Some Have Unknowingly Entertained Angels

       It is often said that Jesus’ birth would be insignificant apart from the Resurrection. But is this really true? If we took the mystery of the Incarnation in isolation, could we truly understand it? Could Jesus’ birth have any meaning for us without any knowledge of the events that followed? Two thousand years ago, “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14A). This Word was the Logos – the meaning of life. In other words, God came into the world as a human person. At the very moment of his conception, Mary very literally became the Mother of God. How can such a miraculous birth be insignificant for us? That God didn't just suddenly appear on Earth as a fully grown man never ceases to baffle me. If Jesus hadn't died on the cross and risen victorious on the third day, his birth would have been just as miraculous as it is for us today. God would still have become man and many people would still have been healed. The trouble, though, with a hypothetical scenario like this one is that the event is just that – hypothetical. It fails to take into account the real experiences of the people who were contemporary with Jesus. It is true that Simeon and Anna recognized the real identity of the baby that they held in their hands, but always in full knowledge of what was to come. They were prophets who were given the gift of foreknowledge. On Christmas Eve two thousand years ago, the inn-keepers, centurions, and ordinary passers-by were not given the gift to recognize the true identities of the pregnant woman and her unborn child. For as Kierkegaard wrote, “Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards.” What astounds me about the disciples is that without knowing the end of the story, they lived in obedience to Jesus, with only their faith to guide them. They dropped their nets, abandoned everything, and followed a man whose words they didn’t fully comprehend but who promised life and life to its fullest” (cf. John 10:10). The Gospels continually remind us of the ignorance of the disciples.

      Maybe, instead of creating hypothetical situations that disregard the ignorance of humanity, we should ask ourselves a different question. Namely, if life can only be understood backwards, how must one live forwards? The author of Hebrews writes, “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels” (13:2). Here, we are reminded of Abraham and Sarah who fed angels without recognizing who they were feeding. Without in any way undermining the importance of faith in the lives of the disciples, we must never forget that the reason why we care for the poor, the sick, and the prisoner is because Jesus had a unique kinship with such people. Jesus was born in a stable to poor parents, lived a life of absolute poverty, and died the death of a criminal. Good works are important not because they give us fuzzy feelings or are meritorious (even if they may do all these things) but because without them, one cannot truly have faith.

    The disciples did not fully understand Jesus’ life before the Resurrection. They did not understand all his parables or realize that his life was a fulfillment of the Law.  But it would be false to say that Jesus’ birth was insignificant before the Resurrection. Not for the disciples anyway. The disciples were able to follow Jesus without knowing what we know today because they realized that faith means obedience. They realized that it is only in being open to another’s needs that one is open to God and it is only in being open to God that one can truly know how to love his neighbor. Jesus shows us that a human person’s life has significance regardless of what we may or may not know about that person because only God knows the end of the story. Any one of the thousands of babies that Herod slaughtered could have been the Son of God. We do not always know the way God reveals Himself but our ignorance should only lead us to love more. And we can only love more if we trust God and live to serve Him. Pope Benedict reminded people in November 2008 that “faith is not opposed to charity.” In fact, apart from charity, faith is impossible. The inn-keepers, the centurions, and the ordinary passers-by may not have been fully able to see who Jesus was, but they (like us) were given sufficient Grace to follow God in obedience. The question is: Will we accept the Grace in faith knowing that faith requires obedience in love? “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels” – or the Son of God.

                I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!! 

Following Christ in Obedience - the Vocation of a Lay Person

“If however, you want to attribute both of these, the flowers and the fruit, to the one person according to their moral sense, understand the flower as faith, the fruit as action. Nor do I think that this will seem wrong to you, if, just as the flower by necessity precedes the fruit, so faith ought to come before good works. Without faith, moreover, it is impossible to please God, as Paul attests. And he even teaches that ‘whatever does not proceed from faith is sin’. Hence there is neither fruit without a flower nor a good work without faith. But then, faith without good works is dead, just as a flower seems vain where no fruit follows” (191).

