Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 5
The Georgia Bulletin,
September 7,1978
Searching
BY ANGELA M. SCHREIBER
“I keep searching for real happiness. But
when I find it, it lasts for such a little while. I
thought resuming my career would give me the
satisfaction I lacked. Buying something new
used to give me a lift. I’ve got a busy social life.
I’m married to a man I’m in love with and we
have beautiful children. I’m beginning to be
afraid that I’m neurotic.”
This was a distraught young woman, indeed,
who sat talking with me across the kitchen
table. I had always thought Jenny was
completely happy. She was one of those people
who had set a goal for herself and forged ahead
until she reached it.
Feeling more than a little helpless, I put the
coffee on and encouraged her to talk. I asked
her how she defined happiness. She thought for
a moment and replied, “Happiness is having
your life well ordered and being with the
people you really care about. Happiness is
having the things you need without a lot of
worry about how you’re going to get them.
And happiness is success with your work. I have
all that, but I keep looking for something else -
something I can’t define.” Then an expression
akin to both fear and incredulousness crossed
her face, and she said softly, “Unless what I’m
looking for is God.”
I knew instantly that she had answered her
own question. At the same time, it was evident
that she was afraid of her answer.
Nevertheless, she continued to express her
thoughts out loud. Through reason she could
not understand how a being she could not see
could have significance in her life. “If God is
the Jesus Christ I have heard about all my life,
how could he accept me? I don’t always live by
his rules. I’m not sure I even want to.”
“From what I know of you, Jenny, I don’t
see that you’re so far away from living a
Christian life,” I answered.
“Oh yes I am. I don’t put myself out for
other people. For instance, if I were you, I
wouldn’t take the time to listen to this
foolishness I’m spouting off. I’m aware that
I’m keeping you up. But I came over here
because I knew you’d listen. Your listening
when it’s inconvenient is part of being
Christian.”
That conversation took place some years
ago. I thought I had reasonable answers for
Jenny. But we sorted through many things over
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Faith, love and understanding are the
key elements in KNOW YOUR FAITH
this week. Without any one of these
elements, life is less than satisfactory.
Through the ages, man has sought to find
them. Though man has made marvelous
strides in practical knowledge of the earth
and the universe, his yearning and search
for God is never-ending. The legacy of
knowledge beyond those things tangible
left by generations past is accepted by
some wholly, partially by others, and
then there are those who never accept
any part of the legacy.
John the Baptist’s legacy was faith. He
knew within his heart that the reign of
God was near. But he did not really
understand what that reign meant. He
urged people to look seriously at
themselves and search for the goodness
within them. When he met Jesus and
baptized him, he knew that this was the
man the people were waiting for. He
stepped aside and urged his followers to
join Jesus. Finally he gave his own life.
All this without fully understanding.
Today we seek to understand everything,
yet we know we will never reach the final
pinnacle. We must leave some things to
faith alone.
John the Apostle’s legacy was love.
Unlike John the Baptist, he knew Jesus
intimately. He saw and experienced the
unlimited love for all mankind that Jesus
demonstrated every day of his ministry.
That love became the central part of
John’s life. His observation that the
knowledge of God and his existence
comes mainly through love remains
profound.
Jenny, a modern woman who
seemingly had everything, was really
experiencing a sense of emptiness until
she gave of herself which is what love is
all about. Giving filled the void within
her, and although she did not fully
understand why, she accepted it. Faith
was born through love. Understanding
follows little by little.
The center of Christianity is love.
Today we are fortunate to experience
Christians reaching out to one another as
we share our thoughts and try to
understand one another. The ecumenical
movement is another development in the
history of Christianity that seeks to close
the division among us. We hope it will
move forward until finally faith, love and
understanding will seal all the gaps.
J
a period of several months and she was still
dissatisfied.
She even started going to church for the first
time in her adult life. But she came away
unhappy because she thought she should have
some kind of overpowering feeling.
Then something happened that ultimately
affected both of us. I had a new baby. And for
the first time in my life, I could not see that joy
would ever be on the horizon for me again. My
tiny little girl was mongoloid. I was on the edge
of despondency.
In the depths of my soul, I blamed God and
felt that he had failed me. And worse still, he
had failed my child who had never deserved to
come into the world imperfect.
Our close friends knew there was a grave
problem with the baby before I came home
from the hospital with her. No one quite knew
how to handle it so they stayed away. Everyone
except Jenny. Jenny was waiting for our arrival.
She had a meal prepared and a lovely gift for
Yvonne. (It wasn’t convenient for her; she had
taken the day off from a busy job.)
