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"The Mystery of God"
The connections, parallels, and symbolism of today’s reading in Mark with the OT are a clear and comforting confirmation of the two pillars of our Faith: God’s Law represented by Moses, and God’s Love, represented by Elijah who predicted the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, himself a parallel to God’s many visits in the OT which include Moses and Elijah. But above all, the Transfiguration, symbolizes Christ’s coming resurrection, which brings into full focus the mystery of God. Albert Einstein once said, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, because his very eyes are closed.” The mystery inside life is as real as the physical matter which makes up its outer visible nature. But it is something our modern age struggles with. Some rationalize Abraham’s call to sacrifice his son, Isaac, as a psychotic response to words he perhaps heard in his head – not God. Also, history tells us it was common practice for children to be sacrificed in these early cultures. But to accept men saw their companion levitate and join with two other long deceased men in a cloud of luminous light is the stuff of myth or tall-tales. So, why preach to believers the importance of embracing this mystery? Isn’t it part of our belief system? But the fact remains some Christians have doubts, eg. some do not believe in the ‘real presence’ of God in the Eucharist. How can something unseen exist? Today’s society takes a systematic approach to life that everything can be broken down and understood under a microscope, called: ‘reductionism’. In theologian, Philip Yancey’s, book, Rumours Of Another World, he tells us, “The reducers’ approach allows no place for an invisible world. It takes for granted the world of matter is the sum total of existence. Looking at the parts, we judge them [to be] the whole of reality,” (p.19). He recalls how on the back of science texts you could purchase all the chemicals of the human body from a catalogue for 85 cents, “… which does nothing to explain the magnificence of an athlete,” (p.17). “[So], since God cannot be examined, tested, quantified or reduced … societies advanced in technology go about their daily lives assuming God does not exist … their [senses] sealed against rumours of another world. As Tolstoy [once] said, ‘materialists mistake what limits life, for life itself,’” (p.18-19). Yancey points out, “No society in history has attempted to live without a belief in the sacred, not until the modern [Western world].” But this has had consequences, putting us in a kind of moral turmoil. The meaning and purpose of life are confused. Without God, without recognition we are more than our physical bodies, we live in a state of constant self-gratification and self-care, but also constant searching and emptiness. There is no meaning or purpose to life without the mystery which surges beneath the surface of everything, the mystery of God and his guidance in our lives. Simon, James and John were profoundly blessed to see with their physical eyes the mystery revealed to them. Sometimes I imagine them trying to tell people what they had experienced, how they were so terrified they didn’t know what to do, offering to build shelters for the effervescent beings before them. But now they understood the significance: there are in a sense two worlds, one seen with our eyes, but the other found from within. Which one is the more real? While they are intertwined, the unseen is the most important: our eternity! Jesus would later tell them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; … For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you,” (Luke 17.20-21) … or inside us spiritually! As people of faith, we must believe and accept the mystery of this super-natural event, because, first, it is truly part of our natural world; second, because it shows us how much bigger, broader and complex life really is. All creation may be visible, but it is alive with the deep mystery of God’s design. Incorporating this mystery of God into our belief system is critical, not only to give us hope, but to inspire us to strive for those things which ‘are not of this world’, to engage with care and holiness this mysterious gift of life to hopefully secure a place at God’s table. This past week CWL members and others accepted a Lenten challenge to develop their inner spirituality by asking themselves, “Who am I?” This week, we will ask, “Where did I come from?” Each week a different, self-directed question. After Easter we will look under God’s microscope to see where it has taken us. – Rev Fr Christopher Tracey, Saint Joseph Parish, Saugeen Shores, Ontario
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"Repent and Believe"
