Today
our first reading reminds us that Wisdom is the highest of things we
can possess in this life. And since our fallen nature so often leads
us astray, we only get wisdom if we know where to look: God is its
source, and the cross shows that, as we hear in Corinthians, His
folly is greater than our wisdom. To accept that kind of wisdom, we
need to make a radical change. Not an external change, but an even
harder one: a change in our heart.
Take,
for example, our young man today. He has many, many external
signs as he is introduced to us: he shows real enthusiasm by
running to Christ as asking about eternal life, he has manifest
righteousness in keeping the law, which is only emphasized by the
abundant blessings God has given him in this life (for Jews, wealth
was generally viewed as God blessing the righteous). But in
his heart do we find any Wisdom? no. The Virtues?
Not really, since his pious practices are only a soul-less exercise
of habit.
“All
of these [commandments] I have done since my youth,” he says.
First, this is like me saying “I've been doing that since I was
25!” to which you “wiser” members of the parish might say, Fr.
Terry, that was three years ago; are you kidding?!” Talk about a
lack of perspective! Second, Pride? he is blithely saying he has
perfected all 600+ commands in the Jewish tradition. Nonsense.
The
Lord Jesus, the Word of God that Hebrews mentions is “living and
effective, sharper than any two-edged sword,” cuts between the soul
and the spirit of this young man. His soul is laid bare to Christ,
who knows exactly what the man needs to hear. Like a good doctor, he
goes right to the core problem, not playing around with addressing
only manifest symptoms, and finds the deep issue: his heart is in the
wrong place: he only wants perfection, superiority, etc. Jesus
offers him the wisdom of God, where power is made perfect in weakness
and the self is fulfilled in self-gift (the Cross). He invites the
man to the “Circumcision of the heart” that Hebrews alludes to.
When
Hebrews mentions a two-edged sword, it is referring to the sword of
circumcision which is the core of Jewish identity, an intensely
radical physical sign that the people and their descendants belong to
God and God alone! However, it is meant to be paralleled by a
posture of the heart. This old testament theme is taken up by St.
Paul in Romans 2:18-29, concluding that: “True
circumcision is not outward, in the flesh. Rather one is a Jew
inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not the
letter.” This image, then, is seen the core of the Christian
life. It is conversion, which summarizes the Gospel that Christ came
to preach: “Repent and believe the Gospel!” Unfortunately, the
young man is not ready to accept that. He lowers his head, he takes
his eyes off Christ, closing off the ability to see that Jesus is
looking upon him with absolute, genuine love. It is no wonder, then,
that he ends up going away sad.
Right
now over 200 bishops are gathered with the Holy Father in Rome for a
two-week Synod on the New
Evangelization. Just like the Second Vatican Council
which we celebrate 50 years ago by opening this Year of Faith, The
are working together to discover how to best read the signs of our
time and bring the Gospel message to us in a new way through a
renewal of the Church. They are searching for how to, like Christ,
speak to man's heart and call him to be perfect. And since the New
Evangelization is particularly oriented toward baptized Christians
who have already “heard all about Jesus,” the bishops are working
on how best to reach the “lost sheep” of the house of Israel, of
the Church. How can they foster the encounter of Christ with His
people?
From
what I have followed in their discussions so far, I have gathered two
important points, both oriented towards conversion, towards this sort
of “circumcision of the heart” that we all need so desparately:
first, Timothy Cardinal Dolan has said that the sacrament of
confession is the sacrament of the New Evangelization. The fact is,
Catholics receive Communion way more frequently than they prepare for
it by regularly making a sincere confession, which endangers turning
the holiest of external acts into a soul-less exercise of habit.
Secondly, the witness of a humble church of repentant sinners will
certainly open hearts to the Gospel, because Christ came to find and
redeem the lost and fallen, not congratulate those who were self-made
and only in need of affirmation. The New Evangelization needs
witnesses who have put aside everything in this life so as to have
Christ.
As
true Christians, we must put aside all our human wisdom, allow Christ
to speak the Gospel to us even when it hurts, and “circumcise our
hearts” for the renewal of the Church, which is only accomplished
in a renewal of individuals within that Church.
No comments:
Post a Comment