Blog:Salvation is for the "childlike"? Matthew 11:25: Difference between revisions
Blog:Salvation is for the "childlike"? Matthew 11:25 (view source)
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Of course in the passage, "the wise and learned" are the priests and scribes of Israel who refused to believe Jesus was the Christ (see footnote to [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?27 Mt. 11:25]). In his prayer to the Father, Jesus contrasts them with the "childlike" who do accept him as the Son of God. | Of course in the passage, "the wise and learned" are the priests and scribes of Israel who refused to believe Jesus was the Christ (see footnote to [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?27 Mt. 11:25]). In his prayer to the Father, Jesus contrasts them with the "childlike" who do accept him as the Son of God. | ||
Yet, it wasn't so easy for those believing "children," either. In a rational calculation of the strength of the wind, Peter faltered in belief and, but for Jesus, nearly drowned ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/14?30 Mt 14:30]); many if not most of the disciples walked away | Yet, it wasn't so easy for those believing "children," either. In a rational calculation of the strength of the wind, Peter faltered in belief and, but for Jesus, nearly drowned ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/14?30 Mt 14:30]); many if not most of the disciples walked away out of reasonable hygienic caution when Jesus offered them "his flesh to eat" ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/14?30 Jn 6:52]); Philip rationally calculated that it would take upward a year's salary to buy enough bread to feed all those people ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/6?7 Jn 6:7]). On and on until that first, fullest declaration of Jesus as God, by Thomas, who, very adult-like, just wanted a little more proof ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/20:28 Jn 20:28]). | ||
Clearly Jesus did not mean that the "wise and the learned" cannot know the Father. Instead, he said that the Father had "hidden these things" from them, while leaving it to the Son to reveal him to them: | Clearly Jesus did not mean that the "wise and the learned" cannot know the Father. Instead, he said that the Father had "hidden these things" from them, while leaving it to the Son to reveal him to them: | ||
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Jesus continues his literal explanation, | Jesus continues his literal explanation, | ||
"The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. | "The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. | ||
thus bringing us to the | thus bringing us to the logical conclusion that reason cannot know him, only faith: | ||
''"Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."'' | ''"Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."'' | ||
Here at night, in a dark room, and in a secret meeting, Jesus next lays it all down upon poor Nicodemus, the incomprehensible<ref>see the [[Senses of Scripture]] for the interpretational tools of the ''literal'', the ''allegorical'', the ''moral'' and the ''anagogical.''</ref> meaning of it all, | Here at night, in a dark room, and in a secret meeting, Jesus next lays it all down upon poor Nicodemus, the incomprehensible<ref>see the [[Senses of Scripture]] for the interpretational tools of the ''literal'', the ''allegorical'', the ''moral'' and the ''anagogical.''</ref> meaning of it all, | ||
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Why Nicodemus? Wasn't he among the "wise and the learned"? John tells us later that Nicodemus does come to believe, and fully: | Why Nicodemus? Wasn't he among the "wise and the learned"? John tells us later that Nicodemus does come to believe, and fully: | ||
Nicodemus, '''the one who had first come to him at night''', also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/19:39 Jn 19:39]) | Nicodemus, '''the one who had first come to him at night''', also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/19:39 Jn 19:39]) | ||
So "the wise and the learned" can discover God. They just have use <u>both</u> wings of faith <u>and</u> reason, and wrap their minds around belief: that is, not to let the limits of reason impede the mysterious | So "the wise and the learned" can discover God. They just have use <u>both</u> wings of faith <u>and</u> reason, and wrap their minds around belief: that is, not to let the limits of reason impede the mysterious. | ||
== From the "mouths of babes" == | == From the "mouths of babes" == | ||
