Who do you think Jesus is? Or do you KNOW? … Sunday, June 23

Arius tried to figure out who Jesus was on his own and got it wrong. Some things never change.

Luke 9:18-24 “Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’” Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.” He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone. … He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

“Who do the crowds say that I am?” The question was controversial 2,000 years ago and seems, for some anyway, to still be open-ended. Is it unanswerable? You know, for what ever else He is or isn’t there’s one thing certain. He’s still an attention getter after all this time. “And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of scandal, to them who stumble at the word, neither do believe, whereunto also they are set.” 1 Peter 2:8.

I’ve heard some very interesting, and down right odd, opinions over the years. Like … A misunderstood rabbi, the Archangel Michael manifested in the flesh, a “God” who is a glorified man, a Prophet, a false prophet, just a man with God in him (thank you, Arius, for beginning an error that seems to have no end), only one manifestation of God among many, the Antichrist (go figure that one out), and just some guy. I know of one denominational group that was formed about a hundred years or so ago and the very first question that went ’round the table was “Who is Jesus?” And because they couldn’t make up their minds they split. Even John the Baptist sent a question about the identity of Jesus at one point. “Are you the Promised One or do we look for another?”

So there are lots of opinions and thoughts and discussions and arguments. But for all of this there is only one Truth. St. Thomas answered it when he said “My Lord and my God.” Jesus didn’t correct him, He blessed him. Peter answers Jesus in the above reading when he says “The Christ of God.” Jesus didn’t correct him either. So who and what is Jesus? Lord and God and Christ. And its His Body, the Church, and only His Body the Church, that has the authority, guided by the Holy Spirit, to clarify just what those words mean. For all the complications set forth by the worldly-minded the answer is no harder to understand, from the human perspective, than the catechism. Sadly, folks don’t want to hear this. What they want to hear is debate and new thoughts and contentious rantings. Which tells us what WE are, doesn’t it? We’re fallen. Being fallen, what makes anybody think they can figure out Jesus without help?

      “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself … “

We must accept Him on His terms, not ours. His ways are perfect, ours aren’t. We have to accept that His way is hard and that it will be hard for us as well. If He suffered so will we. If He carried a cross we must do the same. We have to give up our life, handing it over to Him regardless, in order to save it. We MUST be Christians. And THAT’S what WE are. Or it’s what we’re supposed to be. If we are that, if we are truly Christian, we’ll know Who He is just like Peter and Thomas. And all the ramblings of the earthy people with worldly minds who think they have a truth won’t be able to shake us in our conviction, in our personal knowledge. I say personal knowledge because when we REALLY know Him we’ll really KNOW Who He is. No debate.

Signs, Wonders, and Faith … Saturday, February 2

The Descent of the Holy Spirit (Photo credit: Lawrence OP)

A Rosary Meditation … The Third Glorious Mystery, the Decent of the Holy Spirit. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak of the wonderful works of God.” Acts 2:4, 11. Wouldn’t it have been great to have been there, to have been one of these followers of Jesus who were filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking, sharing with others the glorious truths of God? Well, good news. Nothings changed. Look at every instance in the Book of Acts, every time people were filled with the Spirit. One thing ALWAYS took place. Other things may or may not have happened to any given person or group, but ONE thing was a constant. They, the folks on the receiving end, had hands laid on them and prayer was a part of this. This is how the Holy Ghost is conferred, by the laying on of hands and prayer. Anything else is whatever it is, but this act of the imposition of hands and prayer is whats constant, whats primary, whats necessary. I said nothings changed, didn’t I? What happens at Confirmation? Among other things a person is touched by the bishop or one designated by him (there’s the laying on of hands) and they’re prayed for, the prayer being that the person receive the Holy Spirit. Is anything else necessary? No, if it were we’d have been given it or it would happen every time. If we look for thrills and chills we stand in danger of being in the same category as those folks Jesus talks about, Matthew 16:4, the ones more interested in a sign than in the Truth. If you’ve been Confirmed you’ve received the gift of the Holy Spirit. The proof is the Confirmation itself. Now the real question for each of us is what we’ve done with the Gift. Have we proclaimed Jesus, or have we let our Gift be dormant?

Today … St. Joan de Lestonnac. St. Joan de Lestonnac was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1556. She married at the age of seventeen. The happy marriage produced four children, but her husband died suddenly in 1597. After her children were raised, she entered the Cistercian monastery at Toulouse. Joan was forced to leave the Cistercians when she became afflicted with poor health. She returned to Bordeaux with the idea of forming a new congregation, and several young girls joined her as novices. They ministered to victims of a plague that struck Bordeaux, and they were determined to counteract the evils of heresy promulgated by Calvinism. Thus was formed the Congregation of the Religious of Notre Dame of Bordeaux. In 1608, Joan and her companions received the religious habit from the Archbishop of Bordeaux. Joan was elected superior in 1610, and many miracles occurred at her tomb. She was canonized in 1949 by Pope Pius XII. Her feast day is February 2. It doesn’t look like she sought after signs. She obviously sought after Jesus and God’s will. And, like those filled with God’s Spirit at Pentecost, she proclaimed the wonders of God.

Think … Thomas looked for proof. He saw the proof. Jesus said that those who didn’t see and believed anyway were blessed. John 20:29. Its better to look for God than it is to look for signs. With any sign there’s always a possibility of the doubters question mark or the believers dilemma after the sign ceases. When you look for God, and when you really find Him, doubt melts away and no sign is necessary.