Archive for February 2012

Two Steps to Glory

In today’s Gospel we hear about the Transfiguration – that moment when Peter, James and John glimpsed Jesus’ glory. Something similar applies to us. We have within ourselves a certain glory – not absolute, of course, but potential. C.S. Lewis expresses it this way:

“It is a serious thing,” says Lewis, “to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ‘ordinary’ people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously — no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner — no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment.”

The question is: How do we avoid becoming an everlasting horror? How do we become an everlasting splendor? How do we realize our true potential – the glory that is within each of us?¹

There are two steps. The first is by following the covenant. Last Sunday we heard about the covenant with Noah (and this Sunday we hear about the even deeper one with Abraham). In the covenant with Noah, God made a new beginning for the human race. That covenant has certain commandments – certain ways of behaving that enable a person to realize his potential: respect human life, respect the good of others, respect marriage, give first place to God. These represent basic precepts of the covenant. The prophet Micah summed up the covenant with these words: “He (God) has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?” (6:8)

Justice, kindness, humility – those basic virtue enable us to realize our potential.

That is the first step, but there is something else, a second step – something we have to face about ourselves: No matter how hard we try, we fall short. We might be basically truthful, but we sometimes fudge, we equivocate, we cover up. We all – I hope – reverence marriage, but who has not committed what Jesus calls “adultery in the heart”? I could multiply examples, but you know what I mean. We each have a potential for truth, goodness, beauty and justice, but we fall short. We need outside help.

Let me make a comparison to illustrate the second step: Once a man bought a new suit of clothes. With his tie and white shirt, he looked great. In fact, he noticed how he shone in relation to others. He held his head so high that he didn’t see an edge in the pavement. He fell – straight into a puddle. Fearing that people would laugh at him, he did not want to get up. But instead of laughter, there came a hand. The man felt reluctant to extend his own muddy, bleeding hand, but he did. As that strong hand lifted him up, he felt a gratitude, a peace, a joy he had never experienced before.

So it is with us. We must do everything we can to realize our potential, whom God made us to be. But sooner or later – for some us much sooner than later – we come to a point where we cannot do it ourselves. That’s why, after his Transfiguration, Jesus immediately speaks of his humiliation – his suffering and death at the hands of cruel men. You see, we realize our true glory only by joining ourselves with Jesus’ humility. In the end there is no other path to the resurrection.

To sum up: Each of us has within a glory, not an absolute glory, but the potential for glory.² We realize that potential by taking two steps – first, following the commandments and second, facing that we need outside help. That only through the passion of Jesus can we realize our glorious potential – the resurrection. Amen.

¹- Regarding human potential, in his Ten Universal Principals Fr. Robert Spitzer has a thought provoking appendix titled “Evidence of the Transmateriality of Human Beings.” Here is his opening statement: “Human beings have an awareness of and desire for five Transcendentals: perfect and unconditional Truth, Love, Goodness (Justice), Beauty and Being (Home). The following is a brief explication of this assertion, which explains why human consciousness is distinct from animal consciousness, why humans have creative capacity beyond present rules, algorithms and program (Godel’s proof) and why human beings have a natural propensity toward the spiritual and transcendental.”

I highly recommend not only the appendix, but the entire book. Fr. Spitzer writes very lucidly and this book will richly repay a careful reading.

²- Sometimes people shy from talk about human potential because it seems like a put-down of animals. It is not. I love my dog for his innocence, his exuberance, his sincerity and his amazing acceptance of me and other very flawed creatures. But I can only go so far with him. Once I showed Samwise a picture of him as a puppy hoping to reminisce about those days. The results were disappointing. He barely glanced at the picture, but instead began sniffing it. As much as I love Sam, I have to recognize that between him and me there exists what Chesterton calls a “division and disproportion.” Continue reading »

The Convenant with Noah Today

As we focus on baptism, we remember the covenant God made with Noah – a covenant that God continues in the voice of conscience.

Today we celebrate the First Sunday of Lent. It is significant that in the opening reading we hear about the covenant that God made with Noah. Our Jewish brothers and sisters refer to this as the Noahide Covenant. This covenant does not just apply to Jews, but to the whole human race. You will remember that in the Bible Noah and his family were the sole survivors of the great flood.

According to Jewish scholars, the Noahide Covenant has seven pillars. They include the prohibition of idolatry, murder, theft, sexual immorality and blasphemy. This applies to us today. Sometimes people ask if there are moral rules that all humans must follow. We have an answer in the Noahide Covenant: It is wrong to kill, to take innocent human life. It is wrong to steal – to do violence to another human being by robbing his possessions. It is wrong to engage in sexual immorality. Do I need to go into details? These teachings are not… Continue reading »

An Aggressive Attempt to Deny Sin

Today we are witnessing an agressive attempt to deny sin. More than ever this Lent we need a personal meeting with Jesus who is God, the only one who can forgive sin.

A popular myth about Jesus runs along these lines: The original Jesus was a kindly man who wanted to help people face their problems, feel good about themselves and get along with each other. (Kind of a first century version of Dr. Phil.) But his followers began… Continue reading »

The Leper Inside

Jesus cured the leper. He wants to heal the leper inside.

I am sure you have heard of the Scottish novelist, Robert Louis Stevenson. He not only wrote wonderful adventure stories, like “Treasure Island,” but more serious works such as “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.” In that novel, he explored the odd combination of good and evil in one person.

As Stevenson observed dramatically… Continue reading »