The above passage was taken in full from Franz Posset’s book Pater Bernhardus: Martin Luther and Bernard of Clairvaux, and St. Bernard’s sermon on the Song of Songs. If you recall from my previous post, Posset argues that Martin Luther’s reformation theology was greatly influenced by the twelfth century Cistercian Church Father, St. Bernard – more so even than St. Augustine to whom Luther has often been compared. History books often explain that a major difference between Catholicism and Protestantism is that the former teaches that a person is justified by faith and good works while the latter argues that justification is through faith alone. But what is the real difference between the two? Surely, Protestants are not against helping others. So, what is the issue?

One must remember that Martin Luther was responding to the issues of his time. Living in the midst of the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages, a huge chasm had been built between the often wealthy, politically inclined bishops and cardinals on the one hand and the poor, highly uneducated lay people on the other. Authentic Church teachings were eclipsed by teachings that sometimes, unfortunately, reflected more the interests of the pope than those of God or the souls of his children. For a myriad of reasons, the lay people and even religious of Luther’s world were more familiar with a strict, unloving Jesus who obviously found pleasure in damning people than they were with the Christ of the Gospels whose sacrificial love reconciled the world to God. People were taught that only a few holy people (exceptional Saints) had found favor with God and were thus in Heaven. Everyone else had no right to presume that they could get to Heaven. Purgatory was the best anyone could hope for. Luther’s primary criticisms were aimed at a particular pope and his bishops who falsely taught that grace could be merited. In trusting in Christ’s mercy and following him in obedience through love, Christians were often taught that a person could only be relatively saved (spend less years in purgatory) through pilgrimages, almsgiving, and the buying of indulgences. In this context, it is understandable that someone like Martin Luther would fall into despair (besides he suffered from clinical depression as well). He felt like he never could do enough to merit heaven. And he was right. It struck Luther one day that a person is justified by ‘faith alone.’ But what does Luther mean by this statement? Let’s listen to him in his essay On the Freedom of a Christian:

“We may see the same thing in all handicrafts. A bad or good house does not make a bad or good builder, but a good or bad builder makes a good or bad house. And in general, no work makes the workman such as it is itself; but the workman makes the work such as he is himself. Such is the case too with the works of men. Such as the man himself is, whether [122] in faith or in unbelief, such is his work; good if it be done in faith, bad if in unbelief. But the converse is not true--that, such as the work is, such the man becomes in faith or in unbelief For as works do not make a believing man, so neither do they make a justified man; but faith, as it makes a man a believer and justified, so also it makes his works good…We do not then reject good works; nay, we embrace them and teach them in the highest degree. It is not on their own account that we condemn them, but on account of this impious addition to them, and the perverse notion of seeking justification by them.”


Luther and Bernard both agree that justification is through faith alone. God gives Grace to a Christian as a free, unmerited gift, and the Christian in turn responds in faith which is obedience to Christ. The difference between a person who believes in faith alone and one who believes in faith and good works is that the former seeks God’s face in the person of Jesus Christ and in attempting to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, inevitably does good works. The latter on the other hand only sees good works as a burden or an occasional necessity, only necessary for salvation in the next life. A person who believes in justification through faith and good works believes also that these works are extra special works that a Christian must do to fulfill Christ’s commandment in Matthew 25. Instead, a person who believes in justification by faith alone is freed from the law that condemns and instead turns to Christ who is the only one who can save. Instead of works being an extra, a Christian who trusts Christ in faith alone, actively engages in the suffering of this world like Christ did and continues to do. Instead of looking at good works as a way of entering Heaven, Christians should do these same things out of love for God and His people. Christ calls all people to follow him in obedience and that means that all people must follow in his footsteps. What does this mean for Catholics today?

