A Soft Miracle on the Hudson

A Soft Miracle on the Hudson

June 28, 2009, Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24 2 Cor. 8:7, 9, 13-15 Mark 5:: 21-24, 35-43

To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a church not built by human hands[2]

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
Glory to you, Lord.

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him, and He stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing Him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with Him, saying, "My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live." Jesus went off with the official, and a large crowd followed and pressed upon Him.

While on their way some people from the synagogue official's house met them and said, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the Master any longer?" Disregarding the message, Jesus said to the official, "Do not be afraid; just have faith." He did not allow anyone to accompany Him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they arrived at the official’s house, He saw great confusion and heard loud weeping and wailing. Jesus went in and said to the crowd, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep." And they ridiculed Him. Then He put them all out. He took along the child's father and mother and His three disciples and went into the room where the child was lying. Then He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!" The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that all were utterly astounded.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction
Scripture’s abounding miracles

The full reading of the gospel for this thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time is verses 21- 43 from the 5th chapter of Mark. A shorter reading is offered for those congregations which are in a rush to get in and out. That shorter reading omits verses 25-34 which relates how Jesus, who is on this way to work a miracle on Jairus’ sick daughter, stops to work a miracle on a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. The full reading gives us pause; we wonder why miracles abound abundantly in the Old and New Testament but do not abound for us today.

Our abounding miracles

In a sense they do abound for us today. A young father who witnessed the birth of his first born son exclaimed, “It’s a miracle!” For years I watched the birth of a new day rising out of Lake Michigan, splashing its glory over a sheet of glass. I have always found myself exclaiming, “It’s a miracle!”

One spring, I watched a mother robin constructing her nest on the elbow of a downspout outside my kitchen window. I marveled as she went through her divinely appointed rounds. In conformity with a built-in blueprint she constructed her nest. In blind obedience to an inner law she brought her sacred eggs to term. With motherly astuteness she managed to feed her hungry chicks despite the scarcity of early spring. With maternal concern she protected them with outstretched wings against a late winter snowstorm. With patience she taught them to fly. And then one day, led by an eternal law that governs growth and love, she let go of them, and they flew away. At the end of the day, I found myself exclaiming, “It’s a miracle!”

On Thursday, January 15, 2009. A US Airways Airbus A320 bound for Charlotte, N.C., struck a flock of birds during takeoff minutes earlier at LaGuardia Airport, New York. With both engines knocked out, a cool-headed pilot named Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger of Danville, Calif. maneuvered his crowded jetliner over New York City and ditched it into the frigid Hudson River. The plane was submerged up to its windows in the river by the time rescuers arrived in Coast Guard vessels and ferries. All 155 on board were pulled to safety. Some passengers waded in water up to their knees, standing on the wing of the plane and waiting for help. Joe Hart, one of the passengers, said of pilot “Sully,” “He was phenomenal. He landed it — I tell you what — the impact wasn't much more than a rear-end collision.” The next morning, headlines news proclaimed it “The Miracle on the Hudson.” New York Governor David Paterson agreed. “We had a miracle on 34th Street. I believe now we have had a miracle on the Hudson."

Hard and soft miracles

The church’s greatest theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274), speaks of miracles of the first and second order. An old seminary professor called them “hard miracles and soft miracles.” The hard miracles are the ones which defy the laws of nature. They happen rarely, if they happen at all. Sometimes hard miracles are granted to those who are “hard of heart” in order to scare the daylights out of them, like the miracles of the ten plagues meted out to cruel King Pharaoh. (Exodus chapters 7-11)

The soft miracles don't defy the laws of nature; they glory in them! As that young father gloried in the birth of his son. As we’ve gloried in sunrises and sunsets or in a robin following her divinely appointed rounds. As Captain Sulley gloried in the laws of nature as he skillfully brought his plane to safe landing on the frigid waters of the Hudson. Soft miracles abound. And they are granted to those who are “soft of heart.” Beneath a picture of three beautiful roses someone has inscribed, “For those who love there are many miracles.”

