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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[[File:Louis_Maurice_Boutet_de_Monvel,_The_Trial_of_Joan_of_Arc_(Joan_of_Arc_series_-_VI),_c._late_1909-early_1910,_NGA_195567.jpg|alt=Joan of Arc | [[File:Louis_Maurice_Boutet_de_Monvel,_The_Trial_of_Joan_of_Arc_(Joan_of_Arc_series_-_VI),_c._late_1909-early_1910,_NGA_195567.jpg|alt=|none|thumb|850x850px|''The Trial of Joan of Arc'' (Joan of Arc series: VI) ''by'' Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC)]] | ||
''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." ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?25 Mt 11:25])'' | ''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." ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?25 Mt 11:25])'' | ||
While teaching at a Catholic high school, a colleague tried to convert me. Of a protestant background, but not even baptized, I was one of those enlightened moderns who felt good about God and Jesus but not so much to be | While teaching at a Catholic high school, a colleague tried to convert me. Of a protestant background, but not even baptized, I was one of those enlightened moderns who felt good about God and Jesus but not so much as to be troubled by belief, and certainly not at the expense of "reason." My colleague's argument was that I was over-intellectualizing faith: instead, I should approach God “like a child,” you know, "childlike." | ||
Since my baptism about three years ago, whenever I have encountered | Since my baptism about three years ago, whenever I have encountered this passage from Matthew 11, I am reminded of that conversation and how I have been unable to square it with my experience with Scripture and my own faith. | ||
Until today. | Until today. | ||
Today, a marvelous, truly wise, truly learned -- and truly childlike -- priest unlocked what has been for years a troubling mystery for me.<ref>"Today" was July 17. Post completed and published July 31, 2024.</ref> | Today, a marvelous, truly wise, truly learned -- and truly childlike -- priest unlocked what has been for years a troubling mystery for me.<ref>"Today" was July 17. Post completed and published July 31, 2024.</ref> | ||
== The "Two Wings": Faith and Reason == | == The "Two Wings": Faith and Reason == | ||
My conversion was and still is an intellectual journey. I was catechized by thoughtful priests, deacons, and catechists who patiently explained even the silliest of questions such as, "Why do you say "Ah-men" instead of "Aay-men"? Or, "How come you Catholics don't capitalize | My conversion was and still is an intellectual journey. I was catechized by thoughtful priests, deacons, and catechists who patiently explained even the silliest of questions such as, "Why do you say "Ah-men" instead of "Aay-men"? Or, "How come you Catholics don't capitalize God's personal pronoun, He/Him?" My other catechist was the Sunday Missal and its readings, responses and prayers, which led me – rather adult-like -- into the Liturgy.<ref>Reading the Missal during Mass both opened my mind and led to many a question for our poor Priest and Deacon who ever and joyfully answered my questions after Mass, even while standing in the January cold. </ref> | ||
I came through [[Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA)|RCIA]] and into the Church intellectually | I came through [[Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA)|RCIA]] and into the Church intellectually, so then, as yet now, I felt that faith without reason, i.e. "childlike", is not a complete faith. | ||
It was | It was during RCIA that I started this website, as I wanted to track and process all that we were learning. My very first entry here was a futile attempt to interpret and summarize the Catechism. (I learned quickly that with the Catechism no paraphrasing is needed.<ref>if you must, [[Catechism summaries]]</ref>) Far more useful was my [[Glossary of terms for catechism of the Catholic faith|Glossary of Terms]], with which I processed definitions, word origins, and concepts, and which now holds several hundred entries that have helped me to sort through my faith. | ||
But most helpful of all St. Pope John Paul II’s “[[Two Wings of Truth: gifts of faith and reason|two wings]]” of faith and reason, the idea that our belief and overall faith is strengthened when bolstered by both faith (belief) and reason (intellect). The concept was earlier and fully expressed by St. Thomas Aquinas, who had explored proofs of God in observation and logic. Aquinas understood, however, that reason alone can neither fully comprehend nor find God, and so we need faith, which the Holy Spirit empowers us into -- both spiritually and intellectually. Aquinas distinguished between the Gifts of the Holy spirit that empower reason and those that empower faith. | |||
Saints Aquinas and | Saints Aquinas and John Paul empowered my quest to unite faith with reason -- only not in faith "like a child," but with my intellect as an adult. | ||
So convinced, [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?25 Matthew 11:25] remained a mystery to me. | So convinced, [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?25 Matthew 11:25] has remained a mystery to me. | ||
== "the wise and the learned" == | == "the wise and the learned" == | ||
''for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned'' | ''for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned'' | ||
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]). | 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 to 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 Jesus, nearly drowned ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/14?30 Mt 14:30]); many if not most of the disciples walked away in 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 had just wanted a little more proof ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/20:28 Jn 20:28]). | 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 in 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 had 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: | ||
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious<ref>Note the perfect definition here of the word "gracious" when attached to the Father's "will" -- the source of all Grace!</ref> will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him." ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?26 Mt 11:26-27])<ref>Being thoughtful or not, we might stumble over a couple clues here as to whom Jesus "wishes to reveal " the Father -- clearly that revelation "processes" from the Father and through the Son (back to St. Thomas: see [[Holy Trinity]]):</ref> | |||
=== Nicodemus, a wise and learned, but very confused man === | |||
=== Nicodemus, a | |||
Without straying into the theological implications of finding, or "un-covering,"<ref>"un-cover", "dis-cover", "in-vent" all mean to reveal what already exists, and not to create anew. Uncover and discover are obvious, but "invent" comes form ''in-'' (into) + ''venire'' (to come), i.e. come into something that already exists.</ref> what God "hides," a look at [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/3?1 John 3] and the secret meeting with Nicodemus, we can see how God wants us to "uncover" (un-hide) himself through both reason and belief. Jesus tells him, quite literally, | Without straying into the theological implications of finding, or "un-covering,"<ref>"un-cover", "dis-cover", "in-vent" all mean to reveal what already exists, and not to create anew. Uncover and discover are obvious, but "invent" comes form ''in-'' (into) + ''venire'' (to come), i.e. come into something that already exists.</ref> what God "hides," a look at [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/3?1 John 3] and the secret meeting with Nicodemus, we can see how God wants us to "uncover" (un-hide) himself through both reason and belief. Jesus tells him, quite literally, | ||
''“Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”'' | ''“Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”'' |