Daily Retreat 03/15/09
2009 Mar 15 SUN: THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
Ex 20: 1-17/ Ps 18(19): 8. 9. 10. 11/ 1 Cor 1: 22-25/ Jn 2: 13-25
From today’s readings: “In those days, God delivered all these commandments.... The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul; the decree of the LORD is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple.... Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.... Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem....”
The Divine Primer
Probably the first thing that all of us learned about God is the fact that He made us. In the course of human history, there has certainly been a lot of discussion and argument about who God is, but at least there’s remarkable agreement across the board of monotheism that some divine being made us.
O.K., simple enough - God made us. But where do we go from there? Some people (a small minority, to be sure) will grant that God made us, but then they make the absurd claim that he didn’t really know what he was doing in the act of creation - they basically reduce God to a cosmic “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” who was playing with powers beyond his control.
The rational conclusion, though, is that God did know what He was doing in the act of creation, that since the effect cannot be greater than the cause, the entire universe of creation cannot be greater than the Creator. So God must have some plan and purpose in creation.
But did God ever bother with the divine courtesy of revealing His plan to His creation, or did He keep it to Himself and leave it up to us to figure that all out? Here again, there are two basic schools of thought. The vast majority of believers of all ages have been theists, confessing faith in God, along with the additional assumption that He has intentionally revealed something about Himself and His plan for us. Others, however, are classified as deists: they believe in God the creator, but they deny that any intelligible “Word of the Lord” has ever been revealed to man. Deism, however, is ultimately a rational dead-end - what sense is there in believing in a creator who just sits back and passively observes the inane unwinding of creation?
Those who believe that God has created us and revealed Himself, generally believe that He has revealed Himself as Good - Good, with a capital “G” since He is the source of all goodness. One historical group of people, the Jews, even claim that God, who is Good, has specifically revealed Himself in human history, choosing them, the Jews, as the elected recipients of that Divine Revelation, as is recorded in the Old Testament.
About 2000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth, a member of the Jewish people, went even further, presenting Himself as the incarnated Son of God, the One entrusted to unveil the fullness of Divine Revelation, and aptly described as “the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.”
As Christians, we, of course, all believe that God made us, that God knew what He was doing in creating us, that He revealed the Truth and Goodness of Himself first to the Jews in the Old Testament, and then, in the fullness of time, God revealed Himself in the person of His divine Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. As creatures and children of God, our first duty is to Him, not to ourselves.
Curiously and tragically, among Christians who nominally, at least, subscribe to this belabored chain of belief, many, in practice, make a most gratuitous assumption that they know better than God, the Creator who is Good and has revealed Himself to us. For many professing Christians don’t even know a rather crucial slice of divine revelation, namely, the 10 Commandments of God, and even more Christians, whether or not they can yet recite the Decalogue, will cheerfully grant themselves at least an occasional dispensation from God’s commandments. In complete honesty, have not all of us rationalized at one point or another about being exempt in some sense from the full force of God’s laws? But that implies that we know better than God!
Yet God’s laws are not human laws: His laws are perfect, and universal, whereas human laws are imperfect and limited in their scope. Moreover, God is not like a traffic cop, who turns his back occasionally and thus invites stealthy infractions with impunity. But neither is God a tyrant, who capriciously makes laws for his own selfish ends - no, God is Good, and so His laws are all good laws, always beneficial to those who keep them.
All this leads to the question: why don’t people in general (and ourselves in particular!) always keep God’s laws? The reason is obvious for people who don’t believe in God, or don’t believe that God knows best, or don’t believe that God has revealed His law to us, but for those of us who do believe all those things, there’s simply no good reason. A lot of excuses, but no good reasons!
The Gospel reminds us that Jesus doesn’t need anyone to explain to Him about human nature - He understands every person very well Himself. He knows our weaknesses, our excuses, our rationalizations. And He also knows what’s best for us! So Lent is the insistent reminder to be consistent about our professed belief in God who knows best, so that we can have the courage to give up our weary excuses, and take up the Cross of Christ, which is the Divine Law of Life and Love.
