Aim higher

Because we can. As a great saint wrote, "Why fly like a barnyard hen when you can soar like an eagle?"

The Good Wine First in this Generation

In past generations, the virtue of Patience was extolled: good things come to those who wait, time heals all wounds, save the best for last, delayed gratification. Not now, perhaps. We are steeped in instant gratification, of quick results. Good wine first. Today we eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Patience is a hard sell these days. Even when the impatient know enough to apply it to other things like baking, cooking, crafts, sports, business, or even the environment. Not in other things that count, though, like health, studies, family life, or relationships. The patient know it to be proper virtue but the impatient won't understand until much later, sometimes not until it is too late.

A Gracious God

In 2 Peter 3:13-14, we are reminded of our hope, and to do our best to remain spotless for God, whose patience is our opportunity to be saved. But we know it isn't easy. However, as we are called, so are we gifted, and no giver of gifts is like God. In Ezekiel 36:24-28, the fullness of his graciousness is described. He frees his people, gives them a new heart and spirit each. He replaces hearts of stone with hearts of flesh -- which is not fundamentally evil, being a creation of God. He makes us his people, teaches us to live in holy peace with his statutes and ordinances, and He becomes our God. NB: These readings come from today's morning prayer with the Liturgy of the Hours.

To be aware, and to dare

A few things came to mind last Sunday, after hearing the readings. In the first reading, Isaiah is called, and he answers "Here I am, send me!" In the second, St. Paul talks about his commissioning to evangelize. The Gospel talks about some of the first of Jesus' disciples, and how they were called to become fishers of men. Hearing the readings and the excellent sermon of our parish priest, the following seemed noteworthy to me. First, all the commissioned men were aware of their sinfulness. St. Peter sums it up best: "Leave me Lord, I am a sinner!" But of course, the Lord loves him more than that. Second, they were called anyway. To Isaiah, these words were said:

‘See now, this has touched your lips, your sin is taken away, your iniquity is purged.’

Jesus says simply, "Do not be afraid."

It seems to me that here there are two aspects in this conversation between myself and God: to be aware of who God is, and of my sinfulness, and to dare to take His hand and follow after Him. I think that the former is necessary in order to get to the latter. Not because the Lord disdains the proud -- I think He calls everyone, great and small, good and bad. I think it is more the case that the proud may not be willing to take God's hand. They might instead say "I have it sorted." They might not be timid enough to dare cast their nets.

I have my own version of St. Peter's confession of guilt, and I can't say if it is good or bad, but it is how I find myself saying it. "Don't ever leave me Lord, I am a sinner! Where else can I go?" But I do pray that I will one day attain a level of faith and confidence in God so that I can stop saying that in nervous apprehension. Lord, I do believe, but please help my unbelief! But the answer is probably there already. I should put out into deep water and lower my net.

but never despair

Today's First Reading is from 2 Cor 4:7-15, which includes these words of pragmatic reassurance:

We are in difficulties on all sides, but never cornered; we see no answer to our problems, but never despair; we have been persecuted, but never deserted; knocked down, but not killed; always, wherever we may be, we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may always be seen in our body.

It struck me because these words of St. Paul were not assuring us of an easy life. Such would be meaningless to us because we all suffer difficulties. Far from the New Age gospel that blames our ills on our own "negative vibes", St. Paul tells it as it is: life is difficult, but God is with us. And the latter makes all the difference. As to why life is difficult, it would be senseless to blame it on any one single thing. It would be just as senseless to think that we will always have the answer. Quite often, we won't, but we need not despair. God is with us.

The news is even better

At least for one Evangelical and one Baptist I have corresponded with, the notion of ascribing any value to our own effort is unthinkable. Even born-again humans are so depraved that any good we do is purely a fruit of the Holy Spirit and does not involve human effort. That puzzles me, and my understanding is more in line with this noon reading from today's Liturgy of the Hours:

[Deuteronomy 30:11 - 14] This Law that I enjoin on you today is not beyond your strength or beyond your reach. No, the Word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for your observance.

This comes from a long discourse from Moses, encouraging Israel in the covenant they find themselves in. The following words are particularly heartening:

[6] The LORD, your God, will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, that you may love the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, and so may live. .. [8] You, however, must again heed the LORD'S voice and carry out all his commandments which I now enjoin on you. .. [11] "For this command which I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you. .. [14] No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out. .. [16] If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.

There is a certain dread (perhaps Occamite in influence) in the notion of man's total depravity, which, I think, compromises the fullness of God's love for his children. The bleak view of man's fallen nature actually compromises the Christian hope in God's salvation, not only in the promise of Heaven, but also here and now in the promise of sanctification. I've always wondered why Evangelicals settle for Luther's snow-covered dunghill, when the promises of God are nothing less than to purify us, whiter than snow, and to pour upon us his own Holy Spirit. A baptist once scoffed at my allusion to free will, which he maintains is not supported by Scripture. Well it is, and the good news is better than what the notion of total depravity allows: the Lord's precepts are "not too mysterious and remote." A life of holiness is within reach, because it is he who circumcised our hearts, and it is his life, his holiness, which we partake in. Even better, in his graciousness, our Father entrusts the doing to us: "it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out." And we grow with the doing: "If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy."

The afternoon reading goes:

[Isaiah 55:10 - 11] As the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.

His Word does not return empty, and the Word made flesh gives life, and in him, we are born again, sons and daughters of the most high, circumcised in our hearts by the waters of baptism. And as he declares, so it is true, for his Word is never uttered in vain. He declares us justified, and so we are. He calls us temples of the Holy Spirit, and so we are. He refers to us as holy ones, saints, and so we are, "loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him."

In hope we have been saved

Over at the Curt Jester's blog, Jeff Miller posts on the Holy Father's recently completed encyclical, Spe Salvi -- Saved by Hope. I made the following comment, which I would now like to share with anyone who might visit:

I love the strategy that Papa Benedict is apparently taking. From the perspective of dialogue with Protestants, rather than clashing head-on concerning Sola Fide, his first encyclical is about love. And who can argue with that, being the chief virtue? Now he goes on to write about hope, and again, that was never the issue with the Protestants. So, from a perspective of dialogue, he appears to be truly emphasizing what unites us first and foremost. :-)

Also, I would hazard a proposition that, armed with a right understanding of love and hope to begin with, perhaps we can disarm the unwarranted vitriol among some Protestants on the principle of Sola Fide?

One could .. um.. hope. :-)