Christian lay people must actively engage in the problems of their societies. It seems to me that too many "serious" Catholics are more interested in living their own private, pious lives than accepting the responsibility of living in the midst of a suffering world. Catholics should realize that followers of Christ must respond, and not just with prayers. Faith is active engagement in this world as a result of a complete obedience to Christ. I am reminded of Oscar Romero and Dietrich Bonhoeffer who saw social-justice not as an extra good work - a once-in-a-while occurrence - but as something that must be the natural response of faithful Christians in this world. The term "progressive" that is often used to refer to "social-justice Catholics" makes me wonder. What are these Catholics progressing towards if not towards God? I really believe that unless all Catholics come to believe that each and every one of them is called to be actively engaged in the problems of this world, the chasm in the Church (between the so-called Conservatives and the so-called Progressives) will always remain. Then, the Catholic faith ceases to be defined as obedience to the Christ of the Gospels.

Too often, when a Catholic spiritual director finds promise in a Christian, he advises that person to become a religious or a priest. But maybe, people are approaching vocations incorrectly. Of course, the Church needs priests and religious but she also needs faithful lay Christians living in the secular world. For too long, the Church has been solely preoccupied with religious vocations without realizing that the vast majority of Catholics are lay people. Fortunately, at least in the last 50 years, more emphasis has been placed on the lay people and their call to holiness. A person does not need to be a monk or a nun to be Christian. In fact, the way I see it, a shift from the cloistered life to the active life may be necessary to respond to the signs of the times. Could not a doctor or a lawyer or a custodian or a construction worker be a faithful Christian too? Instead of seeing some Christians as the “prayerful” type and others as the “social justice” type I suggest we bridge the chasm and urge all Christians to worship the Christ of the Gospels in obedience. There are hundreds of millions of Catholic lay people in the world. There is so much that a lay person can and should do.

The Jesus We Know and the Jesus We Do Not Know… (yet)

It is always nice to take walks in a large city. There are many people to see. Apart from getting fashion ideas from my promenades, I come face-to-face with reality. As a man walks by me, I notice how ordinary he looks. Dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt, he is just another man. Later, as I’m eating lunch at a cafe, I notice that the same man is standing in line to buy a salad. Nothing fancy. As I get up to leave, I notice that he has a few friends with him. They are all sitting round a table, eating and talking about this, that, and the other. I am certainly not eaves-dropping or spying, so I walk past with only a quick glance. Later, I will forget them altogether. Especially, the man in jeans whom I’d seen twice that day. I forget him after a few hours. And if he was the King, I certainly wouldn’t have known it from his physical appearance.

2,000 years ago, an ordinary man walked the Earth.

This man “Who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

 something to be grasped.

Rather, he emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

coming in human likeness;

 and found human in appearance,

 he humbled himself,

becoming obedient to death,

even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8).

Thus, when the disciples met Jesus by the shores of the Sea of Galilee, they did not see a man surrounded by glory with a halo on his head but an ordinary man, not even a Temple Elder. “Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not his sisters all with us? Where did this man get all this?” And they took offense at him.” (Matthew 13:55-57a). But surely he did miracles. There was no question of his identity then. Right?

I will continue to maintain that miracles can only be seen through the eyes of faith. At most, miracles can convince someone “on the fence”, but those who do not want to believe won’t believe. So, how do we know that this ordinary carpenter’s son is God? If we do not know from any external evidence then how can we know? We know Jesus was and is God because He said so. It is natural to question this claim. How do we know that this man is who he claims to be? The answer is not logical and does not use reason. The answer is faith. “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). It is only faith that proves to us that this man who will eventually be crucified for treason is God. This faith, Paul admits, is “a stumbling to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23b). There were many false prophets prior to Jesus. In our time, there have been many false prophets as well.

