Sign of the Times
About 1950 years back St. Paul in his second letter to Timothy uttered the following prediction:
“…the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.” (2 Tim.4:3)
Prophecy, despite what we might have grown accustomed to thinking, is not actually about the future- it’s about the present, the now moment of grace and opportunity to respond to God’s will. If what God asks of us is not followed, is ignored or goes unheeded, then our failure to respond in this present moment of time will effect most assuredly our future.
Louis Armstrong, that great trumpet player and singer recorded a song which still seems to have great impact even in modern times, “What A Wonderful World”. It is a wonderful world, a world filled with wonder when we take stock of our lives and count our blessings in this mysterious adventure we call live. However, it is a song reflective of one who is singing of how great life can be when everything is going right and its view is one of positive contemplation of the things on the sunny side of life; friends shaking hands, the colours of the rainbow, fields of green, red roses too. It is not, a song reflective, of course, of the darker side of life which is all too apparent to any of us living in modern times.
We are living in a world that is upside down compared to just a few decades ago. The things we considered ‘common’ years ago are certainly no longer common, like, decency, courtesy, sense, knowledge. That isn’t to say that we are at the worst human beings have ever been, not at all. Anyone with any semblance of history knows that there have been some pretty atrocious days of existence in former times. But one thing that former times did hold fast to in a rather general sense was a respect for legitimate authority, God’s or otherwise. That today is a thing of the past when no one outside of the individual is recognized nor respected for their authority be it God’s, the popes, the prime minister’s or that of the police or a school principal.
The newest item up for grabs in the modern age is the exchange of the truth for a lie. My mother used to say that “error is half way around the world before truth gets its boots on”. One need only think of the more recent hoopla a few years ago over the DaVinci Code and all those who weighed in on the matter while making a buck at the same time. The greater question to be asked is, why would people today be so willing to exchange the time honoured truth for a lie generated as fiction? That is a good question but not one easily answered, though I have one or two theories of my own. Perhaps people are only too willing to believe that Jesus was not God and was married to Mary Magdalene and that he simply died having wanted to place her, Mary, as the head of his church because they would feel better to know that the institutional Church which is supposed to be the representative of God and the bride of Christ on earth is full of corruption, sin and deceit. It makes for a good story to those who would like to have their ears tickled, as St. paul said, and it could lead us believe that we’re not so bad after all – just look at the Church!
To believe this utter nonsense and mockery against revealed truth is to say that two millennia of world history has been filled with foolish people who have allowed themselves to be duped by the wild claims of Christianity and specifically through the Roman Catholic Church. It heaps scorn on all those men and women of history who have lived exemplary lives and who, as the saints, have pointed the way so beautifully to the reality of God in the world and the hope for the life that is to come. Most of all, however, it blatantly mocks the One who saved us, who died, arose from death and is with us in his Spirit still.
St. Paul, in nearing the end of his life wrote to Timothy about having ‘fought the good fight’ and having ‘finished the race’. Yet he made his farewell discourse one which pointed to the future and urged the follower of Christ to “proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching”.
I’m no modern martyr, to be sure, but I know only too well what it is to stick my neck out for what I believe to be true and what it means to pay the price for doing so and I know many, many others who have experienced the same. Yet, as St. Paul says, we are to proclaim the message of Christ’s life, passion, death and resurrection whether the time is favourable or not, in season and out of season.
(Peace, Fr. Charles)
KNOWING THE TRUTH
In this “information age”, as the electronic times of media and vast information availability has been dubbed, it is so vitally important that we become plugged into and take full advantage of the truth of Jesus Christ from reliable sources and not just the headlines and articles of the daily news media. So often in the modern media, persons do not matter as much as stories do. As Catholics we need to be reading, listening, contemplating and watching what is going on in our world with a full view of what the Church has to say, which is to say, what Christ has to say. Jesus said to Peter, our first pope and to the apostles, “He who belongs to God hears what God says.” (John. 8:47) The Church must be that tireless voice of the tireless Christ with the tireless message of good over evil, right over wrong, truth over falsehood and life over death. The question is, outside of going to Mass and listening to a homily, how are we being “fed” by the truth if we only have recourse to novels, movies of fantasy and what we hear on the radio, watch on television or read in the media?