During those first difficult weeks, she
dropped by in the evenings and stood up under
my tears and my moods. I didn’t tell her that I
thought God had abandoned my baby and me,
but she sensed my feelings.
One day she said, “You know, I’m praying
for Yvonne and you too.” I wanted to thank
her. But I could not. My answer was silence. “I
know God exists. I still haven’t found him but I
don’t feel as much emptiness as I once felt.”
As time passed, and Yvonne grew, the joy
within her reached out to me. Life began to be
beautiful again.
Yvonne is nine years old now. Jenny
dropped in to visit us last week and Yvonne
greeted her with a big hug and kiss and lively
conversation. Her greeting was like warm
sunshine.
Later, Jenny said, “By now, I suppose you
know I’ve finally filled that void in my life.
Yvonne came into my life, too. When I knew
you needed me, I tried to help by being there
because you listened to me when I needed
someone.”
IS
“I even thought God had let you down. And
I was aware that you did too, but I couldn’t let
you know I agreed with you. I had never given
quite that much of myself to anyone before,
and as time went on, my dissatisfaction with
myself dwindled. As giving became easier, I
began to know God. And if I had not learned
that, I never would have found him.”
As I sit here thinking about this part of my
life and Jenny’s, I realize that Yvonne has
brought a very special kind of love and
happiness into my life. But I hadn’t known that
she had reached so far beyond. Who would ever
have dreamed that a child whom everyone
thought came with such limited promise would
bring with her such precious gifts?
John The Baptist
BY FATHER JOHN J. CASTELOT
The earliest proclamation of the good news
began with the ministry of John the Baptist. It
was to him that the first recorded words of
Jesus in his own public ministry were
addressed. From this moment on, until John
was executed, there was a strange, rather
distant relationship between the two.
It is difficult to disengage a clear image of
John from the Gospel portrayal of his
personality, expectations, mission. Quite
expectedly the early church and the Evangelists
interpreted his role and words in a Christian
sense, a sense he himself would not have
understood.
The picture is further complicated by
another important factor: an apparent tension
between loyal followers of John (see Acts
19,1-7) and the first Christians. One detects an
effort on the part of the Evangelists to keep
John in a subordinate role without minimizing
his importance in the history of salvation.
However, from a careful reading of all the
pertinent texts there emerges the image of a
sombre figure from the long line of stern
prophets. John appears suddenly from the
desert with a message of impending judgment,
the long-awaited intervention of God to punish
evildoers and establish his kingdom for the
righteous. “Reform your lives! The reign of
God is at hand” (Mt. 3,2). “Even now the ax is
laid to the root of the tree. Every tree that is
not fruitful will be cut down and thrown into
the fire . . . His winnowing-fan is in his hand.
He will clear the threshing floor and gather his
grain into the barn, but the chaff he will burn
in unquenchable fire” (Mt. 3, 10, 12). Hence
his reference to the activity of the one to
follow him as baptizing in a holy spirit and fire,
a divine judgment and purification associated
with “the last days” in the Old Testament (see
Is. 4,4; Ez. 36, 25-26).
Whom was John expecting to come as the
agent of this judgment? It does not seem that
he was expecting the Messiah, specifically.
Rather, he seems to have been following a
strong Jewish tradition that the prophet Elijah
would return to usher in the final days.
Accordingly, when the authorities questioned
him about his identity, he said that he was
neither the Messiah nor Elijah (Jn. 1, 20-21).
This may explain why Jesus puzzled him and
why, when he heard about the works Christ was
performing, he sent a message by his disciples
to ask him, “Are you ‘He who is to come’ or do
KNOW
YOUR
FAITH
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Copyright (c) 1978, NC News Svc.
we look for another?” (Mt. 11, 2-3). “He who
is to come” was a standard designation for
Elijah, and Jesus was not acting in the way
Elijah was expected to act, bringing fiery
judgment on the world. And John’s description
of the awaited one as ranking ahead of him
because he existed before him would fit Elijah
perfectly.
The early church interpreted the role of
John in the light of its belief in the centrality of
Jesus as the Messiah and Lord. And so Matthew
and Mark portray him as an Elijah-like figure,
preparing the way of the Lord. When Jesus
asked the crowds why they went to hear John,
he asked, “Why did you go out - to see a
prophet? A prophet indeed, and something
more! It is about this man that Scripture says ‘I
send my messenger (Elijah) ahead of you to
prepare your way before you’... If you are
prepared to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who
was certain to come” (Mt. 11, 9-10, 14).
