Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest

Lectionary: 438

Jesus departed to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve....

Today's gospel recalls the Lord's withdrawal to the mountain to pray. He would be alone, and those who would follow would be alone with him. There he will teach them how to see, hear, and think as God sees, hears, and thinks. 

As they leave Jerusalem with his gift of the Holy Spirit, they remain always with him even as they travel to far-off cities and nations, learn to eat many kinds of food, dress with different clothes, and speak strange languages. Always, they remain with him. 

And others, hearing the Gospel in their own language and with their own philosophies, will tell them, "What you mean to say is this...." And hearing that reflection, they will often have to reply, "No, that's not what we are saying. That is not the Good News. You are thinking as men think, and not as God." 

Every age and every nation will offer its misconstrual of the Gospel, and the disciples will hear again Saint Paul's warning, 

See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy

according to the tradition of men,

according to the elemental powers of the world

and not according to Christ.

Since the Enlightenment and the French Revolution which metastasized under Napoleon's armies, popular thought has been guided by oppositional ideologies. Just as the French Revolution devolved into a Reign of Terror, every ideology, despite its promises of security and prosperity, must also turn to violence against resistance. They meet oppressors and enemies of the people everywhere. Unlike the Gospel, their thinking alienates them from others.

Although ideologies invariably begin with a cry against injustice, because they come from human thought rather than God, they cannot comprehend the peace, much less offer peace to their fervid faithful. They promise peace, but add, "It will come -- someday when all the capitalists (or communists, or racists, or totalitarians, or patriarchs, etc) are dead. But today we must struggle, fight, overcome, and perhaps die for the cause." 

"See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy...."

Daily and many times a day, we must return to the Lord's mountain of silence and solitude, and ask him to teach us how to see, taste, sense, feel, and think like God.