It is on the cross that we come to know God face-to-face because only God would accept the cross. All other false prophets would recant if faced with the cross. However, I must admit that I never cease to be awed by the disciples who believed in Jesus even when their Master was living - who believed just because He said He was the One Israel was seeking. Like the man in the blue jeans and tee-shirt who I hypothetically encountered, Jesus was an ordinary man with an extraordinary claim. In Israel, everyone had their own view of who the Messiah was supposed to be, and many overlooked the ordinary Rabbi whose only weapon was Love. While theologians have created and continue to create logical explanations for the existence of God or the divinity of Jesus, we are continually reminded of the fact that the disciples were not Biblical scholars. They did not receive a doctorate in philosophy. We worship a God who spoke and the world was created. One of the most powerful lines in the entire Bible is Genesis 1:3 in which the author writes, “Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.” Whether the world was created in a few thousand years or over 3.5 billion years, you can be sure that it was God who willed it. Jesus in the New Testament is the Word incarnate. Whatever Christ says is the Truth whether or not it makes logical sense. What do you read in the Gospels that you cannot logically accept? Do you believe that Jesus is the Word? For me, it helps to say to Christ, “I believe because You said so.”

Christ too recognizes the fact that faith is an illogical leap. “And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me” (Luke 7:23). Let us not forget all the martyrs of the early Church and all those who die today for their faith. Most of Jesus’ disciples were killed for following Christ so how were they blessed? Once again, the blessing is not necessarily something we can see but something we believe in through faith. We believe that because Jesus was who He said He was, He had the power to die for the sins of the world. We believe that because Jesus was who He said He was, we too will experience the Resurrection. After all, because we believe Christ, we believe in His Resurrection. The Resurrection is only seen through the eyes of those who already believe in Him. The blessing is not necessarily health, wealth, and earthly happiness but everlasting life with God. “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). All these things Jesus promised his disciples so long ago, even while he was walking the Earth and looked like an ordinary human. If we do not know the human Jesus then we cannot know or recognize the glorified Jesus when he comes again.

It is true that Jesus will come again. But the proof of Christ’s divinity is found in faith. The glorified Jesus we do not know yet, but the human Jesus we do. And this human Jesus who was at once God and man – this Jesus was the fullness of God. In the meantime, there is much that we need to do to help Christ accomplish what He wants to accomplish on Earth. Even if Jesus does not return in your life time or even in the next 2,000 years, Jesus’ words are enough. For, it is in His words that we find the fullness of life. I believe, Lord, because You said so.  Because of faith, I know that my sins can be forgiven and that death does not have the last word. Because of faith, I know that there is hope even in seemingly hopeless situations.

As Blessed John Paul II once said, "Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song."

Recommended Reading: Training in Christianity by Søren Kierkegaard

Wonderful Prayer

But unto Thee, Lord Jesus Christ, will we pray that Thou wilt draw us entirely unto Thyself. Whether our life shall be passed calmly in a cottage by the tranquil lake, or we shall be tried by conflict with life’s storms upon the troubled ocean; whether we shall “make it a point of honor” (1 Thes 4:11), or shall struggle in abasement, do Thou draw us, and draw us entirely, unto Thyself. If only Thou wilt draw us, then indeed all is won, even though, humanly speaking, we were to win nothing; and nothing is lost, even though, humanly speaking, we were to lose everything  - then this or the other condition of life would be our true life; for thou dost draw none to an unworthy distance from dangers, but neither dost Thou draw any into foolhardy adventure.