If I could make any recommendation to Catholics seeking to know the truth it would be to refer you to a dynamic, intelligent, wise and learned priest from Boston, Fr. Robert Barron. His website, Word on Fire is, I think, one of the best sources of solid Catholic teaching and commentary for those who have use of the internet. The following article is from his website wordonfire.org and addresses the topic of blasphemy in a current commercial that was run during the World Cup of soccer.
CULTURAL BLASPHEMY REVISITED During coverage of the World Cup, a Hyundai commercial premiered which depicts a representation of the Catholic Mass that is dedicated, instead, to the sport of soccer.
“I just watched a commercial for Hyundai which relies, strangely enough, on the quasi-religious devotion that some people have for soccer. The piece commences with a group of devotees carrying a miniature soccer ball into church in a kind of monstrance and singing the Latin words, “Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi, ora pro nobis,” (Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, pray for us). Later in the video, a man kneels down at an altar rail and opens his mouth in the manner of a communicant about to receive the Eucharist, but the “minister” gives him, not a host, but a piece of pizza. And word has begun to circulate about a Comedy Central program which is in the works. It deals, apparently, with Jesus Christ as “a regular guy who flees to New York in order to get away from his oppressive father.”
I’ll leave aside for the moment the obvious double standard that obtains in the media regarding the mocking of Christianity and, say, Islam, but I would like to draw attention to the perhaps quaint-sounding issue of blasphemy. Blasphemy (from the Greek word meaning “to injure”) is a conscious attack against God or those things associated with God. In our country, up until recent years, there were laws in most of the states against blasphemy, and in the Middle Ages, blasphemy was seen as a crime greater than murder since it involved an attack, not simply against a creature, but against the Creator himself. Thomas Aquinas specified that blasphemy is an act of injustice, since it involves the denigration of the one who is supremely owed our thanks and praise. Thomas’ clarification allows us to see that blasphemy does not in any sense injure God; rather it injures those who blaspheme. When we give God the honor that is due to him, we become more rightly ordered both as individuals and as members of society. One of the great liturgical prayers of the Catholic Church catches this when it says, “Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth.” The point is that there is a causal link between the giving of highest praise to God and the establishment of right order among us. Concomitantly, when we denigrate God and holy things, we tend to fall apart, both individually and collectively, the act of supreme injustice conducing to the many lesser forms of injustice.
Now I don’t think for a minute that we ought to bring back anti-blasphemy laws, but I do think we should be attentive to the psychological and societal implications of mocking holy things. Bob Dylan gave an interview not long after issuing his recent Christmas album. The interviewer remarked that he was surprised that Dylan’s readings were so traditional and reverent. Bob Dylan responded simply, “Why should I be irreverent? Isn’t there enough irreverence in the world?” Wise words from someone who knows a thing or two about the relationship between honoring God and establishing justice.”
MIRACLES vs MESSAGE
Recall for a moment the scene of Christ hanging upon the Cross on the Hill of Calvary. The crowds beneath Him mock Him as soldiers deride Him and put in time as they wait for Him to die. For those closest to Jesus they suffer with Him in seeing one they love in great agony and suffering.
A voice from the crowd cries out, not in faith but in tempt of Jesus’ so-called divinity; “If you are the Son of God, come down from that cross and we will believe!” The word “if” is used, which means that the person is demanding proof of who Jesus really is. Even those who lived with Jesus, heard His teaching and witnessed His miracles did not completely know who Jesus was. Perhaps if Jesus had given in to this demand for yet another sign, some may have believed in Him but many others would not have. The thirst for the spectacular cannot be satisfied with a miracle as human minds and hearts quickly forget and look for something else. Jesus did not come down from the cross. He would not give them what they demanded but out of love for them and for all of us, hung there in agony, pain and abandonment for sinful humanity in all ages past, present and future. Jesus knew that beyond the miracles people must hear the message of His life, death and resurrection.