Ex 20: 1-17/ Ps 18(19): 8. 9. 10. 11/ 1 Cor 1: 22-25/ Jn 2: 13-25
From today’s readings: “In those days, God delivered all these commandments.... The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul; the decree of the LORD is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple.... Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.... Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem....”
The Divine Primer
Probably the first thing that all of us learned about God is the fact that He made us. In the course of human history, there has certainly been a lot of discussion and argument about who God is, but at least there’s remarkable agreement across the board of monotheism that some divine being made us.
O.K., simple enough - God made us. But where do we go from there? Some people (a small minority, to be sure) will grant that God made us, but then they make the absurd claim that he didn’t really know what he was doing in the act of creation - they basically reduce God to a cosmic “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” who was playing with powers beyond his control.
The rational conclusion, though, is that God did know what He was doing in the act of creation, that since the effect cannot be greater than the cause, the entire universe of creation cannot be greater than the Creator. So God must have some plan and purpose in creation.
But did God ever bother with the divine courtesy of revealing His plan to His creation, or did He keep it to Himself and leave it up to us to figure that all out? Here again, there are two basic schools of thought. The vast majority of believers of all ages have been theists, confessing faith in God, along with the additional assumption that He has intentionally revealed something about Himself and His plan for us. Others, however, are classified as deists: they believe in God the creator, but they deny that any intelligible “Word of the Lord” has ever been revealed to man. Deism, however, is ultimately a rational dead-end - what sense is there in believing in a creator who just sits back and passively observes the inane unwinding of creation?
Those who believe that God has created us and revealed Himself, generally believe that He has revealed Himself as Good - Good, with a capital “G” since He is the source of all goodness. One historical group of people, the Jews, even claim that God, who is Good, has specifically revealed Himself in human history, choosing them, the Jews, as the elected recipients of that Divine Revelation, as is recorded in the Old Testament.
About 2000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth, a member of the Jewish people, went even further, presenting Himself as the incarnated Son of God, the One entrusted to unveil the fullness of Divine Revelation, and aptly described as “the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.”
As Christians, we, of course, all believe that God made us, that God knew what He was doing in creating us, that He revealed the Truth and Goodness of Himself first to the Jews in the Old Testament, and then, in the fullness of time, God revealed Himself in the person of His divine Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. As creatures and children of God, our first duty is to Him, not to ourselves.
Curiously and tragically, among Christians who nominally, at least, subscribe to this belabored chain of belief, many, in practice, make a most gratuitous assumption that they know better than God, the Creator who is Good and has revealed Himself to us. For many professing Christians don’t even know a rather crucial slice of divine revelation, namely, the 10 Commandments of God, and even more Christians, whether or not they can yet recite the Decalogue, will cheerfully grant themselves at least an occasional dispensation from God’s commandments. In complete honesty, have not all of us rationalized at one point or another about being exempt in some sense from the full force of God’s laws? But that implies that we know better than God!
Yet God’s laws are not human laws: His laws are perfect, and universal, whereas human laws are imperfect and limited in their scope. Moreover, God is not like a traffic cop, who turns his back occasionally and thus invites stealthy infractions with impunity. But neither is God a tyrant, who capriciously makes laws for his own selfish ends - no, God is Good, and so His laws are all good laws, always beneficial to those who keep them.
All this leads to the question: why don’t people in general (and ourselves in particular!) always keep God’s laws? The reason is obvious for people who don’t believe in God, or don’t believe that God knows best, or don’t believe that God has revealed His law to us, but for those of us who do believe all those things, there’s simply no good reason. A lot of excuses, but no good reasons!
The Gospel reminds us that Jesus doesn’t need anyone to explain to Him about human nature - He understands every person very well Himself. He knows our weaknesses, our excuses, our rationalizations. And He also knows what’s best for us! So Lent is the insistent reminder to be consistent about our professed belief in God who knows best, so that we can have the courage to give up our weary excuses, and take up the Cross of Christ, which is the Divine Law of Life and Love.
posted by FrPitstick | 3/13/2009
<< Home