“He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the Angels waited upon him.” It might surprise those who are more familiar with the detailed stories of Christ’s journey in the wilderness which are found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, that Mark’s narrative is just two, brief, rather non-descriptive sentences. But scholars tell us the writer of Mark was concerned with getting to the point: that Christ the King of Heaven had arrived with salvation for all humanity. And how do we access this glorious, grace-filled, holy gift? Repent and believe in the good news! In fact, scholars think Mark’s gospel was most likely a kind of newsletter or report portioned out in sections, perhaps chapter by chapter, and circulated from one new Christian community to the next, probably in secret, under cover, to avoid altercations with either the religious leaders or Roman authorities. Much like the liturgy of the word we hear in the mass, it was meant to inform, support, motivate and inspire believers in their early worship services. The glorious arrival of the greatly anticipated Messiah and the good news of salvation which he preached was here and available to us. The gospel was not intended as a biography of Christ, but rather as a proclamation of who he is: the King of Heaven, Son of God, herald of good news, promoter of peace, justice, and salvation with the reign of God presiding over all creation, just as Isaiah prophesied in 61.1-2 which early congregations were familiar with. So, no descriptions of Satan’s tempting Christ to use his divine powers, no beckoning Jesus to turn stones into bread, nor to leap from a mountain top, confident his angels would bear him up. Because in so many ways, Mark’s gospel was right! The point IS: Repent and believe! This is Mark’s gospel message, simple, clear, uncomplicated. Regardless of suffering and the challenges of life, some of them brutal, we are invited to ask forgiveness for our sins, our faulty focus on the things of this world, and instead to trust in the God who created us, confident he is doing and allowing to happen to us what is best for our soul development. This past week, a 1964 film called, The Pawnbroker, was aired. The main character, ‘Sol Nazerman’, played by Rod Steiger, is a holocaust survivor, haunted by memories of the cruel deaths of his wife and children in the camps. He lives in a wilderness of unceasing bitterness, anger, and hate, not just toward the Nazis, but toward everyone and everything. The world itself is hell. He no longer believes in God, no longer believes in anything. Some reach out to him, try to comfort him in his torment, but he shows no gratitude for their compassion, only contempt. He is blind to their love, seeing only pretension and lies. The small income he makes off desperate customers is the only thing he believes in. Satan has found a way to pull Sol into his web through Sol’s preoccupation with himself, his anger, and futile survival. Only when his clerk, ironically named ‘Jesus’, who loves him, idolizes him, and calls him ‘his teacher’, dies protecting him during a burglary, does Sol Nazerman come face-to-face with God and the reality of the empty, sinful life, he has created for himself, and his lethal affect on others. Kneeling next to him, Sol holds his clerk, Jesus, watching him die, the only true source of love Sol had. Mark’s gospel doesn’t tell us what temptations Jesus endured, perhaps because he wanted his readers to reflect upon their own wilderness, their own temptations. So, what kind of wilderness might we be living in? What is perhaps tempting us? Of course, right now we are all living in a kind of wilderness called the ‘pandemic’. But will we be bitter and angry about it, impatient, maybe even aggressive, letting negative emotions get in the way of love, which exists all around us, like Sol did? Or will we learn to be humble, trust in God, forgive others as we seek God’s forgiveness, learn patience, develop strength in adversity just as Christ teaches us by his example, face-to-face with the enemy, in his wilderness? “As our Lord did everything for our instruction”, says St. John Chrysostom, “so he wished to be led into the wilderness … to enter combat with the devil … so the baptised should not be troubled … even if they suffer still greater temptations [in their own lives]. Remember to be objective, not just subjective, because it is not just about ourselves, but about each other. Remember, our children especially learn more by what we do than what we say. Reach out to others as clerk Jesus did to Sol, just as Jesus is reaching out to us in our wilderness. Repent and believe in the good news. – Rev Fr Christopher Tracey, Saint Joseph Parish, Saugeen Shores, Ontario "Experiencing Scripture"
