Friday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 429

For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
but we proclaim Christ crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

On the first pages of his first letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul addressed the quarrels his beloved people were having among themselves. The one Church had become factions, with each group taking pride in their opinions and hurling insults at each other. Despite the excitement of it all, nothing good could come of their partisanship. 

I remember a meeting I attended when a quarrel broke out among several priests. Suddenly the bishop, a retired Air Force colonel said, "Knock it off!" And they did. Saint Paul, even from the distance of Ephesus, demanded a similar respect from his disciples and, we can hope, his authority resolved their controversy. 

But he did so with his typical elegance and eloquence, with this simple formula about stumbling blocks and foolishness. In our time, I suppose the "Jews" are the hyper pious among us who are scandalized -- "Shocked! Shocked! -- at the human frailty of the Church. And "gentiles" are that pretentious faction who believe every mystery can be fathomed by human intelligence. They will not believe a revealed truth until it's explained thoroughly; and until all of their objections, doubts, hesitations, buts, and what-ifs have been resolved and finally the revealed word of God makes perfect sense to them. 

The hyper pious are dismayed to discover that respected leaders in the Church and society have feet of clay. Some people are distressed to learn that a pope smoked; others are horrified to find a photo of him wearing glasses. More often, they quit the Church when they meet a disgruntled pastor who refuses their requests or ignores them. Or, amid a controversy over church spending, they are overruled by his decision. 

Were they to ask what I think of the matter -- and they don't -- if they so easily walk away from the Church, they never had faith in the first place . They are that heavily walked path which loses the scattered word of God as soon as a light wind blows across them or a rivulet flows over them. They needed only an excuse to quit the Church and the revelation of human failing fit the bill. 

The wise are those pseudo-scientists who have not accepted the authority of God's word. They may be described as Hegelian after the philosopher Hegel. He defined a Christianity with all the trappings of a religion -- with sacraments, rituals, scriptures, and sacred images -- that appeals to the vanity of philosophers. His religion is more marketable than true faith since it explains sin as ignorance and misunderstanding; and only individuals can sin; there is no group responsibility.  

They feign an open mind to every new idea, no matter how weird. Their inclusiveness respects every opinion, and every opinionated person deserves a hearing. While I try to respect every person I meet, I feel no obligation to act like I agree with nonsense. One "scientist" told me that, because some bees become male drones while others become female queens, boys might grow up to be women; and girls, to be men. And the Bible is wrong for saying, "God made them male and female; in his own image he created them."

Our faith, like the Bishop's rebuke, begins with our respect for the authority of God. Without him we have only human wisdom and its bridges to nowhere.  The truly wise and pious welcome the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and thank God for the revelation of the truth.