07 July 2009

The just face of God

14th Week OT (Tues): Gen 32.22-33; Ps 17.1-15; Matt 9.32-38
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Sisters of St Mary of Namur

A child of the Lord has been silenced by a demon. Jesus heals this man's tongue and he speaks. Those in the crowd are amazed. The Pharisees are scandalized and accuse Jesus of cavorting with the demons themselves. We might ask ourselves, why does Jesus take the time to heal a man whose voice has been silenced by a demon? As interesting as this question is, there is one even more interesting for those of us vowed to preach the gospel: given all of the evil things a demon could do to this man, why would it silence a child of the Lord?

To answer this question we must remember a fundamental teaching of the Second Vatican Council on the nature of God's Self-revelation. From Dei verbum: “In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will...This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words...God, who through the Word creates all things and keeps them in existence, gives men an enduring witness to Himself in created realities”(DV 2, 3). God wills to reveal Himself to His people. Through Christ and in the Holy Spirit we have access to the Father, so that we might “come to share in the divine nature”(2). The enduring witness, that is, the accessible historical testimony to the power and glory of God, is given in His “created realities,” most especially in that creation that is His image and likeness: the human person. If God's “plan of revelation is realized by [His] deeds and words” in history, and the enduring witness to His revelation is carried by the created reality of the human person, then it follows that the words and deeds of the human person may share in the divine nature and mission and serve to proclaim His gospel. When our words and deed properly align with the just will of the Father, we advance His plan of salvation; we reveal Who He is and what He does. No wonder then the demon muted this man's tongue! No words, no deeds: no witness; no witness to God: no gospel, no truth, no justice or peace.

At 5am CDT, the Holy Father's long-awaited encyclical on socio-economic justice arrived. Entitling his letter “Caritas in veritate,” (Charity in Truth), Pope Benedict shows all those with opened eyes to see and ears to hear that the words and deeds that accomplish God's plan for salvation are done and spoken only when the human work of charity is done in the light of truth. How providential is it that our psalm refrain this morning echoes this fundamental truth: “In justice, I shall behold your face, O Lord”? This is not the justice we sometimes hope to find in legal procedure, or the redistribution of wealth, or the social engineering of utopian ideology. All of these human works can be done without God's love. All of these can be done in ways that violate human dignity, that further degrade and destroy God's creation. The peace and justice we long for, the peace and justice we were created and re-created to enjoy and share is found in the our created purpose: “From you, O Lord, let my judgment come; your eyes behold what is right.” From scripture, from God's created realities, from the unique and final revelation of the divine nature, Christ Jesus, from these must we take our judgments and behold what is right.

Demons silence us everyday, every hour. We sell our witness to compromise. We borrow against the value of our witness in order to buy political favor. We pawn our words and deeds in the false hope that one day soon the “signs of the times” will make our witness fashionable. Compromise, political favor, and trendy causes nail the just tongue to a stubborn jaw. It is truth that sets the just tongue free. No truth: no justice, no peace.

I will let the Holy Father end this homily. He writes that each man and woman “finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free. To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity, in fact, 'rejoices in the truth'. . .In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth” (CV 1).

5 comments:

  1. Thank you, Father. So much here is provoking. Very well crafted, too - and this, coming from one burdened with a sometimes painful tendency toward logic and comprehensiveness in this beautiful world of faith.

    I sorely lack for time at the moment. But...

    This is provoking:
    "...God, who through the Word creates all things and keeps them in existence..."
    Keeps them in existence... hmmm...

    This affects my whole-picture view as well as my intentioned devotions this month. It's 'whole' somehow and, best yet, it's concise. Thank you:
    "...words and deeds that accomplish God's plan for salvation are done and spoken only when the human work of charity is done in the light of truth..."
    (And perhaps the work of truth offered in the light of charity, too?)
    It also happens to be the answer to a personal situation of discord. Well, it's not the answer per se but it's a timely door opened to the answer. Now, to walk through it :) !

    This is serious I know, but it's also a... well, it's a hoot given a willing imagination:
    "...Compromise, political favor, and trendy causes nail the just tongue to a stubborn jaw..."

    Oh! Out of time... there's so much much more in your homily... Again, thank you, Father. In fullness of meaning, God bless you...

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  2. Oops. If my last sentence was cut off it should have said:
    Oh! Out of time... there's so much much more in your homily... Again, thank you, Father. In fullness of meaning, God bless you...

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  3. Aspiring,

    A central tenet of Aquinas' theology is the creatio ex nihilo understood in perfect conjunction with the creatio continuans. God created us, re-created us in Christ, and holds us in existence! Lovely, uh?

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  4. I'm a little overwhelmed with all these homilies you're suddenly posting.....kinda got used to one every 2 weeks...or so.

    :-)

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  5. To clarify a comment I made:
    "Keeps them in existence... hmmm..."

    I meant that not as in doubt; rather, as in Better Watch It! Along the lines of Bill Cosby with his TV kids, God brought us into this world, and He can take us out...! Bill knew he couldn't do that of course. He was just getting in their heads :) . However, God really can...

    And that this has a part in the theology of Aquinas, with Latin references, too, sort of makes it official :) .

    I'm so glad you said further that, "God created us, re-created us in Christ, and holds us in existence! Lovely, uh?" Yes ! and stunning to really know it and to think of it.

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