Scripture is a unique form of writing, not just because it is considered the word of God, but because it always offers many different aspects of what they share with us. In today’s gospel, Christ’s healing of the leper, we could focus on Jesus’ great power as a divine being, able to heal with the touch of his hand. We could focus on the leper’s unshaking belief in Jesus as the Messiah, and that Jesus could heal him, even before he presented himself to the Lord from his exclusion from society. Maybe we could focus on the cultural background and religious hierarchy of the time which would expose Jesus as breaking the law because he had ‘touched’ someone with leprosy, an act strictly forbidden by rulings originating with Moses. Or maybe we could focus on the fact that by touching the leper, Jesus had made himself unclean in the sight of his community; or focus on the astonished crowd, bewildered, yet drawn to this man who could heal with the touch of his hand. Yes, we can tease out, analyze, compare, evaluate, and decipher many various aspects of all bible scripture, the stuff of bible study, which can often provide unlimited rewards as we come to know God and Jesus better on our faith journey. But, the most important aspect to examine is: what did the writer of the gospel truly want us to ‘experience’ and therefore to ‘learn’? Experience is the ‘key’ word. Currently, we have in our country and in our own local community some of the finest schools and teachers. Our children are learning from the best! And we should take our hats off to them, especially in sincere gratitude for the gifted innovation and creativity they have shown in continuing to teach our children under possibly the most challenging and pressure-laden conditions of their careers. I am confident our students will remember their teachers with great affection, thanks, and admiration as they reflect in later adult years on just how much they did learn from their studies, but especially about how they lived and experienced life during C-19. So, again, experience is key, because we still learn first from experience, emotions enhancing our reason, heart informing the head of its soul’s spiritual dimensions. The gospel writer of Mark knew this. In fact, you can tell by its episodic nature, the quick twists and turns of events, and the attention given to the detailed reactions of the crowd, that the writer’s real, sincere desire was to bring us, living and breathing, ‘into’ the actions of the story. They wanted this story to be as real for us as possible, so we would ‘experience’ the event, and thus better ‘learn’ from it! Possibly the earliest form of meditative prayer, lectio divina, which we looked at during Advent, is composed of four parts. The first part, reading a passage of scripture, is followed by the second part, a time for reflection on the reading. The Franciscans, and later, the Jesuits, expanded and developed this second part into what they still call today, “Biblical Meditation”, an Ignatian approach to prayer which encourages use of ‘imagination’, one of the greatest gifts God ever gave us. In this practice, St. Ignatius instructs us to close our eyes after reading our passage, and allow our imaginations to pull us into the story or scene we have just read. We may be one of the disciples standing beside Jesus as he heals the leper, or we may be the leper himself, encountering our Lord, face-to-face. If we place ourselves as someone in the crowd, we might feel the closeness of the people pressing in on us, see their agitated faces, and hear their anxious breathing; feel the dust and grit gathering in our sandaled feet, pushing our way forward to see this man, Jesus, of such profound words and miraculous abilities, just inches away from us. We reach out to touch his hand, his shoulder, his robe, to receive healing for ourselves. In short, we ‘experience’ in person the nervous, joyful excitement of seeing our Lord. This is how the gospel writer wants us to learn, and to learn from as near as possible to a personal experience with our Lord, because in this way we learn from Jesus himself what true compassion is, what true healing is, that we are called to do the same. He wants us to learn to be like Jesus and heal others in whatever way we can. Salesian priest, Flor McCarthy says, “We are humbled by the generosity of Jesus who exposes the poverty of our own hearts. Yet, we are also elevated to greater compassion, as he challenges us to reach out to the wounded and excluded.” As we near our coming Lenten journeys, let us take a favourite passage from the gospels, and enter into it with our imaginations, experience the joy and exhilaration of meeting Jesus face-to-face, and learn to be like Jesus from the Master himself. – Rev Fr Christopher Tracey, Saint Joseph Parish, Saugeen Shores, Ontario " Life and Suffering"