We pray for all. The tender infant whom the parents bring to Thee that Thou mayest draw him unto Thyself. And if at a later time the parents exert such an influence upon the child that it is led to thee, bless, we pray Thee, this work of theirs. But if their influence is disturbing to the child, we pray Thee that Thou wilt make good their deficiency, so that this disturbance may not draw the child away from Thee, and that Thou wilt let this also serve to draw the child to Thee. Thou who didst call Thyself “the way” hast more ways than there are stars in heaven, ways everywhere, ways which lead to “the way.” We pray for them that have renewed at confirmation the covenant made with Thee in baptism which we all have made, which most of us also have renewed, which most of us also have broken – yet not all, for we pray also for them that, in a way different from the infant, stand at the entrance of life, after having renewed their baptismal covenant. We pray that Thou wilt drawn them unto Thyself. O Thou that dost not only accept vows and keep promises, but dost aid the poor man to keep his vows to Thee, draw them unto Thyself by the “vow” and if that is broken, do Thou draw them again and again unto Thyself by vows again and again renewed. We pray for them that have experienced that which in an earthly sense is the most beautiful meaning of this earthly life, for them that in love have found one another. We pray for the lovers, that they may not promise one another more than they can perform, and, even if they could perform it, that they may not promise one another too much in love, lest this love of their might become a barrier to hinder Thee from drawing them unto Thyself, but that far rather it may assist to this end. [We pray for the husband and wife, that their undertakings, if they be so situated in life, or their busy activity, or their toilsome labor, may not cause them to be unmindful of Thee, but that in their undertaking, in their activity, in their labor, they may feel themselves more and more drawn unto Thee]. We pray for the aged at the brink of the grave, that Thou wilt draw them unto Thyself. We pray for all, for him who at this instant first hails the light of day, that the meaning of his life may be that he is drawn unto Thee; and we pray for the dying, for him who has much and many to hold him back, and for him who has nothing and nobody that cares – we pray that it may have been the meaning of his life to be drawn unto Thee.

We pray for the happy and the fortunate who for every joy know not whither they are bent, that Thou wilt draw them unto Thyself and let them learn that it is thither they should go. We pray for the sufferers who in their wretchedness know not whither to turn, that Thou wilt draw them unto Thyself – that both the fortunate ones and the sufferers, however unlike their lot in life, may in one thing be alike, that they know nowhere else to go but to Thee. We pray for them that are in need of conversion, that Thou wilt draw them unto Thee, from the way of perdition into the way of truth. For them that have turned unto Thee and found the way, we pray that thy may make progress in the way, drawn by Thee. And since, truth being the way, there are three ways of going wrong: by losing the way, by stumbling in the way, by deviating from the way – we pray that Thou wilt draw the erring unto Thee from the wrong way, support the stumbling, and bring back the bewildered to the way.

Thus we pray for all. Yet no one is able to mention every individual. And who, indeed, can mention even all the various classes of men? So in conclusion we mention only one class, we pray for them that are the ministers of Thy Word, whose work it is, so far as a man is able, to draw men unto Thee. We pray that Thou wilt bless their work, but that at the same time they themselves in this work of theirs may be drawn unto Thee, that by their zeal to draw others unto Thee they themselves may not be held back from Thee. And we pray for the simple Christians, that, being themselves drawn unto Thee, they may not think poorly of themselves, as though it were not granted also unto them to draw others unto Thee, insofar as a man is able.

Insofar as a man is able – for Thou alone art able to draw unto Thyself, though Thou canst employ all means and all men to draw all unto Thyself. 

~Søren Kierkegaard in Training in Christianity

Palm Sunday: The First Day of Holy Week

Today is Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week. Today, Jesus came to Jerusalem amidst hosannas and the waving of palm branches. But merely five days later, his own disciple would sell him to the Jewish authority for thirty pieces of silver (worth around 13,000 dollars today). What created such hatred in the Jews, in his disciples, in his former friends? What did people accept Jesus to accomplish?

Where do we look for God? Do we look at the every day person and realize that any one of those people could have been Jesus? Jesus was not a priest, he was not a highly acclaimed Rabbi - not in the eyes of the Ruling Authority anyway. Apart from miracles, Jesus seemed like an ordinary teacher from the outside. Later, he was even a criminal. God chose to be a criminal!

Why doesn't Christ take himself off the cross? Why doesn't he prove to them, prove to everyone that he is in fact the Lord of all? Jesus told us earlier in the Gospel of Luke in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

"If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead" (Luke 16:31).

The Hebrew scriptures are filled with Messianic prophesies. If the Jews had listened to Moses and the prophets (particularly Isaiah), they would have understood that the Messiah would come as a suffering servant. The ones who mocked Jesus did not believe in him. Without faith, miracles do not exist. With faith, we trust that death does not have the last word, that God will triumph in the end. For in the end, Jesus did rise from the dead, but the only ones who saw him were those who believed in him. This is how God chose to reveal himself to us - not by taking himself off the cross but by submitting himself to his creation. The proof that Jesus is God is not in his miracles because those who do not first have faith will never believe in his miracles, will never believe that he conquered the grave. It is from his words and in his suffering that we know God face-to-face.