On Palm Sunday, as the "children outside the Temple sang, "Hosanna to the Son of David," the pharisees, "the wise and the learned," were "indignant," writes Matthew ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/21?15 Mt 21:15]). | |||
On Palm Sunday, as the "children outside the Temple sang, "Hosanna to the Son of David," the pharisees, "the wise and the learned," were "indignant," writes Matthew ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/21?15 Mt 21:15]). | |||
Jesus says to them, | Jesus says to them, | ||
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They are also entirely innocent. I see from the experts that in Matthew 11, the Greek taken in English as “to the childlike” can also be seen as “to the innocent,”<ref>[https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+11 Matthew 11 | Lumina (netbible.org)]</ref> which fits the context just as well as a contrast to “the wise and the learned.” | They are also entirely innocent. I see from the experts that in Matthew 11, the Greek taken in English as “to the childlike” can also be seen as “to the innocent,”<ref>[https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+11 Matthew 11 | Lumina (netbible.org)]</ref> which fits the context just as well as a contrast to “the wise and the learned.” | ||
But that’s | However, my dog is entirely innocent, too. Every time he shows me his simple, pure love, love that is unreasoned and unconditional, I stumble over my intellect’s obstructions to pure faith. Why can't I be like that to my -- the Father? But I am not this wonderful creature's father; he is not my child. He is a dog and can't reason through to it, so his adoration for me, if an example for how I should adore the Father, is incomplete. | ||
And that’s the point. We must have both reason and faith, as free will requires it, (And the Father demands of us a free will.) An intellect that is humble is childlike. An intellect that yearns to find God is childlike. An intellect that submits to the Father is both childlike and innocent. An intellect that accepts belief is like the child who adores and obeys his -- the Father. | |||
== Child of the Father == | == Child of the Father == | ||
All this confusion until now. | |||
" | Now, "childlike” our priest explains, is to have a father -- the Father. Childlike is to respect, recognize, obey, love, and need the Father. | ||
Of course! | Of course! | ||
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A "childlike" faith, then, is humble, honest, and yearning for the Father. | A "childlike" faith, then, is humble, honest, and yearning for the Father. | ||
When Satan tempted Adam and Eve to "be like God," it was not just the Tree of Knowledge they | When Satan tempted Adam and Eve to "be like God," it was not just the Tree of Knowledge they shook, they rearranged the family tree: they would no longer be God's children. Satan, himself not of the image of God, and thus not a child of the Father, jealously, spitefully, tried to disconnect us from our Father. But God won't have it. While handing out merited punishment (the "curse"), he bestowed upon Adam and Eve the glory of father- and motherhood (the "blessing"). And then he set us off on our long course back home, prodigal sons and daughters of the Father. | ||
Salvation, then, is the return to childhood | Salvation, then, is the return to childhood of the Father. God doesn't owe us our abandoned inheritance, but he wants us to ask for it back. As our Deacon taught the other day, St. Thomas called it "congruent merit" that we merit but do not deserve salvation, for which we become worthy only through and by Christ. In Matthew 11, Jesus isn't telling us to be simpletons, he's telling us, rather plainly, now that I can see it -- like scales falling from the eyes -- that we must accept and act like we have a -- the Father. | ||
== Flying on both wings == | |||
When the Apostles falter or are inadequate in their faith, their incomplete reason steps in and misdirects their faith. The bird cannot fly upon one wing.<ref>It can flap around in circles -- ouch, what a metaphor for "the wise and the learned" ! </ref> Nor can it fly without the air to lift.<ref>''Ruah'' in Hebrew, meaning "breath of God"; see [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/1?2 Gn 1:2]:, "mighty wind"</ref> | |||
When Jesus asks the disciples, first, who the people say he is, then, who do the disciples say, | |||
Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” | |||
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/16?15 Mt 15:15-17]) | |||
