There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us."
We hear in both readings today a warning against hubris, that easy assumption that we all make; that, "I know something. I own something. I have authority because I have this truth."
I certainly notice my own habit. I take enormous pride in my Catholic faith, and listen impatiently to other teachings; I smoke out suspicious notions that might come from some foreign place. The arrogance is palpable.
Jesus urges us in today's Gospel to keep an open mind as we hear of new ideas and the people who espouse them. We needn't immediately inform them that their inspirations have been around for centuries, and have a dark, complex history. The point is we should care more about the person than their ideas.
We should be more interested in what this idea means to them. Do they find some relief, pleasure, vindication, or validation in it? Isn't that what my beliefs mean to me -- relief, pleasure, vindication, and validation? So who am I to strip their carapaces from them? Would I leave them naked, exposed, and vulnerable without the hope they've found in their beliefs.
I used to visit the city and parish jails in Jennings, Louisiana. I often met young men who had found the Lord in their government-sponsored free time. They eagerly shared their joy with me. What could I say but, "Good for you!" as I listened to their fundamentalist interpretations and pentecostal misreadings? There would never be time enough to explain how Catholics read those oft-quoted passages of scripture. And even if they heard my interpretation and it made sense to them, would they find a community to support and encourage them in my way of thinking? (Most Catholics and my confrieres don't understand what I am saying!)
Eventually they would leave the jail and return to their homes and neighborhoods, and some would find a nearby church and practicing Christians who would encourage neither my readings of the Bible nor theirs but their walk in faith. They would soon forget the ideas of a priest they met in jail, but they might remember the Gospel they shared with him.
Whoever is not against us is for us.
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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.