Hard miracles and the human condition

We don’t deny that hard miracles do, indeed, happen, and we find ourselves every now and then praying for one with all our hearts, when an utterly dire situation confronts us. But we are wary of religion which traffics in them, as religion sometimes does.

At the end of day, hard miracles, even when they have been granted, cannot fix the human condition. The woman miraculously cured of her hemorrhage eventually died of something else. The daughter of Jairus raised from the dead eventually died a second and last time. A hard miracle cannot put an end to death; it can only delay it. Nor can medicine, for that matter, put an end to death; every one cured by a doctor eventually dies of something else. Strange to say, it’s only dying that puts an end to death.

The messianic secret

Jesus did not traffic in miracles. Unlike many TV technicians of miracles, Jesus is reluctant to have His miracles broadcasted. “Don’t tell anyone about this,” He orders the people. After raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead, He gives strict orders not to tell anyone about the event. (Mk 5:43) That same order to hush about His miracles appears not only in this fifth chapter of Mark but also in the first chapter (verse 44) and in the seventh (verse 36) and in the eighth (verse 26).

How in the world could His miracles be possibly kept secret? Why in the world would Jesus want them to be kept secret in the first place? Scripture scholars, who call this phenomenon Mark’s “Messianic Secret,” offer different explanations. Some say that Jesus simply wanted to tone down his fame as a miracle-worker because He was afraid that would mislead people as to what He was really all about: At the end of the day He had not come to take away the world’s sufferings but to help the world carry them! He had not come to lift the cross from people’s shoulders but to help them carry it!

Conclusion
Soft miracles abound

In his lifetime Jesus worked many miracles. He changed water into wine, multiplied the loaves and fishes, calmed a raging storm, stopped a flow of blood and raised up Jairus’ dead daughter. But think of it -- when He prayed for a miracle for Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane (“Father let this cup pass from me”), no miracle was granted Him! When we have prayed desperately for a miracle and no miracle is granted us – we remember we are not alone!

Hard miracles do not abound, but soft ones do. They abound as new-born babes, setting-suns and nesting-robins abound. A soft miracle abounded for 155 passengers on US Airways Airbus A320 when it made a soft landing on the frigid waters of the Hudson.


[1]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24

Storm, Be Quiet

Storm, Be Quiet!

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 21, 2009
Job 38:1, 8-11 2 Corinthians 5: 14-17 Mark 4:35-41

To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a church not built by human hands[2]

First reading from Job

Then out of the storm the Lord spoke to Job. ”Who closed the gates to hold back the sea when it burst from the womb of the earth? It was I who covered the sea with clouds and wrapped it in darkness. I marked a boundary for the sea and kept it behind bolted gates. I told it, `You can go no farther. Here your powerful waves must stop.’”

The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
Glory to you, Lord.

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: "Let us cross to the other side of Lake Galilee." Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A terrible storm arose and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep with his head on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!" The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, "Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?" They were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?"

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction
Back to Ordinary time

The liturgical calendar has two seasons of “Extraordinary Ordinary Time.” One is the Advent-Christmas season and the other is the Lenten-Easter season. The calendar also has two seasons of “Ordinary Time.”[3] The first runs from the Monday after Epiphany Sunday (Jan. 5 this year) to Ash Wednesday (Feb. 25 this year). The second season of Ordinary Time is a long stretch which runs from the Monday after Pentecost Sunday through the long summer months and into the fall until the first Sunday of Advent. We are now in that long stretch of Ordinary Time preceding Advent and Christmas 2009.

The command to “Be quiet!”

In the fourth chapter of Mark, Jesus and the disciples are in a boat, and He's asleep in the stern with his head upon a cushion. A roaring storm blows up, and the apostles fearing the ship might sink, wake Jesus. He commands the winds to “Be quiet!” And they stop blowing. He commands the waves to calm down. And they obey. (Mk 4:35-41)

It’s the same command that Jesus gives in the first chapter of Mark. There He commands a screeching demon to “Be quiet! Come out of the man!” (Mark 1:25) The demon leaves him, and the man calms down. The roaring of the wind and the turbulence of the sea are images of the storms which buffet us human beings.

