You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
Recently, leadership of the fourth degree Knights of Columbus decided it was time to store their swords among the memorabilia, and not bring them to church. Many people didn't understand what they meant, were offended by their militaristic overtones, and didn't know they were made of cheap metal and useless for anything but display. They might cut soft butter but can't slice bread. Knights who had been indoctrinated through complicated initiation rites assumed that everyone knows the sword shows our zealous faith in the Church.
Americans don't get symbols. Schooled in materialistic secularism, they cannot interpret religious images and stories. They often read the histories, poetry, songs, and prescripts of the Bible as if they're literal accounts of historical facts; and then they scoff at all the errors and contradictions they suppose they have found in the texts.
In her book, Into the Deep, an unlikely Catholic Conversion, Abigail Rine Favale, describes her personal journey from Evangelical Christianity through radical feminism into the Catholic Church. She is fascinated and drawn by Catholic symbols -- the Eucharist, Baptism, the human sexual body, and so forth -- as she tells of her healing from the blindness of secularism. The world sees the human body only as a malleable machine with replaceable parts. It can be redesigned as male or female, according to the owner's whims or preferences; but it has no essential connection to the person -- a disembodied, asexual, denatured soul -- who happens to occupy it.
She sadly recalls her adolescent and young adult experience when she regarded her body only as a plaything. Friends, strangers, and (finally) her husband were playmates. With chemical prophylaxis they could avoid the unpleasant realities, staggering beauty, and bewildering mystery of human sexuality.
Gratefully, Favale describes her own and her husband's return to sanity and the discovery of meaning, purpose, and satisfaction in their marriage. I highly recommend her first book, and I am eager to read her more recent, The Genesis of Gender.
In today's gospel, we hear the Lord's complaint about his contemporaries,
"You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?"
We can suppose they knew that sexual activity necessarily engages a man and a woman, and often leads to the conception of a third human being. As foolish as they were, they understood sexuality as well as they knew the weather, despite their blindness to the appearance of the Messiah.
The Catholic Church still offers the Truth to a world absorbed in its own ideologies. They are convinced they can find a narrow path around the obvious which will lead them to a promised land of their own design. Debts need not be paid in their fantasies; facts are fungible; consequences, avoidable; and death will never happen to me.
We find our freedom in the real world, with our aging, beautiful bodies which reveal the presence of the Holy to those with eyes to see.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.