In the next verse, [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/16?18 Matthew 15:18], Jesus calls Peter ''kēpā’'' , Aramaic for the Rock, and tells him, ''"and upon this rock I will build my church.''" | |||
We know from Matthew 11 and elsewhere ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/6?65 Jn 6:65]) God chooses whom to reveal himself. But that doesn't mean the choice is predetermined. Jesus chose Peter for his gifts of personality, heart, reason, and action. Peter is rash yet obedient, prideful yet believing, and smart, yet open-minded. He has, we might say, the right wings with which to be lifted by the Holy Spirit. | |||
So why can't we all? | |||
== Confirmation bias == | == Confirmation bias == | ||
If we encounter a mystery without amazement, we have seen nothing. In the various Wikipedia entries on the Saints, our collected "wise and learned" authors fall back upon supposedly | If we encounter a mystery without amazement, we have seen nothing. In the various Wikipedia entries on the Saints, our collected "wise and learned" authors fall back upon supposedly objective denials such as "some type of premonition"<ref>[[wikipedia:Siege_of_Orléans|Siege of Orléans - Wikipedia]]: "Joan's confessor / chaplain, Jean Pasquerel, later stated that Joan herself had some type of premonition or foreknowledge of her wound, stating the day before the attack that 'tomorrow blood will flow from my body above my breast.'"</ref>, "which are believed to have occurred in"<ref>[[wikipedia:Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe|Our Lady of Guadalupe - Wikipedia]]: "'''Our Lady of Guadalupe''' ... is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus associated with a series of five Marian apparitions to a Mexican peasant named Juan Diego and his uncle, Juan Bernardino, which are believed to have occurred in December 1531, when the Mexican territories were under the Spanish Empire."</ref>, and "witnesses who believed they had seen a miracle."<ref>[[wikipedia:Our_Lady_of_Fátima#Miracle_of_the_Sun|Our Lady of Fátima - Wikipedia]]: "Father John De Marchi, an Italian Catholic priest and researcher wrote several books on the subject, which included descriptions by witnesses who believed they had seen a miracle created by Mary, Mother of God."</ref> Worse, in the face of plain, first-hand historical witness, which somehow suffice as clear evidence for secular histories, the supposedly miraculous explanation is "not accepted by all authorities."<ref>[[wikipedia:Siege_of_Orléans|Siege of Orléans - Wikipedia]]: "Accordingly, when news of the defeat at Rouvray reached Vaucouleurs, Baudricourt became convinced of the girl's prescience and agreed to escort her. Whatever the truth of the story – and it is not accepted by all authorities – Joan left Vaucouleurs on 23 February for Chinon."</ref> | ||
I think the purposes of the interested parties that govern certain Wikipedia pages is clear. Yet, we fool ourselves to think that we ourselves would never have been skeptical like the pharisees, or, had we been there ourselves, that we'd be entirely free of doubt. Most doubtful. | |||
You may have seen the "dancing bear" or "invisible gorilla" videos, short films of groups of people running in circles passing around a basketball.<ref>Here for the bear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfA3ivLK_tE ; and here for the gorilla: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo</ref> When told to count how many times the ball has been passed | You may have seen the "dancing bear" or "invisible gorilla" videos, short films of groups of people running in circles passing around a basketball.<ref>Here for the bear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfA3ivLK_tE ; and here for the gorilla: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo</ref> When told to count how many times the ball has been passed around, viewers fail to see that amidst the shuffle, either a moon-walking bear or a gorilla going right through the group. Called "selective attention," it's really a form of ''confirmation bias'', whereby we see what we expect to see, we believe only what we already believe. | ||
Confirmation bias is not always harmful, In fact, it can lead to great insight, such as that of Columbus who saw only an earth that was 8,000 miles around, despite plentiful evidence available to him. Had he opened his mind to, say, Eratosthenes, who in 240 BC measured | Confirmation bias is not always harmful, In fact, it can lead to great insight, such as that of Columbus who saw only an earth that was 8,000 miles around, despite plentiful contrary evidence available to him. Had he opened his mind to, say, Eratosthenes, who in 240 BC measured the earth's circumference to near perfect accuracy,<ref>Earth's circumference - Wikipedia "an error on the real value between −2.4% and +0.8%"</ref> he never would have sailed west from Spain.<ref>At the time, the "Atlantic" and "Pacific" oceans were thought of as a single "Ocean." </ref> Great insight not infrequently follows a biased vision. | ||
