Things Hidden, Scripture as Spirituality," "God comes to us disguised as our life."
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