Saturday of the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time

A baby rabbit near the lake

My grace is sufficient for you,

for power is made perfect in weakness.

Still arguing with the “super apostles” and his Corinthian converts Saint Paul modestly speaks of his own credentials; specifically that he also has had personal revelations.

I know a man in Christ who, fourteen years ago
(whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows),
was caught up to the third heaven.
And I know that this man
(whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows)
was caught up into Paradise and heard ineffable things,
which no one may utter.
About this man I will boast,
but about myself I will not boast, except about my weaknesses.

He speaks disparagingly of visions and ecstasies. They’re not important.

A millennium later, Saint John of the Cross advised his spiritual heirs to pay little attention to these experiences. They often happen to people who are excited about religion and given to fasting, vigils and other mortifications. He taught us to prefer the “dark night of the soul” when one must live entirely by faith.

Popular religion often accumulates various signs and demonstrations of God’s mercy. Whether they’re promoting the Shroud of Turin, the House of Loreto or appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the rusting hulks of water towers they hawk these mysterious phenomena as proofs of faith.

Meanwhile a pack of “scientists” chase after these same phenomena, attempting to disprove them as hoaxes or illusions of mass hysteria. They declare once again that all religion is foolishness and their severely limited "scientific" vision is the only way to know truth.

Popular religion tangles with psychiatry also when they speak of visions, auditions and mystical experiences. Certain members of the scientific community intemperately diagnose Saints Theresa of Avila and Catherine of Siena as schizophrenics.

Saint Paul saw all this controversy well in advance because there was no shortage of bizarre religious phenomena in his day, and no shortage of skeptics. His answer was faith. Faith accepts the word of God as reliable and needs no further proof.

How does a man prove his love for his wife? His word is good and he should use it. His behavior is important over the long haul. But he cannot buy her trust with expensive baubles, unless she is truly foolish. Only a life time of fidelity will heal her inner doubts and fears.

How does a man know that his wife is faithful to him? He only has her word, her behavior and his faith. If her word and her behavior are consistent but he lacks faith in her, he must address his own inner demons.

It’s the same with our faith in God. As Christians we have a long experience of God’s goodness. As individuals we must continually practice faith.

If we expected life should be easy for us because we’re Christians, we have not paid attention to Jesus, neither his teaching nor his life. He did not have an easy life; neither did he promise one to us.

But if we frequently practice liturgical and private prayer and daily sacrifice and forgiveness, and if we find even in our hardships God’s blessings we will know faith.

I’ve lost count of the exact number of “nervous breakdowns” I’ve had. I could try to list them by years: 1979, 1981, 1990, and 2007. Those were the major ones. Each time I cried, “God, where are you?”

But I also remember that, during the worse of them, 1981-83, I still attended Mass and prayer. Or perhaps I should say, God still drew me to himself. If I could not sit in the chapel for more than five minutes, at least I went for that many minutes. If I could not stop wringing my hands during the Mass, I was there.

Had someone asked, “What are you looking for?” I could not have answered, except perhaps to say, “Have you seen my beloved?” (Song of Songs 3:3) or “Lord, where do you stay?” (John 1:38)

Saint Paul knew these crises also. He has listed many of them in yesterday’s first reading. But he kept faith and God kept faith with him.

That’s why he could blow off the mystical experiences of his rivals. He knew what they were worth and he warned his disciples about them.

Jesus had said , “By their fruit you will know them. A good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit.” The “super apostles” sowed controversy and division, Paul pled for unity and forbearance; and, in the end, his Gospel based on faith prevailed.