Søren Kierkegaard: What Does it Mean to be Christian?

I have not posted anything in almost a month it seems, but I will try to post a lot more in the next few weeks. Come back February 14 because I will have a post on Christian love.

A few posts ago, I wrote a reflection on Søren Kierkegaard's book Fear and Trembling, written under his pseudonym Johannes de Silentio. This book really changed the way that I had previously viewed Abraham. I highly recommend others to read this book as well. If nothing else, it will make you to read the story of Abraham and Isaac with fresh eyes. Is faith always reasonable? We would like to think so, but Scripture does not reflect this claim. What is reasonable about Abraham being called to sacrifice his son (an act that would have been in direct opposition to the standards of the Ethical), Hosea marrying a prostitute, God coming into the world as a human, Jesus resurrecting from the dead, Moses leading a whole group of people from Egypt into the desert where they have to wander for 40 years with only their faith to guide them...? Kierkegaard argues, that faith and reason are different spheres and that when reason is overemphasized, faith is sucked out of Christianity. In other words, when we make reason a prerequisite to having faith, we do not have faith. Intellectual gymnastics is not faith. Once again, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 comes to mind. 

"For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength" (v.25).

Kierkegaard lived in Denmark at a time when the Hegelian System was highly regarded. Kierkegaard noticed that the so-called Christians of the Danish National Church felt that they belonged to a sort of Christian ethnicity: Christendom. They felt that going to church, getting baptized and confirmed, and being "good" made someone a Christian. But they did not have true faith. They thought that because they followed the "Universal" (the Natural Law, whatever that may be), they were Christians. They never really thought about their individual relationships with God. They failed to realize that once they died, they would stand alone before God and it would be to Him alone that they would have to render an account of their lives. Sound familiar? We fall for this daily.

What does it truly mean to follow Christ? Kierkegaard argued that true faith requires one to surrender oneself totally to God no matter the consequences. He wanted to reintroduce Christianity into Christendom. The Hegelians made faith something that immature people cling to, and that mature people go beyond (outgrow faith and cling instead to a reasonable form of Christianity at best). Kierkegaard was strongly against this. As he wrote in Fear and Trembling, "Faith is the highest passion in a human being. Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further." Kierkegaard's works are very thought-provoking not because he necessarily says anything new but because he brings us face-to-face with the Truth.

A Knight of Faith has Faith in the Absurd

What is faith? The book of Hebrews gives us a definition of faith: “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). What does that mean? Throughout the history of Christianity, different theologians have attempted to define faith. However, faith is not something that can be clearly defined because it is really a subjective experience. In his book Fear and Trembling*, Søren Kierkegaard attempts to explain why Abraham is one of the greatest examples of a man of faith, a "Knight of Faith". 

Abraham Sacrificing Isaac, Reims

Kierkegaard (writing under the pseudonym of Johannes de silentio), follows Abraham’s journey to Moriah and argues that there are times when faith requires one to cross the boundaries of the Ethical. According to the Ethical, if Abraham had sacrificed Isaac, he would have been a murderer, but because Abraham was acting in faith, he was justified. Many people dwell on the fact that Abraham was “merely being tested by God,” and fail to understand the grief and pain of a man who is called to kill the person he loves the most in the world. Abraham was a Knight of Faith, and not a Tragic Hero, because he had trust in the absurd. “It is not to save a nation, not to uphold the idea of the State, that Abraham [goes to Moriah], not to appease angry gods” (p.88). Abraham does not go to kill his son because he thinks that he will get something in return, but because he has trust in God’s promise and has completely resigned himself to God’s Will. Abraham’s story can be quite disconcerting when read from the perspective of Abraham. It is true that a misunderstanding of the story could lead one to condone terroristic behavior. However, it is worth repeating again that Abraham does not go to kill his son for any reward or because of any hatred he had towards Isaac. He goes to kill his son as proof of his faith to God. Only Abraham can understand what he has been called to do, and others do not have the right to judge his choice. “When a person sets out on the tragic hero’s admittedly hard path there are many who could lend him advice; but he who walks the narrow path of faith no one can advise, no one understand” (p.95).

