The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the value of our suffering and doubts as part of a process leading to fullness of life.
Some doubts and suffering
The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews encourages the community about suffering for better.
* [11:40] So that without us they should not be made perfect: the heroes of the Old Testament obtained their recompense only after the saving work of Christ had been accomplished. Thus they already enjoy what Christians who are still struggling do not yet possess in its fullness.1
Psalm 31 is a prayer and praise for deliverance from enemies.
* [Psalm 31] A lament (Ps 31:2–19) with a strong emphasis on trust (Ps 31:4, 6, 15–16), ending with an anticipatory thanksgiving (Ps 31:20–24). As is usual in laments, the affliction is couched in general terms. The psalmist feels overwhelmed by evil people but trusts in the “God of truth” (Ps 31:6).2
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus heals the Gerasene Demoniac.
* [5:19] Go home: Jesus did not accept the man’s request to remain with him as a disciple (Mk 5:18), yet invited him to announce to his own people what the Lord had done for him, i.e., proclaim the gospel message to his pagan family; cf. Mk 1:14, 39; 3:14; 13:10.3
Ron Fussell comments that the possessed man that Jesus encounters in this journey might be a reflection of all of us. It speaks to the fundamental truth that as humans, we carry the burden of sin, and it is through our relationship with Jesus that we are freed from that burden.
I am fortunate to be part of a group of colleagues at Creighton University who, through prayer and reflection, are developing a closer relationship with Jesus through the Spiritual Exercises. Yesterday, one facilitator for that experience shared that if God is love, then we are inclined to respond with gratitude (a profound thought that I surely could not have formulated on my own). So, if through God’s love we are freed from these burdens, what is an appropriate expression of gratitude? Fortunately, in today’s Gospel passage, Jesus gives us one answer. As the formerly possessed man struggled to come up with a response to his encounter with Jesus, he attempted to follow Jesus back onto the boat. But, Jesus had different plans. He charged the man to “go home to [his] family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you” (Mark 5:19). The man did this, and the people were “amazed”. And this is the key – that it is not enough to just be healed, but that we need to be intentional about sharing this with others.4
Don Schwager quotes “The God-Man beheld,” by Gregory of Nazianzus (330 - 390 AD).
"Yes, he is recognized by demons (Luke 4:33-34, Mark 1:23-24), drives out demons (Matthew 8:16, Mark 1:34), drowns deep a legion of spirits (Matthew 8:32; Mark 5:9,13; Luke 8:30,33) and sees the prince of demons falling like lightning (Luke 10:18). He is stoned, yet not hit (John 8:59; 10:31,39); he prays yet he hears prayer (Matthew 8:13; Mark 1:35). He weeps (John 11:35), yet he puts an end to weeping (Luke 7:13; 8:522; 23:28). He asks where Lazarus is (John 11:34) - he was man; yet he raises Lazarus (John 11:43-44) - he was God." (excerpt from ORATION 29, ON THE SON 20)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Hebrews 11:32-40 asserts that God has chosen us for the most important mission of all: to love and serve him and his people. Sure, we aren’t called to slay giants as David did, but there are different “battles” each day in the struggle to love the Lord and those he has placed in our life.
God wants to remind us that it’s not all on our shoulders. Just as the saints and heroes of our faith did, he wants us to trust in his power and strength. He knows that on our own, we are weak. But when we make the decision to lean on him, he gives us the grace to overcome every challenge we face. So in the heat of a trying moment, remember to pray, “Holy Spirit, help me!” But be prepared as well for those inevitable daily battles by spending a few minutes each morning asking Jesus to give you all that you need for what lies ahead.6
Friar Jude Winkler comments that the author of Hebrews uses heroes of the Hebrew Testament to exhort the community to fulfill what was begun in their time. The pigs in the pagan territory of the Gerasenes were considered unclean by Jews. Friar Jude notes the healed man proclaimed Jesus power over demons in his home territory.
Brian McLaren, good friend and colleague of Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, has recently published a book, “Faith After Doubt''. He shows how doubt and periods of unknowing are necessary for spiritual growth. Brian proposes a four-stage growth process of Simplicity, Complexity, Perplexity, and Harmony.
When I studied the mystics . . . I learned that they spoke often of purgation (or katharsis) as the portal to illumination (or fotosis) and union (or theosis). They saw purgation as the painful and necessary process by which we are stripped of know-it-all arrogance, ego, and self-will. Perplexity, I realized, was working like an X-ray of my soul, exposing much of my so-called spirituality as a vanity project of my ego, an expression of my arrogant desire to always be right, my desperate and fearful need to always be in control, my unexamined drive to tame the wildness of life by naming it and dominating it with words. The doubt of Perplexity, the mystics helped me see, was just the fire I needed to purge me of previously unacknowledged arrogance. In this way, self-knowledge was another gift that came, unwanted, during my Stage Three descent.7
Fr. Richard concludes that, ironically, one of the few things he can say he truly knows is that not-knowing and often not even needing to know is—surprise of surprises—a deeper way of knowing and a deeper falling into compassion. This is surely what the mystics mean by “death” and why they talk of it with so many metaphors. It is the essential transitioning. The deliverance we seek from the demons of our life and society is part of a process involving a mystical death as disciples of One who is Love from the Cross.
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