On the other hand, confirmation bias is the stuff of Satan. It keeps us apart. It leads to conflict. It shields us from truth. | On the other hand, confirmation bias is the stuff of Satan. It keeps us apart. It leads to conflict. It shields us from truth. The pharisees were too busy looking out for unblemished sheep that they entirely missed God. Blinded by confirmation bias, that is. They are not alone. | ||
Sadly, we usually know better. So we get around the "cognitive dissonance" of doing wrong while knowing right through rationalization. Either rationalized or through ignorance, we engage the worst form of confirmation bias when it completely binds us to an entrenched point of view. I am using the word "bind" where "blind" would | As "poor banished children of Eve" with limited reason, our [[Sin|three-fold concupiscence]] drives our biases: ''what our flesh desires, what we jealously see around us, and what we think we are over others.'' When any of those tendencies toward sin feel threatened, they lash us, bind us, take us where ought not to go, knowingly or not. | ||
Sadly, we usually know better. So we get around the "cognitive dissonance" of doing wrong while knowing right through rationalization. Either rationalized or through ignorance, we engage the worst form of confirmation bias when it completely binds us to an entrenched point of view that shields a truth. Note that I am using the word "bind" where "blind" would fit. If you think about it, "blind" can mean not being fooled by one's own eyes -- or flawed perceptions, which is why blind people develop and exercise perceptions that go unseen by others.<ref>All kinds of interesting places to wander with the miracles of healing the blind. As opposed to the ancient world's view that the blind are wise because they are not blinded by what they see -- such as the blind Greek poet Homer. Jesus inverts the paradigm and gives sight (faith) to the blind (unbelieving). One of my favorite scenes in the Bible is that of Paul being filled by the Holy Spirit, and "Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. He got up and was baptized" ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/9?18 Acts 9:18]).</ref> With or without sight, we see what we want to see, and all the learning and wisdom in the world becomes but a servant to our biases. | |||
== Believing in God like the child Saint == | == Believing in God like the child Saint == | ||
The Archangel Michael first appeared to Saint Joan of Arc when she was thirteen -- no longer a child, but young, indeed. And at sixteen, when she announced her mission, she was certainly young enough to be dismissed by nearly all as a mere, delusional, and most annoying child. When the Maiden, ''Jeanne la Pucelle'', as she called herself, came to head the French Army she was but seventeen -- legally, in our day, a child. | The Archangel Michael first appeared to Saint Joan of Arc when she was thirteen -- no longer a child, but young, indeed. And at sixteen, when she announced her mission, she was certainly young enough to be dismissed by nearly all as a mere, delusional, and most annoying child. When the Maiden, ''Jeanne la Pucelle'', as she called herself, came to head the French Army she was but seventeen -- legally, in our day, a child. | ||
My edition of the [https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Recollections-Joan-Mark-Twain/dp/B09JRGC2W5/ Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc], begins with a fascinating observation from the great Hungarian revolutionary, Louis Kosuth, <blockquote>''Consider this unique and imposing distinction. Since the writing of human history began, Joan of Arc is the only person, of either sex, who has ever held supreme command of the military forces of a nation at the age of seventeen.''<ref>If asked the question I would have answered Alexander th Great, even knowing that Joan led the Army at age seventeen. I had to look up Alexanders age, and, indeed, he took the throne at age 20 and started his invasion of Asia at age 22. Oh, and Joan had a horse given her by the Duke of Alencon, the King's brother, equal to Alexander's famed Bucephalus.