Tea-pot tempests

Some of our storms, however, are not much more than tempests-in-a-tea-pot. We remember the many storms which rocked the church, the Bark of Peter, shortly after Vatican II. There were storms over Communion in the hand, Communion from lay-people, meat on Friday, nuns in civilian dress, etc. As we look back on it now, those storms were tea-pot-tempests.

Sometime back, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, asked his fellow bishops to inform all pastors that the extraordinary[4] ministers of Holy Communion will no longer be allowed to wash the sacred vessels after Mass. Think of it! We are knee-deep in an acute crisis of a priest-shortage, and some people are worried about who may or may not do the dishes after Mass! That was a tea-pot-tempest.

When a compassionate and innovative pastor substituted rice for wheat in the Communion wafer to accommodate the first Holy Communion of a little girl afflicted with celiac sprue,[5] the local bishop ruffled the smooth seas when he declared the Communion invalid! “We must do what Christ did,” he said. “At the Last Supper He did not consecrate rice wafers but bread!” That, too, was a tea-pot-tempest.

Like the church institution, we have our tea-pot tempests, and we, too, are challenged to name them for what they are, and then, like Jesus, command them to be quiet and shut up. That’s the only adult thing to do.

Real storms

But not all our storms are tempests in a tea pot. Some of them, indeed, are real storms. Some years ago a friend and I visited a mutual friend in his late fifties, who, on a mild December day as he was riding his bike home from the local hospitals where he worked in surgery, was struck by a car. From that moment on he was totally disabled for the rest of his earthly life.

Instead of handing that terrible disaster over to some nursing-home facility, his remarkable wife and four children took full possession of it. Through a complicated arrangement that engaged the help of agencies, visiting nurses, part-time hired help and especially his family, our friend was able to spend his last days in the arms of a loving family and in the incomparable environment of home.

During the visit, our friend, who by now was a mere shadow of what he used to be, drooled and grunted, mounted his wheelchair with help, and then with help again quickly dismounted. With difficulty he lay down for a moment and then suddenly struggled to get up. That had been going on for four years!

To be frank, it was a relief for us to leave our friend’s home and get outside and inhale deeply after breathing in the dense air of such disaster. We drove home in silence which we broke only to remind ourselves that all our tea-pot tempests paled utterly in the face of a real storm like that.

There are real storms in all our lives. They might not be as drastic as the one which blew over our friend and his family, but they are still staunch storms. Those who give themselves to each other in marriage know how strong the winds can blow at times. Those who raise a family know how high the waves can rise. Those who care for someone chronically or terminally ill know how overwhelming the task at times can be. Those who are buffeted by the present economic recession and have lost their jobs or have had their homes foreclosed know what it means to be bailing water. The disciples in the gospel today cry out, "Teacher, you who are comfortably sleeping with your head on a cushion while the rest of us are frightened to death, don’t you care that we are perishing?" We storm-tossed humans often cry out the same.

Conclusion

Two kinds of us believers

At the end of the day, we pray that we might know the difference between our tea-pot tempests and the real storms of life. And we pray also to have the inner authority to command our tea-pot-tempests to “Be quiet!” Yes, even to “Shut up! “It’s the only mature way to live.

And in the midst of the real storms of life, we pray not so much for a miracle (though miracles are always welcome). Rather, we pray especially that God would ride out our storms with us, as Jesus rode out the storm with His disciples on the Sea of Galilee.

At the end of the day, there are two kinds of us believers. There are those who, in the storms that buffet us, heartily believe that Jesus (the presence of God) is really in our boat riding out the storm with us. And then there are those of us who don’t so heartily believe but wish and pray we could.

[1] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24

[3] In Latin Tempus per annum, i.e., “time during the year.”

[4] An extraordinary minister of holy Communion is one who is not ordained.

