Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
T here is a persistent circularity in the Lord's words. He insists that we must believe in him before we understand what he is saying; and only those who listen to the Father and learn from him can come to Jesus.
Knowledge of the truth begins with the love of the truth. We cannot know God on our own terms, nor any truth which must fit our terms. We will always struggle to understand the truth in words, metaphors, and concepts that satisfy our curious minds; but those conceptions must be altered by the truth. Truth cannot be refashioned to fit the habitually critical mind; or those who do not want to believe. They lack that spirit of obedience; they are not willing to hear and be instructed.
Teachers know what I mean because they meet students of all ages who attend class only to get the certificate or degree. They have no passion and less interest in knowing the subject matter, be it Platonism or plumbing. They do not want to be changed by what they study. They're wasting their own time and the teachers'.
Judges sometimes send DWI drivers to meetings of Alcoholic Anonymous only to achieve the same old results. I heard a "fifth step" of a fellow whose only character defect was that the cops should not have been waiting a hundred yards from the tavern! "It's just not fair!" he said. I suppose he told the judge he had completed his fifth step and should be permitted to drive again.
To know the truth we must be prepared for hurt and humiliation. We're going to learn things we don't know and don't want to know, but must know, love, and serve. And we have decided it's better to love the God who never said to anyone, "Suit yourself!"
The Saved love Truth passionately, and thank God he has called us like Lazarus -- by name -- from our silos, echo chambers, and tombs of willful ignorance.
Habemus Papam!
ReplyDeletePope Leo XIV speaks five languages, and has spent most of his career abroad. He has dual citizenship in Peru. He is American, but Peruvian; a north and south American, and a citizen of the world.
Trump fears such people because they see only enemies beyond their borders. MAGA does not understand that Americans are an international people, with origins in every part of the world. Our citizens visit their native countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Our intellectuals teach all over the world, and many teachers in the United States from universities throughout the world. Many CEOs of major American corporations are foreign born. Our sports fans admire and cheer for international athletes, and not just the Americans who represent them.
Pope Leo is a Catholic; and, like many priests and bishops, studied in Europe. Our churches are richly blessed with that international experience of Catholicism. Any gathering of a half-dozen priests will include several with international experience, and as many different languages.
Though I speak only English and have not studied abroad, I was ordained in Carey, OH, after a year living there. I prayed with many people who spoke little English; I heard my first confessions in Lebanese! (They confessed in that language and then those who could also speak English translated their words for me.) I've heard the Act of Contrition in dozens of languages.
Catholics know the United States is 250 years old, while the Church is almost two thousand years old. We've seen em come, we've seen em go, and we'll be here when MAGA is long forgotten, having contributed nothing worth keeping.
Let us pray for Pope Leo and the Church, and for our beloved, sadly deluded United States.