The Gospels record only one personal
meeting between Jesus and John, on the
occasion of Jesus’ coming in all the humility of
his humanity to accept John’s baptism, an
event treated differently, and a bit gingerly, by
the different Evangelists.
John is simply presented in the Gospels as
the humble herald of the Messiah. Like so many
people then and now, he was attracted to Jesus
but puzzled by him. And Jesus respected him,
treated his insecurity gently. When John’s
friends asked him in their master’s name if he
really was “he who is to come,” he reassured
them and him by referring to what he was
doing and reminding them of a passage in Isaiah
which pointed to such things as signs of the
messianic era (Lk. 7, 22-23).
Unsure though he was, John carried out his
prophetic mission even to the point of
martyrdom. He was always there in the
background, never getting in Jesus’ way, never
causing conflict.
The fourth Gospel sums up John’s attitude
in this simple avowal: “He must increase, while
I must decrease” (Jn. 3,3). And Jesus, for his
part, gave him this most impressive accolade: “I
assure you, there is no man born of woman
greater than John. Yet the least born into the
kingdom of God is greater than he” (Lk. 7,28)
- qualified, but still impressive.
John The Apostle: Spirituality Filled With Love
BY FATHER ALFRED MCBRIDE
There was a savior / Rarer than
radium . . . / There was a glory to hear /
In the churches of his tears / Under his
downy arm you sighed . . . And laid your
cheek against his heart.
Dylan Thomas
Every artist, who has thought of painting the
figure of John the Apostle pauses at the scene
in which John rests his head on the heart of
Jesus. No poet would fail to note the impact of
the head of a man resting upon the heart of a
God The union of the human mind engulfed
with divine love at the first eucharistic event
offers us the clue to the spirituality that
governed John the Apostle. So spiritual an
impression does John leave us that we are
impelled to join Christian tradition which has
named him John the Divine.
Every saint brings out a different quality and
value that marks the total spiritual person.
Some present us with the persuasiveness of
prayer, as in the case of Luke. Others inflame
us with the passion of faith, such as Paul. In a
man like Peter we sense the loyalty to
community and church. From John we derive
the centrality of love in spiritual growing.
Where can you find the fundamental
spiritual message of John? Read his first
Epistle, Chapter 4, 7 to 5, 12. Just as the last
words of Christ on the night before he died
were about love, so these words of John in the
evening of his life return to the same topic.
Memories of love crowd the mind and
imagination of John. Ponder his Gospel to
review those memories: The river of wine at
Cana, the divine granary of the loaves miracle,
the cure of the man born blind, the-resurrection
of Lazarus, the conversion of the Samaritan
woman with an ocean of living water, the call
to be a “born again person” in the story of
Nicodemus, the healing of the Centurion’s son.
Seven signs of love to forecast the seven
celebrations of love that the church performs in
sacraments. Seven love events that would
culminate in the supreme sign of care - the sign
of the cross.
It is John’s direct experiences of Christ’s
love that form the essence of his spiritual
teaching: “Beloved, let us love one another, for
love is from God. He who does not love, does
not know God, for God is love” (I Jn. 4, 7-8).
Notice that John says that the knowledge of
God and his existence comes mainly through
love. How similar this is to the teaching of that
most intellectual of all the saints, Thomas
Aquinas, who taught that we come far closer to
God through love than through knowledge.
Yes, we are to use our minds to find God. But
we will be far more successful by using our
hearts.
Each time we perform an act of love, we
unlock one more door that hides the mystery
and wonder of God in our lives. Hence we
should not be afraid to love. “There is no fear
in love. Perfect love casts out fear.” All too
often we tend to say that hate is the opposite
of love. And in a certain sense it is. Yet
contemporary psychology confirms John’s
teaching that fear is the real enemy of love.
People fear love because it requires them to
be open and vulnerable to the beloved. It
demands a passion, a fire and a commitment.
This makes many people nervous. John knew
this when he wrote about the foolishness of
being too careful in our union with God. Joyful
abandon is to be preferred to the cautious,
timid commitment of ourselves to God and
others.
“I know your works. You are neither cold
nor hot. Would that you were hot or cold.
Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold
nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth”
(Rev. 3,15).
John’s spirituality is a perfect combination
of other worldly vision and down-to-earth
concern. He does not divide love of God from
love of persons. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’
and hates his neighbor, he is a liar.” Thus John
avoids the pitfalls of mere humanism that calls
for human love without God and a false
spirituality that asks us to love God and ignore
people. John’s total spirituality overcomes that
division. Thus he writes for us the first lesson in
how to be spiritual. And a mighty good lesson
it is!
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