Today we mention Christian Plummer, not just because he was a world-famous Canadian actor born right here in Ontario, living as close to us as his beloved Shakespearean Theatre in Stratford, but because in a certain way he became a small part of our Country’s, if not the World’s, consciousness for many years. And why? Because as the Captain in the film version of “The Sound of Music”, a ‘true’ story of love and faith standing firm in the face of one of the most horrendous periods of our world’s history, the attempt by one nation to exterminate another, Captain Von Trapp gives up everything for the love and safety of his family, pushes back against the racist tyranny emerging in his beloved Austria, and faces the imminent dangers and accepts the suffering of leading his loved ones to safety. Countless people never miss watching this film when it’s aired, because its clear expression of our highest, moral, Catholic, Christian values, never ceases to inspire. It reminds us of how true faith and hope always overcome the deepest suffering and most bitter conflicts we might experience in life. It should remind us of how critical each of our lives are in God’s plan for his creation, despite struggle and suffering. Did Christopher think he would have such an impact in the world? Probably not. And yet his life had more impact than he ever dreamed possible. Each of our lives also have more impact than we realize, in a plan only God knows, and suffering is part of that plan. Yes, suffering! Mr. Plummer would say, “All the world is a stage, and all people merely players. They have their exits and entrances, and one person in his time plays many parts.” These lines imply we will experience both the good and the bad in life. Conflict, pain, and suffering in some form or other is part of life’s journey, and Job is probably the most profound example of this. Job has been analyzed and studied by theologians and scholars, philosophers and psychologists for centuries. What does his tale of bitter suffering say about us, about a world which sometimes hurts us, about a God who seems to allow such a faithful follower like Job to suffer so much pain and sorrow? Does it help us to know these same concerns and questions which Job had about his relationship with God are still asked by these same scholars and people of Faith all over the world? These days some of us might even feel like Job. Locked down in our homes to immobilize a threat to our lives, perhaps like Job we experience the same emptiness, misery, sleepless nights, and tossing ‘til dawn. Maybe we even feel abandoned by God or punished by God or wonder even if God exists. We ask, “God, if you’re there, why must we suffer?” A priest friend of mine has a plaque resting on the front of his desk which reads, “The more you complain, the longer you live!” At first, I laughed out loud at the remark, but then I began to ponder what it really meant, that perhaps until we learn to live life with all its ups and downs, accepting all that happens to us, both the pleasure and pain, the agony and the ecstasy, we are indebted to put in more time on earth until we acquire her gentle wisdom, while learning to trust the will of God who knows better than we do why we are here and why we suffer. God does not give Job an answer why we suffer. It is too great a mystery for Job to grasp. He can never know God’s mind. Better to trust in God who shapes and disciplines us for reasons only he knows, like a parent loving their child. And when we can find no reason why we suffer, ‘redemptive suffering’ tells us we can offer up our pain to lessen the pain of others, a beautiful way to make sense of suffering in our world. Frankly, can we think of anyone who hasn’t suffered? Artists say suffering is often what rejuvenates and inspires them. It teaches us to value life more. We can better help someone else suffering, because we have suffered. “Praised be the God, the Father of Jesus Christ, Father of mercies, and God of all consolation! He comforts us in all our afflictions, and thus enables us to comfort those who are in trouble, with the same consolation we have received from him,” (2 Cor 1.3-4). History says religion itself emerged in part to help us cope with suffering. Even Mother earth suffers. Clearly, suffering is a necessary and critical part of our life journey. What we can be sure of is God loves us. “What is man that you should keep him in mind, that you care for him? Yet you have made him little less than a god!” (Ps 8). Each of us, despite what we may suffer, is a critical part of God’s mystery at work. Like the crowds who reached out to him who lovingly stretched his hand to theirs, let us now reach out to Jesus who is still with us, ready to heal our suffering, and to show us the way of love and truth on our life journey. – Rev Fr Christopher Tracey, Saint Joseph Parish, Saugeen Shores, Ontario |
Father's Blog
Rev. Fr. Christopher Tracey
St. Joseph Parish Pastor Archives
January 2022
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