[5] a disease which can’t tolerate wheat and other grains.

Recognized in the Breaking of the Bread

Recognized in the Breaking of the Bread

Corpus Christi Sunday, June 14, 2009
Exodus 24:3-8 Hebrews 9:11-15 Luke 24:13-35

To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a temple not built by human hands[2]

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Glory to you, Lord.

Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, 7 but their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. He asked them, "What are you discussing as you walk along?" They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to Him in reply, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?" And He replied to them, "What sort of things?" They said to Him, "The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed Him over to a sentence of death and crucified Him. But we were hoping that He would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that He was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but Him they did not see." And He said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them what referred to Him in all the scriptures.

As they approached the village to which they were going, He gave the impression of going on farther. But they urged Him, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over." So He went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while He was with them at table, He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, but He vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning (within us) while He spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?" So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!" Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how they recognized Him in the breaking of the bread.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Introduction
Gone but not gone

In his ascension into heaven Jesus promised He would not leave us orphans but would be with us to the end of time (Jn 14:14; Mt 18:20). He kept his promise by sending us the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. He kept it also by giving us the Eucharist -- his abiding presence among us. Jesus is gone but not gone.

Everything & nothing has changed

Today we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi – the feast of the Lord’s presence among us in the Eucharist. With a bit of nostalgia we senior Catholics recall the solemn celebration of Corpus Christi of times past. It was, indeed, a big production. The Blessed Sacrament (encased in an elaborate monstrance and under a portable canopy) solemnly processed amid a cloud of incense through villages in valleys and hamlets on hills. Three times the procession stopped along the way for benediction with the Blessed Sacrament.

Today, the feast is no longer the big production it used to be. Since Vatican II (1959-1962) dramatic changes have taken place in our Catholic Eucharistic life. This is especially true for senior Catholics. We remember the pre-Vatican II days when on a Sunday morning only twenty to thirty people out of a packed congregation would rise from their pews to receive Communion! They were the ones who considered themselves “in the state of Sanctifying Grace.” The rest of the faithful -- those who had not confessed their “mortal sins” or those who were divorced and remarried or those who weren’t Roman Catholics or those who hadn’t fasted from every speck of food and drink from midnight on – they remained nailed to their pews at Communion time. All that has dramatically changed. Now at Communion time a whole congregation of sinners rises to receive the Eucharist. Communion now is seen not so much as a reward for saints but as food for sinners. It is now seen more as food for the human journey. Yes, indeed, we’ve come a long way since Vatican II.

Senior Catholics also remember the super-sacral approach to the Eucharist of pre-Vatican II days. Only the consecrated hands of an ordained priest were permitted to touch the Blessed Sacrament. Now the faithful receive Communion in their hands and from the hands of Eucharistic ministers who are not ordained. Some of them are not even males! Now the faithful carry the Sacrament home with them after Mass to a sick member of the family. Now with increasing frequency we hear the rumblings of a debate which gets louder as priests get older and scarcer: the debate about ordaining married men and even women as priests to provide the Eucharistic banquet for God’s hungry people. The very debate itself shows that we’ve come a long way from our Catholic Eucharistic past.

Yes, indeed, with Vatican II everything has changed except one thing: the Eucharist still remains central to our Catholic faith. Everything has changed, and yet nothing has changed.
Present in the bread (period)

Over the years I have formulated a simple but insightful (for me) characterization of those remarkable changes in our Catholic Eucharistic life: In the old days, the emphasis was on Jesus present in the bread (period). In this new day, the emphasis is on Jesus present in the breaking of the bread. That’s much more than semantics.

In pre-Vatican II days, the emphasis was on Jesus present in the bread, At the elevation of the Mass the Eucharist was (and is still) raised on high, so that all might gaze on Jesus present in the bread. We even rang a bell[3] at that important moment to make sure everyone was awake and was looking at Jesus present in the bread. There was a kind of salvation in gazing on Jesus in the bread held on high -- very much like the salvation that came upon the Israelites when they gazed upon the bronze serpent fashioned by Moses and held on high by him. (Num 21:4-9; Jn 12:32) We remember also how, on big feast days, benediction with the Blessed Sacrament climaxed Mass, as a kind of frosting on the cake. The Eucharist encased in the monstrance was held on high, so all could gaze upon Jesus present in the bread.

