13th Sunday in Ordinary Time 'B'

Sunday July 2, 2006

Our God is a God of life—and reason

Our experience tells us that life is ultimately terminal. Someone put it this way, “Aging is a disease that ends in death!” I’d rather not think about that right now.

In any event, the author of the Book of Wisdom insists that “God did not make death” but that “God formed ‘man’ to be imperishable.”

Living within a large Jewish community residing in Alexandria and influenced by Greek philosophers during the first century before Christ, he reasoned that if God were eternal, those who honor their relationship with God would be honored with enduring life beyond the grave.

The story of the healing of the daughter of Jairus and of the woman who had suffered chronic hemorrhaging for twelve years is one in a series of miraculous healing stories interspersed with ‘living’ parables intended to increase faith and the assurance that those who approach Jesus in faith will not see death.

Nevertheless death happens and despite advanced directives is always intrusive and so we seek divine intervention and hope for miracles. Oh, yes, by way of exception, we pray in good faith at the bedside of loved ones who have suffered far beyond human endurance that they be spared further pain and that their soul delivered to the God of eternal life.

In the face of daily reports of global death and destruction, it may be difficult for sincere believers not to become cynical about the existence of a caring God. Where is God in war torn Iraq? In Dafur, in Somalia and where was God last week as a young girl standing on her porch was swallowed up by the raging floodwaters of the Delaware River?

We certainly can be happy for cure of the woman and the restoration of Jairus’ daughter but why can’t we persuade God to cure cancer or even the common cold? Or hold back tornadoes or block bombs falling from the sky or prevent terrorist attacks on steel towers?

There seems to be emerging in our times a global cultural clash between faith and reason that is threatening not only civil dialogue but promoting extremism at every turn. On one side, religious fundamentalism with its insistent literal interpretation of the divinely inspired books—the Bible and the Koran—and of their respective traditions is promoting an agenda that comes close to promoting sectarian belief over civility.

Even in our own country some evangelical groups would promote Christianity not only as a constitutional right but also as a mandatory establishment. On the other side, radical neo-Gnosticism and excessive rationalism is building a wall between the state and religion that was never envisioned by our founding fathers creating in a dichotomy between faith and reason.

Our Constitution established not the mere tolerance of religion but the guarantee of religious liberty—the freedom to live according to the dictates of our consciences and to worship or not according to our religious preferences or no preference at all.

But what has this to do with the texts at hand on this holiday weekend—the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time?

The passages are about the necessity of faith within the context of reason. They are not a rejection of rational doubt or the pursuit of an intelligent explanation of the mysteries of our faith within the context of our human experience.

Faith can move mountains of despair and create horizons of hope but faith does not move mountains to make way for steel towers or to facilitate the construction of highways.

The author of Wisdom was living among Hellenistic philosophers many of whom had ‘reasoned’ not rationalized to the notion of human beings “as a union of body and spirit, the body being corporeal and therefore mortal, the soul being spiritual and therefore destined for immortality.” [Commentary on Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24, Pat Sanchez, Celebration, A Comprehensive Worship Resource, NCR Publishing Co, Kansas City, MO]

We may assume, therefore, that the rational impinged on the faith tradition of the Jews and contributed to the development of their belief in the afterlife even prior to the advent of Jesus.

The gospels contain stories of faith in order to assure us that there is more to life than what the eye can see or the hear can hear. But Jesus himself taught that only in due course will be have all the answers to life’s mysteries and those answers lie beyond the grave. We still believe that those who honor God and live according to the dictates of their conscience will indeed see God beyond the grave.

Are there beliefs for which a good Christian would die?

Absolutely!

Are there beliefs for which a good Christian would kill?

Hmm. My understanding of the teachings of Jesus would say no!

In the meantime, we listen attentively the inspired Word of God as we search for answers to the most pressing problems of our age but we do not use the Bible as a weapon of mass destruction and we embrace our faith tradition and its tenets with reason and with the assurance that it has been faithfully transmitted down through the ages but we do not use bully pulpits to go on the attack hurling epithets or apply religious sanctions on those who sincerely view divine revelation differently than we.

I believe that the strength of our witness as Catholic Christians is in the living the gospel, using words only when necessary.

Yes, I have seen many miracles in my time—all sorts of miracles. Some of them were at the hands of wise doctors, nurses, rescue workers and even soldiers in combat. I have seen dramatic reversals in a deteriorating relationship in a marriage or between parents and their children. But we Catholics do not have the franchise on miracles nor do we have all the answers to the most complex challenges of our age be they scientific, economic or even purely spiritual.

We would be wise to engage one another in a patient and civil dialogue in the pursuit of answers with a mix of faith and reason.

The words of Bill Moyer who recently initiated a public dialogue on the tope of faith and reason make a lot of sense to me:

“There’s a moving verse in the Hebrew Bible, ‘Come now, and let us reason together.’ But there is also a moving verse in the Christian New Testament: ‘I believe, Help Thou my unbelief.’ Most of us ride the seesaw of faith and reason. Yes, it’s an ancient conflict, a long running argument, but with all the fear, violence and intolerance that grips our times, we have to come to terms with the fact that it must be reason and faith, not reason versus faith. Otherwise, we would tear our society apart as Europe so often did—and may do it again.’”

“What could be more salient to the discussion of faith and reason in a time of polarized passions than to ask these writers [referring to his guests to be interviewed] for guidance through the absolutes and ambiguities of our age? In negotiating our way in the gray world between faith and reason, we need all the help we can get.”

“In God we ‘do’ trust!”

Amen!

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