4th Week of Easter (T)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St Dominic Priory, NOLA
From
my lit prof days I can still hear the undergrads whining at me, “Just
tell us what the poem means! Just tell us plainly.” I didn't know
how to do that. Not b/c poetry is a code to be broken for its hidden
meaning. Not b/c I was sworn to secrecy by the Illuminati of Poetry.
But b/c poetry is a language you have to live with for a while. Like
any language it's learned in immersion. Same goes for the
providential will of God. The Pharisees want what my undergrads
wanted – a plain-spoken, pre-chewed, easy to digest admission from
Jesus that he is the Christ. Had they been immersed in the prophetic
language of the Father's providential will they would've known Jesus
to be the Messiah. Had they persevered in the tradition – the
handed-down wisdom – of the prophets they would've seen his works
and heard his words as those of his Father. Somewhere along the way
they lost the plot and fell into a darkness and deafness of their own
making. We are given a lifetime to immerse ourselves in the words and
deeds of the Messiah's language of forgiveness, sacrifice, and love.
As dangerous as it is to follow him, it is more dangerous still to
follow the blind shepherds who would sell us to the wolves. Christ
knows his own. How well do we know and follow him?
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