</ref> </blockquote>As did Jesus, Joan confounded "the wise and the learned" -- anyone, that is, who felt in any way threatened by her, which included, especially the royal retinue clergy and the military leadership. Joan was calm, reasoned, logical and dogged, outwitting the witted, twisting their logic back upon themselves, and dodging their traps. Sound familiar? | My edition of the [https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Recollections-Joan-Mark-Twain/dp/B09JRGC2W5/ Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc], begins with a fascinating observation from the great Hungarian revolutionary, Louis Kosuth, <blockquote>''Consider this unique and imposing distinction. Since the writing of human history began, Joan of Arc is the only person, of either sex, who has ever held supreme command of the military forces of a nation at the age of seventeen.''<ref>If asked the question I would have answered Alexander th Great, even knowing that Joan led the Army at age seventeen. I had to look up Alexanders age, and, indeed, he took the throne at age 20 and started his invasion of Asia at age 22. Oh, and Joan had a horse given her by the Duke of Alencon, the King's brother, equal to Alexander's famed Bucephalus.</ref> </blockquote>As did Jesus, Joan confounded "the wise and the learned" -- anyone, that is, who felt in any way threatened by her, which included, especially, the royal retinue, the clergy and the military leadership. Joan was calm, reasoned, logical and dogged, outwitting the witted, twisting their logic back upon themselves, and dodging their traps. Sound familiar? | ||
The most famous of Joan's replies came from the theological trap asked at her heresy trial. From an English translation of the transcript, <blockquote>On Saturday, February 24th, asked if she knows if she is in God’s grace, she answered: “If I am not, may God put me there, and if I am, may God so keep me."'''''<ref name=":0">p. 116, [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.62531/page/n133/mode/2up?q=mortal+sin The Trial Of Teanner D Arc (1931) : Barrett,w P : Internet Archive]</ref>''''' </blockquote>Brilliant -- and hardly childlike. | |||
" | Her inquisitors also pursued a line of inquiry designed to trap her into admitting that she had gravely sinned, which would negate the divinity of her visions. Her answer is both clever and logically sound:<blockquote>Asked whether she need confess, since she believed by the revelation of her voices that she will be saved, she answers that she does not know of having committed mortal sin, but if she were in mortal sin, she thinks St. Catherine and St. Margaret would at once abandon her.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>Other retorts of equal mental acumen are reported by Mark Twain in his wonderful, if flawed, biography.<ref>Twain exposes himself as an anti-Catholic protestant by ignoring Joan's most famous retort, that regarding Grace. Oh well, just a little Lutheran misunderstanding there regarding [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/5?11?1 Romans 5:1]:. If you must, here's a fairly concise review of the problem with "solo fide": [https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/is-justification-ongoing Is Justification Ongoing? | Catholic Answers Magazine]</ref> One is from an exchange with the French Minister of State, La Tremouille, who argued against Joan's insistence that the initial victory at Orleans be followed up lest the English regroup. La Tremouille, angry that she was essentially ordering him around in front of the Court, accused her of discussing matters of state in public, a grave offense: <blockquote>Joan said, placidly — "I have to beg your pardon. My trespass came of ignorance. I did not know that matters connected with your department of the government were matters of state." | ||
The minister lifted his brows in amused surprise, and said, with a touch of sarcasm — "I am the King's chief minister, and yet you had the impression that matters connected with my department are not matters of state ? Pray how is that?" | |||
"Because there is no state." | Joan replied, indifferently — "Because there is no state." | ||
"No state!" | "No state!" | ||