Present in the breaking of the bread

In this new day, the emphasis is more on Jesus present in the breaking of the bread. That’s more than semantics; that’s scriptural. Two of the disciples on the road to Emmaus meet up with a Stranger. At dusk they look for lodging and invite the Stranger to stay and have supper with them. At table, the Stranger takes bread, says a blessing over it, then breaks the bread and gives it to the disciples. Their eyes are opened; they recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread. (Lk 24:30-31)

Bread not broken and shared

A few years ago, I concelebrated at the funeral Mass of a dear friend who died on the operating table, as his loving wife and I were anxiously waiting outside the operating room. At the funeral Mass everything went off well enough until Communion time came. Then out of the blue, the pastor announced, “Catholics may now come up and receive Holy Communion!”

My gosh! Catholics know when it’s time to come up and receive Communion! At the end of the day, the pastor was subtly (or not so subtly) dis-inviting all non-Catholics from participating in the Eucharistic banquet. He was withholding the Bread that should have made Catholics and non-Catholics one on such a solemn sad occasion. What’s more, he had turned the Bread of unity, which should have made us one, into a rock of division. His bread had divided us into Catholics and non-Catholics. At the end of the day, bread had not been broken at that funeral Mass, and Christ had not been recognized. Only the Christian community had been broken into “Catholics who may now come up and receive Holy Communion” and those who may not!

Bread broken and shared

Barbara Marion Horn, a feisty lady from Ireland, with a gifted knack for words, has strong feelings about turning the Eucharist into a rock of division. In a letter to a Father Enrique from South America, she writes about a Mass of his which she attended.

Dear Father,

You may have noticed a woman weeping in the front row at Communion time. That would be me. I wept and wept and wept. Is there any way to put on paper what my heart and mind were immersed in? I will make the attempt, if only because I so desperately want you to know the great peace and joy you have brought me.

When Communion time came, you looked over the assembly and spoke the telltale words (perhaps the very ones which brought on Rome's final blow). “All are welcome,” you said. “This is the banquet, the table of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you feel called to join in his celebration, you are welcome. No matter if you have been away from the Church, belong to a different denomination or not to any at all, if you feel called to come forward and break bread, you are welcome. “

{Writing out of the bloody background of Northern Ireland Horn continues now in a higher pitch.} Suddenly my mind careened backwards and sideways and all over the place. Flashes of Protestant and Catholic ancestors at odds with each other, storming out of weddings and baptisms, fighting over the faith and refusing to break bread with each other—all that came roaring into my psyche. Sitting there, your invitation, dear Father, continued to wash over me. “All are welcome.” God, thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me live to hear such words. I am the luckiest person
alive!

Conclusion
Present in both

Is Jesus present in the bread (period), or is He present in the breaking of the bread? Catholic faith says He’s present in both. Whenever we break bread, whether at weddings or baptisms or funerals or anywhere else, Jesus is recognized in the breaking of the bread. But He is also present in the bread (period). He is present in the bread of the tabernacle. He is present in the bread of the monstrance, as it processes through villages in valleys and hamlets on hills, assuring us lonely wayfarers that we are not alone in the human journey.



[1]] By “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church institution but those whom the institution has left!

[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24

[3] Since Vatican II the bell-ringing at the consecration has been silenced in most parishes.

Trinity: A Nifty Attempt

Trinity: a Nifty Attempt
Trinity Sunday, June 7, 2009
Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40 Romans 8:14-17 Matthew 28:16-20

To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a church not built by human hands[2]

Second reading from Romans

Brothers and sisters: Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. And so we should not be like cringing slaves, but we should behave like God’s very own children, adopted into the bosom of His family, and calling to Him, “Father! My Father!”For His Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts, and tells us that we really are God’s children. And since we are His children, we shall share His inheritance, and all that Christ inherits will belong to us as well! Yes, if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering.