In more recent history great wonders have taken place in different parts of the world that are well documented and visited by many millions of people. Mary, the Mother of God, appeared to St. Bernadette in the first of 18 visions on February 11, 1858 in Lourdes, France when she was just 14 years old. At the request of the Queen of Heaven, Bernadette dug into the ground from which sprung healing, cleansing water that flows to this day. Many miracles have taken place in the lives of the faithful who have visited the Shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes as over five million people per year flock there from around the world. Yet the miracles only point to the message of Lourdes which is the universal call from God through His Mother to return to Him, to get rid of their sins and turn their lives over to the will and care of God. Even St. Bernadette’s body is a miracle in itself as it has remained intact and beautiful since her death on April 15th, 1879.
Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal on the 13th day of every month from May to October in 1917. The three children who ranged in age from 7 to 10 together saw the Blessed Virgin Mary and on the last day of her visitation with them were accompanied by over 70,000 people, many of them unbelievers, who witnessed the “miracle of the sun” as Mary had promised in an earlier appearance. The sun spun in the sky and appeared to dance, spinning off many colours, it went dark for a moment and then appeared to plunge towards the earth. Everyone screamed in fear thinking it was the Last Judgment and the end of the world. Suddenly, though, it stopped and returned to its place. Although it had been raining heavily and the ground had been muddy and everyone was wet, once the sun had returned to its place everyone and everything was completely dry and many who were sick or crippled were healed. Fatima is another sight where millions have traveled on pilgrimage. Yet there is also the message of Fatima which speaks still of the reality of hell as eternal life without God, the need for people to turn back to the Lord with their lives, and the summons to all to return to the love Jesus has for them.
In Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, on June 24, 1981, Mary, the Mother of Jesus began appearing to six young people in this remote area where they lived, went to school and played with their friends. She has appeared to them every day since for the past 29 years. Many pilgrims have gone there and the Church has opened an official investigation into the apparitions. Miracles have taken place, conversions are in the thousands, people line up to go to confession and God is once again speaking through His Mother, Mary. The message is the same: turn back to God’s love. Leave the ways of the world behind. Live for God and be prepared for His coming.
God can do anything. He also knows us through and through and knows that we look for signs and wonders in order that we might come to believe in Him. But the signs, the miracles, the wonders only serve to point to Him and the message we have been hearing as the Catholic Church for 2000 years through the Gospels. It is the same universal message and call we hear each Sunday when we go to Mass about God’s salvation and our need to return to Him and His great love, mercy and forgiveness.
Today, as when Jesus walked the earth, the miracles stand to make us ask the same question that so many asked of Jesus once they met Him: “Who is this?” Over and over again in the scriptures this same question has been asked as it has continually been asked through the centuries to the present. The miracles of Jesus served as announcements of who He was and what He was all about as God in the flesh and the Saviour. Yet we are not left or meant to remain with the miracles only and even the announcement of Jesus as the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah. With the announcement comes the invitation to follow. The question found on the lips and in the minds and hearts of so many who have witnessed the incredible in God has been the same – “What must I do?” The answer is not to look at the miracles but to look at and live out the message which is always the same – return to God.
Our modern world marvels at the wonders of technology, the latest gadget, and the personalities of the rich, the famous and the godless. But these can only serve to help us forget that we are a world in trouble. Even so, so many of those who have been ‘baptized’ in the Faith have fallen away and freely give priority in their lives to everything and everyone else other than God. For those with eyes to see, the miracles of God continue every Sunday in churches and celebrations of the Mass throughout the world and will continue to do so until the Lord comes. Yet the message from God remains the same – “Come back to Me!”. (Fr. Charles)