The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge our approach to making the nature of God’s Love visible to those who have been hardened by fear and rejection.
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| Finding restful waters |
The First Letter of John declares the identity of God as Love while addressing some heretical concepts that separate Jesus from the Father.
* [4:13–21] The testimony of the Spirit and that of faith join the testimony of love to confirm our knowledge of God. Our love is grounded in the confession of Jesus as the Son of God and the example of God’s love for us. Christian life is founded on the knowledge of God as love and on his continuing presence that relieves us from fear of judgment (1 Jn 4:16–18). What Christ is gives us confidence, even as we live and love in this world. Yet Christian love is not abstract but lived in the concrete manner of love for one another.1
In the Gospel from Mark, Jesus “nature miracle” connects to the experience of God expressed in Psalm 23 leading us to restful waters.
* [6:52] They had not understood…the loaves: the revelatory character of this sign and that of the walking on the sea completely escaped the disciples. Their hearts were hardened: in Mk 3:5–6 hardness of heart was attributed to those who did not accept Jesus and plotted his death. Here the same disposition prevents the disciples from comprehending Jesus’ self-revelation through signs; cf. Mk 8:172.
Sr. Candice Tucci, OSF, asks “Where do we find Jesus?” St. Ignatius of Loyola would say we find Jesus in all things, people, places, and creation. She remembers a prayer of St. Patrick and adds the writing of Teilhard de Chardin, SJ to broaden our search for insight.
The first reading is a beautiful reading reminding us of the great love God has for each of us. “If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is brought to perfection in us.” Amazing! God’s love brought to perfection in us? God is love in us? God in us?! WOW! A thought to sit with for a while…
Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, in his writings reflects on Christ in the context of the universe. He says, “Cosmic energy is love.” This Love is the Christ, our God, interacting with us in every moment of every day.
“God is love, and those who remain in love remains in God and God in them.”3
Don Schwager quotes “The wind was against them,” by Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD).
"Meanwhile the boat carrying the disciples - that is, the church - is rocking and shaking amid the storms of temptation, while the adverse wind rages on. That is to say, its enemy the devil strives to keep the wind from calming down. But greater is he who is persistent on our behalf, for amid the vicissitudes of our life he gives us confidence. He comes to us and strengthens us, so we are not jostled in the boat and tossed overboard. For although the boat is thrown into disorder, it is still a boat. It alone carries the disciples and receives Christ. It is in danger indeed on the water, but there would be certain death without it. Therefore stay inside the boat and call upon God. When all good advice fails and the rudder is useless and the spread of the sails presents more of a danger than an advantage, when all human help and strength have been abandoned, the only recourse left for the sailors is to cry out to God. Therefore will he who helps those who are sailing to reach port safely, abandon his church and prevent it from arriving in peace and tranquility?" (excerpt from SERMON 75.4)4
The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 6:45-52 asks how should we understand Jesus’ words to the disciples? And more to the point, how can we deal with our fears when we face terrifying circumstances?
We all know the kinds of things that could make us afraid: a cancer diagnosis, job loss, financial upheaval, a child in a car accident, and many others. These are the situations where fear can overwhelm and paralyze us. They’re the situations in which it feels as if we are in the boat with the disciples—and just moments away from capsizing.
But look what happens right after Jesus tells the disciples to do something that seemed impossible: “He got into the boat with them” (Mark 6:51). Which is exactly what Jesus does for us. He joins us in our “boat.” He doesn’t just tell us not to be afraid; he enters into our situation and promises to remain with us every step of the way.5
Friar Jude Winkler picks up the theme of the depth of the Love of God expressed in the First Letter of John. Fear is connected to the sense of awe at the Presence of God in the Bible. Friar Jude explains how the Nature Miracles in the recent passages from Mark allude to Moses and Psalm 23.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares some examples that reveal Jesus’ hermeneutic so that we might follow his methodology in using Scripture.
Jesus talks much more out of his own experience of God and humanity instead of teaching like the scribes and Pharisees, who operated out of their own form of case law by quoting previous sources.6
John L. Allen Jr. and Ines San Martin interview Father Julián Carrón, leader of the Catholic movement Communion and Liberation about the worry of some that Pope Francis, along with some priests and bishops, are engaging in ‘encounter’ without the same expectation of conversion from the errors the people they are committing.
Conversion doesn’t depend on the act, it depends on us. When we go to meet a thief, we bring ourselves to that encounter. Jesus had no problem going to the house of Zacchaeus, without explaining all his theology or moral rules. He went because the truth was incarnate in his person. The problem is, what people are meeting when they meet us? If what they meet in you is simply a manual of things to do, they already know that and they’re still not able to do it. But if they find themselves in front of a person who offers love, they’ll start wanting to follow that person and be like them, which is what happened to Jesus.7
Love is the antidote for fear. Our approach to those hardened by fear and rejection needs to emphasize a love encounter of restful waters rather than a Pharisee like confrontation with Law and rules for salvation.
References
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(n.d.). 1 John chapter 4 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved January 9, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/1john/4
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(n.d.). Mark chapter 6 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved January 9, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/mark/6:3
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(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved January 9, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
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(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved January 9, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
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(n.d.). Christmas Weekday - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily Meditations .... Retrieved January 9, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/
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(2019, January 4). Daily Meditations Archive: January 2019 - Daily Meditations Archives .... Retrieved January 9, 2019, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/2019/01/
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(2017, June 21). 'If you don't think Francis is the cure, you don't grasp the disease,' CL. Retrieved January 9, 2019, from https://cruxnow.com/interviews/2017/06/21/dont-think-francis-cure-dont-grasp-disease-cl-head-says/
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