"No, sir, there is no state, and no use for a minister. France is shrunk to a couple of acres of ground; a sheriff's constable could take care of it; its affairs are not matters of state. The term is too large."<ref>From the first edition, 1895, p. 892; [https://archive.org/details/personalrecollec00twai/page/892/mode/2up Personal recollections of Joan of Arc : Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 : Internet Archive] Note: the page numbers are from the serial publication in Harper's magazine, so do not correspond to later book editions.</ref> </blockquote>Another comes earlier, during the initial investigation | "No, sir, there is no state, and no use for a minister. France is shrunk to a couple of acres of ground; a sheriff's constable could take care of it; its affairs are not matters of state. The term is too large."<ref>From the first edition, 1895, p. 892; [https://archive.org/details/personalrecollec00twai/page/892/mode/2up Personal recollections of Joan of Arc : Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 : Internet Archive] Note: the page numbers are from the serial publication in Harper's magazine, so do not correspond to later book editions.</ref> </blockquote>Another comes earlier, during the initial investigation ordered by the Dauphin (Joan refused to call him King of France until he had been crowned at Rheims, which completed her mission). A "sly Dominican," Twain writes, tested the logic that she needed an army to do God's will: <blockquote>Then answer me this. If He has willed to deliver France, and is able to do whatsoever He wills, where is the need for men-at-arms?" .... But Joan was not disturbed. There was no note of disquiet in her voice when she answered: "He helps who help themselves. The sons of France will fight the battles, but He will give the victory!"<ref>p. 458, [https://archive.org/details/personalrecollec00twai/page/458/mode/2up?view=theater Personal recollections of Joan of Arc : Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 : Internet Archive] </ref> </blockquote>The Bishop, in Twain's account, muttered in response, <blockquote>"By God, the child has said true. He willed that Goliath should be slain, and He sent a child like this to do it!" </blockquote>The Bishop was amazed not at her childlike argument, but that the argument came from a child. And, as with David, a child would save the nation (!). It boggles the mind -- pushes us past reason, that is. So let us just be amazed, while learning what we can from ''Jeanne la Pucelle'', the Maid Saint''.'' | ||
"He helps who help themselves. The sons of France will fight the battles, but He will give the victory!"<ref>p. 458, [https://archive.org/details/personalrecollec00twai/page/458/mode/2up?view=theater Personal recollections of Joan of Arc : Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 : Internet Archive] </ref> </blockquote>The Bishop, in Twain's account, | |||
== What childlike is and is not == | == What childlike is and is not == | ||
When Jesus | When Jesus reveals himself to the "childlike" he isn't dumbing-down his divinity. He demands thought and reason in his followers, and then helps them to build a ''logic of faith'' (after all, he chose St. Paul to teach it!). But, ''verily, verily'', as he might say, reason has its limits, and it is by the Grace of the Father that Jesus reveals himself to those willing to look beyond the limits of their comprehension and simply believe. | ||
So let us here flush out some meaning, so that we can more fully understand. | So let us here flush out some meaning, so that we can more fully understand. | ||
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|''unquestioning'' | |''unquestioning'' | ||
|} | |} | ||
Those characterizations do not work in the context of having a -- the Father. One simply doesn't approach one's father ignorance, nor even without questioning | Those characterizations do not work in the context of having a -- the Father. One simply doesn't approach one's father in ignorance, nor even without questioning -- every father and mother knows too well the words, "Why? Why? Why!" | ||
For sure, to be childlike we must be dependent, obedient, submissive-- that's the | For sure, to be childlike we must be dependent, obedient, submissive-- that's the point -- to the Father. For without the Father, we live under the illusions of being: | ||
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
|+Without a -- the Father | |+Without a -- the Father | ||
| Line 163: | Line 173: | ||
|orphaned | |orphaned | ||
|} | |} | ||
As we have seen, "wise", "learned" and "childlike" are not incompatible qualities. But Jesus doesn't care about that - whoever we are, whatever our intellect or station, he wants us to be holy children who believe, accept and obey the Father. | As we have seen, "wise", "learned" and "childlike" are not incompatible qualities -- the two wings needed to fly. But Jesus doesn't care about that - whoever we are, whatever our intellect or station, he wants us to be holy children who believe, accept and obey the Father. | ||
Let's review: | Let's review: | ||