The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Glory to you, Lord.

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they all saw Him, they worshiped Him, even though some of them doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction
Liturgical cycles

The nation’s liturgical cycle begins with Memorial Day summoning us to memorialize our war-dead and to initiate the summer season with picnics in parks. The cycle peaks with the Fourth of July celebrating our freedom. It wanes with the falling leaves of Labor Day. It finally ends with Thanksgiving Day giving thanks for the blessings of the harvest.

The church’s liturgical cycle begins with the Father sending the Son at Christmas. It continues with the Son returning to the Father in Ascension. The cycle peaks with the Father and the Son sending the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. So today (the Sunday after Pentecost), the church positions a feast dedicated to the mystery of a one God who is a trinity of persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

A tug of war

We call it the “mystery of the Trinity.” In theology mystery does not mean something that’s incomprehensible or meaningless. On the contrary, mystery in theology refers to a reality so rich in meaning that we humans can never adequately get our arms around it and fathom its depths. Though that’s true, we humans still keep trying to fathom God. So there is Islamic theology – that’s Muslims trying to fathom God. There is Jewish theology – that’s Jews trying to fathom God. And there is Christian theology- that’s Christians trying to fathom God. The theology of most Christians is encapsulated in the formula “The one true God is a trinity of persons -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

There’s obviously a tug of war between mystery and theology. Mystery says God cannot be fathomed. On the other hand, theology says, “That might be true, but I’m going to try anyway.” St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), the church’s most renowned theologian, trying to fathom the mystery of God, wrote volume after volume about the ineffable God. But at the sunset of his life, he looked upon his pretentious writings and exclaimed, “Nihil est!" “It‘s nothing!” Karl Barth (1886-1968), a renowned Swiss Reformed theologian, trying to fathom the mystery of God, wrote volumes about the ineffable God. But at the sunset of his life, he, too, made sport of his theological pretentiousness and said, "The angels are laughing at old Karl Barth."

Having God down pat

God is mystery. That is to say God’s reality is so great we humans can never adequately put our arms around it and sound its depths. I Timothy 6:16 says that God “lives in light so terrible that no human being can approach Him. No mere man has ever seen Him, nor ever will.” The best thing God has going for Himself (and the best thing we’ve got going for Him) is His mystery. But when we have God down pat, when we have Him neatly figured out, then we have destroyed His mystery. What’s more, we have tamed our God and now have Him doing our bidding. How convenient and what awesome power it is to have God doing our bidding! We cherish such a God, as we cherish an obedient child.

Osama bin Laden, the world’s most notorious Muslim, is an ardent Islamic believer. He daily recites his Islamic profession of faith that “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.” For bin Laden that’s the one only right answer about God, and anyone who does not profess it is an infidel. At the end of the day, it was that one only right answer about God which conspired bin Laden and other Islamic extremists to drive two 747s into the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, bringing down two towers and three thousand innocent infidels.

Bin Laden has his God down pat and has destroyed His mystery. What’s more, he has tamed his God and has Him doing his bidding. How convenient it is, and what awesome power it is for him to have his God doing his bidding! Bin Laden cherishes his God, as he cherishes an obedient child.

Not only Muslims but Christians, too, sometimes (and perhaps often) have their God down pat and have destroyed His mystery. Christians, too, know how to tame their God and have Him doing their bidding. The Rev. Mr. Phelps is one such Christian. When two skinheads beat Matt Shepard (a gay man) to a pulp and chained him to a wooden fence out in the country, leaving him to die in his tears and blood) the Rev. Phelps inflamed with homophobic hate picketed Shepard’s funeral with a sign which had God down pat. It read, “God hates fags and buries them in hell—Romans 9:13.” How convenient and what awesome power it is for Phelps to have his God doing his bidding! Rev. Phelps cherishes his God, as he cherishes an obedient child.