There are other characters in the Bible who are also called to do the absurd and sometimes to cross what is considered moral and ethical by the world's standards. For example, Hosea is called to marry a prostitute. Kierkegaard writes, “There was one who relied upon himself and gained everything, and one who, secure in his own strength, sacrificed everything; but greater than all was the one who believed God. There was one who was great in his strength, and one who was great in his wisdom, and one who was great in hope, and one who was great in love; but greater than all was Abraham, great with that power whose strength is powerlessness, great in that wisdom whose secret is folly, great in that hope whose outward form is insanity, great in that love which is hatred of self” (p.50).

And what about the Virgin Mary, called to be the Mother of God? What about her? Though the angel explains the situation to Joseph, who can really understand Mary and her calling? Mary, in her faith, her complete resignation to God’s Will, accepts to suffer in complete trust that her Son will save the world. “[I]t takes a paradoxical and humble courage then to grasp the whole of temporality on the strength of the absurd, and that courage is the courage of faith” (p.77). The most courageous of all was Jesus who allowed himself to be crucified in complete faith and trust in his Father. After all, if Abraham had indeed sacrificed Isaac, his sacrifice would not have been an atonement for the sins of the world, but the Father perfectly sacrificed his Son and saved the world. To have faith, one must be willing to tell God, “[S]till, not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42b). Of course, most of us are not called to do radical things to prove our love to God, but let us not think that unconditional faith is easy to have. Kierkegaard writes, “[W]hat no one has the right to do is let others suppose that faith is something inferior or that it is an easy matter, when in fact it is the greatest and most difficult of all” (p.80). 

*Kierkegaard, Søren. Fear and Trembling. London: Penguin Classics, 1985. Print.

Side Note: The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity starts in a few days: January 18-25. Pray Pray Pray. God Bless!! I will post daily the daily readings and reflections that can be found on the Vatican (use search box) and the World Council of Churches websites.

What I Have Come to Realize About Faith

There are times when reading the Bible is like staring into a mirror. It doesn't necessary tell you anything new but shows you the Truth about yourself, a truth that you have somehow always known although you have never really acknowledged it before. A few weeks ago, it seems, I fully acknowledged a truth about Christianity (which incidently has everything to do with the Truth about me) for the very first time. And here it is, beautifully voiced by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31:

 The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside." Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord."

I finally understood why I had struggled with the cross for so long. From a secular perspective, the cross is a symbol of death, defeat, and humiliation. Without any knowledge of God, it is impossible to understand the cross, to understand that the cross is not a symbol of death but a symbol of life - a symbol not of defeat but of victory. Now as a Christian, there is something else that I have learned, namely that knowledge does not create faith. This is a strange realization for me since I love reading books on theology. And although these books can certainly be beneficial, they do not create faith. Reason alone can never lead you to faith because reason's limits is this world and faith has to do with the "other" world, what is beyond human knowledge. The most knowledgeable people are not necessarily the ones who have faith while on the contrary the least educated are not the ones most lacking in faith. Often, the opposite is true. Maybe this is the case becuase faith is required before anything we read on God makes any sense. Everything precedes from faith. Maybe having faith is not as difficult to acquire as we may think. Sometimes I find that reading theology, instead of helping my faith, actually makes Christianity merely into an interesting philosophy. We all want proof, but religion is not science. We cannot prove the existence of God. We know that Jesus is God because He said so. This is what Jesus meant in his parable of Lazarus and the rich man when Abraham said, "If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead" (Luke 16: 31). Miracles are only miracles when seen through the eyes of faith. For Christians, Jesus has risen from the dead. For everyone else, Jesus is still dead. So, I love theology. I love the challenge of reading books written by well-known theologians, but I am starting to realize that the best way to learn about God is to personally ask Him. There is no better way.