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The Lord wants us to reason -- but with faith and not blind in faith. And he warns us against letting our intellect betray our faith, lest we come to see ourselves governed only by ourselves. | The Lord wants us to reason -- but with faith and not blind in faith. And he warns us against letting our intellect betray our faith, lest we come to see ourselves governed only by ourselves. | ||
Upon reflection, it fits perfectly with the Beatitudes, which require truly childlike belief | Upon reflection, it fits perfectly with the [[Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes & Woes|Beatitudes]], which require truly childlike belief to fulfill. Likewise, it fits perfectly with the Virtues (see [https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/444/ CCC Pt 3, Sect 1, Art 7]). | ||
== The Son == | == The Son == | ||
Let's step back and review [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?25 Matthew 11:25-27] in full, verses the NABRE labels, | Let's step back and review [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?25 Matthew 11:25-27] in full, verses the NABRE labels, | ||
"Praise of the Father": | |||
At that time Jesus said in reply, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. | At that time Jesus said in reply, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. | ||
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For my yoke is easy, and my burden light. | For my yoke is easy, and my burden light. | ||
</pre></ref> | </pre></ref> | ||
What's all this "Father" and "Son" business? It's all over the Gospel, but here it is intense. I won't stand by the claim, but it seems to be the most dense collection of both "Father" and "Son" in the Gospel verses.<ref>Here for a search of occurrences of both "Father" and "Son": [https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?qs_version=NABRE&quicksearch=Father+Son&begin=47&end=47 BibleGateway - Keyword Search: Father Son]</ref> | What's all this "Father" and "Son" business? It's all over the Gospel, but here it is particularly intense. I won't stand by the claim, but it seems to be the most dense collection of both "Father" and "Son" in the Gospel verses.<ref>Here for a search of occurrences of both "Father" and "Son": [https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?qs_version=NABRE&quicksearch=Father+Son&begin=47&end=47 BibleGateway - Keyword Search: Father Son]</ref> | ||
Hmm | Hmm. God is telling us something here, something about our true nature, and inviting us to retrieve it. Here must be the adoption that Paul talks about, | ||
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!” ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/8?15 Rom 5:15]) | For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!” ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/8?15 Rom 5:15]) | ||
We | We all too easily utter this word, "Father." We use it all the time, but when so earnestly as St. Paul? | ||
No wonder the "Desert Mother,"<ref>I don't have a reference to this story, which I heard in an interview with Father Spitzer. Here for the [http://www.ldysinger.com/@texts/0400_apophth/greek_alph/00a_start.htm Sayings of the Desert Fathers]</ref> she, tuned to the Spirit of God, could not, as the story goes, get past the first line of the Our Father prayer, instead sobbing in wonder at the notion that God is "Our Father." | No wonder the "Desert Mother,"<ref>I don't have a reference to this story, which I heard in an interview with Father Spitzer. Here for the [http://www.ldysinger.com/@texts/0400_apophth/greek_alph/00a_start.htm Sayings of the Desert Fathers]</ref> she, tuned to the Spirit of God, both wings aloft, could not, as the story goes, get past the first line of the Our Father prayer, instead sobbing in wonder at the notion that God is "Our Father." | ||
Jesus is praying for us to think upon the Father as if we are his children, to live as if we have a God who is our Father. It's extraordinary to think about! | Jesus is praying for us to think upon the Father as if we are his children, to live as if we have a God who is our Father. It's extraordinary to think about! | ||
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
! | !A god who is not a father | ||
! | !Our Father | ||
|- | |- | ||
|detached | |detached | ||
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Aug 1, 2024 by Michael<br> | Aug 1, 2024 by Michael<br> | ||
<center>''St. Joseph, pray for us!''</center> | <center>''St. Joseph, pray for us!''</center> | ||
<br> | <br>Here to go back to [[Blog roll]] | ||
Here to go back to [[Blog roll]] | |||
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<references /> | <references /> | ||