Phelp’s case is extreme, and is easily recognizable for what it is. There are less obvious and more refined cases. When preachers claim that AIDS is God’s pay-back upon immoral sinners, they have their God down pat. When the church magisterium claims to know that God prefers male priests over female priests or celibate priests over married priests, or when it definitively spells out God’s position on issues like birth control, divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, etc., then the church has God down pat and has destroyed His mystery. What’s more, it has tamed its God, and now has God doing its bidding. How convenient and what awesome power it is to have God doing your bidding! You cherish such a God, as you cherish an obedient child.

The one who does not love….

In simple words St. John writes, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (I Jn 4:8b). Bin Laden religiously recites his Islamic profession of faith that There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet. He faithfully falls to his knees in ritual prayer five times daily. At the same time, he gloats over the horrific event of 9/11 which his hatred of the West inspired. Bin Laden does not know God, for Scripture says, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

Phelps quotes the Bible (especially Romans 9:13) and recites the Nicene Creed with its clear Trinitarian profession of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. At the same time he luxuriates in homophobic hate as he pickets the funeral of Matt Shepard and buries him in hell. Preacher Phelps, like bin Laden, does not know God, for Scripture says, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

The one who loves….

John’s words, however, are a two-edged sword. He also writes, “The one who loves knows God, for God is love” (I Jn 4:8a). Years ago we buried Sister Barbara Ann Kutchera (of the BVM Order) who died of ovarian cancer at the young age of sixty-six. People came from all directions. The parking lot was full. The church was packed. Absolutely nothing about the event had “God down pat.” Her own religious Order came -- fifty sisters strong. None of them were dressed “like sisters,” and some of them even wore earrings. Then came a real shocker at this remarkable event which didn’t have God down pat in any shape or form: the preacher wasn’t a he! The preacher was a she -- the Rev. Linda Hansen! What’s more, the preacher wasn’t a Trinitarian! The preacher was a Unitarian![3] Born and raised a Catholic Hansen left the church for various reasons and became an ordained Unitarian minister. Rev. Linda was chosen to be the homilist for the funeral because of her warm personal relationship with Sr. Barbara. Her homily was carefully crafted, and it softly alluded to the strange twists and turns of the human journey. Rev. Linda spoke also about the warm, human side of Sr. Barbara.

At the end of the day, we ask which one of these two ladies knew God? Sr. Barbara, the Trinitarian? Or Rev. Linda, the Unitarian? Answer: they both knew God because they both loved much, for Scriptures says, “The one who loves, knows God.” Likewise, the Muslim who loves knows God, and the Jew who loves knows God.

Be at peace!

At Mass we recite the Nicene Creed with its Trinitarian profession: “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And we believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, begotten not made. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified.”

As we recite that creed, most of us feel we don’t know what the words mean. Be at peace! The person in the pew beside us also doesn’t know what the words mean. Be at peace! As long as we are loving human beings, we are children of God and know God.

Conclusion
Trinity: a nifty attempt

At the end of the day, Trinity is a nifty attempt of Christians to fathom God. It says that God is love. But loving requires more than one. So there’s more than one in God. God is never alone or lonely. God is a family of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and all of them are busy loving one another. What’s more, God, who is a family constantly loving each other, invites you and me to join His family of love.

Again, Trinity is a nifty attempt of Christians to fathom God. It has rich overtones. It speaks of God as a loving Father who forgives His wayward children. That lays an axe to the mean and revengeful god whom the Rev. Phelps has invented to hate sinful gays. Trinity also speaks of God as an obedient Son who in the fullness of time was born into the human condition and became Emmanuel – God with us. That lays an axe to a distant god who is high above or beyond us or unconcerned about us. Trinity also speaks of God as an abiding Holy Spirit who dwells within us. That lays an axe to an uncaring god who sends us forth as solitary wayfarers on the human journey without Viaticum[4] – without Someone to be with us on the way.

[1]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24

[3] Unitarians don’t subscribe to Trinity.

[4] Viaticum means “With you on the way.”