A Tale of Two Holy Weeks
During Holy Week 2004, I joined some friends for Mass at a Catholic charismatic house of prayer. After the Mass, one of the leaders of the group got up to speak, saying confidently, “Aren’t we lucky to be Catholic and know the truth about the Passion.” I have to say I was a bit puzzled. Clearly, someone had neglected to deliver to me the memo whereby we had discovered all there was to know about the Passion. But, seriously, I thought, have we gotten to the point that we need to assure ourselves that we KNOW the truth about some of the richest and most elusive mysteries of our faith? When I was growing up, the mysteries of the Catholic faith were what captured my imagination and attention. It was these less definable, supernatural, ungraspable realities that caused me to fall in love with my Catholic inheritance. To paraphrase Flannery O’Connor, if suddenly as Catholics we know the “truth” and everything (especially our understanding of rich mysteries like the Passion) is certain, then the hell with it! What is this drive to be so certain that we know everything and to lord it over others? Isn’t that what Jesus so bristled at in the Pharisees?
So, I was much happier with the message at the Palm Sunday liturgy that I attended this year. The priest did not opt out of giving a homily after the long reading of the Passion. Instead, he spoke of how important it is for us to hear this story over and over again because no matter how many times we hear it, we just don’t seem to get it! How refreshing that someone would affirm the mystery of it all! Indeed, he likened Holy Week to God letting us play with matches in hopes that we might set off a spark that would blow up everything we thought we knew. Yes! Isn’t that what the mystery of Holy Week is all about? We are reminded of the story of Christ’s passion and death, endured for US, a story that defies easy rationality and challenges us to remember, as Jesus reminded Peter when he tried to deter him from his fate, that we only see as far as human beings can see, not as God sees! Peter was right that someone as innocent as Jesus should not suffer such a fate, but Jesus tells him that God, inexplicably, but for the sake of all humankind, has deemed otherwise. Only God can know the truth about the Passion; we can only approach that truth with our limited faculties.
As I pray through this Holy Week, I’m asking God for the grace to be content with uncertainty and to appreciate mystery. I’m asking God to help me to remember that no matter how right I think I am in my theories, opinions, and even in my faith, that I remember that, like Peter, I only see as humans see, not as God sees. And I’m asking for patience and charity, while I struggle with these my own demons, with those who don’t seem to get it, who cannot be content with mystery, and too often feel the need to bludgeon others over the head with their version of the “truth.” May we instead find the charity, modeled by Jesus, who rather than condemn his tormentors, instead asked, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
A Blessed and Happy Easter to all!
So, I was much happier with the message at the Palm Sunday liturgy that I attended this year. The priest did not opt out of giving a homily after the long reading of the Passion. Instead, he spoke of how important it is for us to hear this story over and over again because no matter how many times we hear it, we just don’t seem to get it! How refreshing that someone would affirm the mystery of it all! Indeed, he likened Holy Week to God letting us play with matches in hopes that we might set off a spark that would blow up everything we thought we knew. Yes! Isn’t that what the mystery of Holy Week is all about? We are reminded of the story of Christ’s passion and death, endured for US, a story that defies easy rationality and challenges us to remember, as Jesus reminded Peter when he tried to deter him from his fate, that we only see as far as human beings can see, not as God sees! Peter was right that someone as innocent as Jesus should not suffer such a fate, but Jesus tells him that God, inexplicably, but for the sake of all humankind, has deemed otherwise. Only God can know the truth about the Passion; we can only approach that truth with our limited faculties.
As I pray through this Holy Week, I’m asking God for the grace to be content with uncertainty and to appreciate mystery. I’m asking God to help me to remember that no matter how right I think I am in my theories, opinions, and even in my faith, that I remember that, like Peter, I only see as humans see, not as God sees. And I’m asking for patience and charity, while I struggle with these my own demons, with those who don’t seem to get it, who cannot be content with mystery, and too often feel the need to bludgeon others over the head with their version of the “truth.” May we instead find the charity, modeled by Jesus, who rather than condemn his tormentors, instead asked, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
A Blessed and Happy Easter to all!
posted by Mark Mossa, SJ at 11:08 AM
3 Comments:
Perhaps we can strive to know everything without lording it over others. May God grant you a peaceful Eastertide.
Mark -- Your thoughts on this topic are wonderful, but I wonder if you aren't setting up a "straw man" too easily.
I mean, the way you quote the charismatic group leader seems somewhat derisive to that person. But I would imagine his/her comments were good-intentioned and might even be wise in a certain context that wasn't readily apparent at the Mass.
Just a thought!
Thanks for the thought and the comments. It wasn't meant to be derisive, as that was exactly what the person said. I have no doubt it was well meant, but I'm also being honest about my reaction. As I was reflecting this holy week that instance came back to me, especially as it was so different from what I experienced this year.
But I agree with your very Ignatian sentiment of putting the best interpretation on what someone else has to say!
Happy Easter!
Post a Comment
<< Home