Today is the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi!!

So, today is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. I absolutely love this saint and not only because he loved animals. I feel as if Francis lived out the gospel better than anybody. Today, I think I’ll just post two quotes from him that have truly inspired me and I’ll write a little reflection after each one. I hope they inspire you as well.

“My brothers, God called me to walk in the way of humility and showed me the way of simplicity. I do not want to hear any mention of the rule of St Augustine, of St Bernard or of St Benedict. The Lord has told me that he wanted to make a new fool of me in the world, and God does not want to lead us by any other knowledge than that.”

The last line has sometimes been translated: "He told me I am to be a new kind of fool in this world.” I wish I had enough nerves to sign all my emails with this quote because to be a practicing Christian in this day and age is to be a fool. And somebody like Francis knew this better than anyone else. Even in the Middle Ages when everyone it seems was Christian, Francis was mocked by many, including his own brothers. But Francis knew what God had called him to do. To follow God’s calling is not always rational by the world’s standards. I’m thinking of a ton of people in the Bible like Moses, Abraham, and Paul who were called to do the absurd.

“Above all the graces and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ grants to his friends, is the grace of overcoming self, and accepting willingly, out of love for Christ, all suffering, injury, discomfort and contempt; for in all other gifts of God we cannot glory, seeing they proceed not from ourselves but from God, according to the words of the Apostle, ‘What hast thou that thou has not received from God? and if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?’ But in the cross of tribulation and affliction we may glory, because, as the Apostle says again, ‘I will not glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Amen.”

This quote is the end of a long discourse between St. Francis and Brother Leo over the meaning of true joy. I posted a few months ago chapter 8 of the Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi. Here is the link: http://carnival3christianity.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-st-francis-walking-one-day-with.html

These words from this great saint never cease to render me speechless. Anyone could have foreseen Francis saying that true joy comes from suffering. Yes. But his explanation for this belief is so profound. We cannot “glory” over the good things of the world because all good things come from above, but in patiently suffering, we make the choice to follow Christ even if it would be easier to curse and deny him. All good things we have in life are gifts, blessings that we do not deserve, but to glorify God even in the midst of our suffering is a choice we alone can make.

Who do you say I am?

“Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?” (John 4:12).


“Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?” (8:53).

Jesus takes up the question and responds to it with another question. “Who do you say I am?” (Luke 9:20b). The disciples explain that “[s]ome say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life” (9:19). Certain Jews say, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?” (John 8:48). The crowd’s responses are diverse, but the question still remains. “Who do you say I am?”

In his book Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) describes a Rabbi’s quest to understand Jesus. Rabbi Jacob Neusner wrote a book called A Rabbi Talks with Jesus in which Neusner was one of the people listening to Jesus on the mount. Although Neusner was fascinated with Jesus for a time, he ultimately decides not to follow Jesus becomes he comes to the conclusion that Jesus claims to replace the Torah, to replace the Law. Jesus claims to be the same God that as a Jew Rabbi Neusner has been worshiping throughout his whole life. Neusner’s fidelity to his Jewish faith and to the Law that was given through Moses prevents him from accepting Jesus.

The Jews, recalling prophets in salvation history, cannot accept a carpenter’s son to be greater than the patriarchs. They find that Jesus’ claim to be greater than the Law, to be the giver of the Law in fact, cannot be reconciled with their Jewish faith; thus many choose, like Rabbi Neusner, not to follow him. And although Jesus repeatedly attempts to convince the Jews that the scriptures all point to his coming, many cannot take the leap of faith.

“Who do you say I am?” Peter responds, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Jesus also responds to his own question: “Before Abraham was born, I AM!” (John 8:58).

So, who do we say he is? That is the question. We must decide.