WHERE FAITH IS ABSENT, REASON BECOMES FOOLISHNESS. (Homily for Monday of the 3RD Week in Advent, Year C.)


Bible Study: Numbers 24, 2 to 17. And Matthew 21, 23 to 27.


In our Gospel passage this morning, we see how the chief priests and elders of the people felt they could trap Jesus down by asking him who gave him authority to preach and teach in the way and manner he did. If only they could see beyond what their physical eyes could carry, they would not have dared to ask God himself who gave him authority to be God. They did not realise that Jesus was more than an ordinary man but God himself in the midst of men. Once their eyes were blind to this fact, they felt they could challenge his authority only to end up totally ashamed at the response they got from Jesus.

Lack of faith is a form of blindness, a blindness that prevents us from beholding spiritual realities, a blindness that turns our ears away from the truth even when it is obvious to us, a blindness that allows us challenge the authority of God over our lives, a blindness that makes us question whether or not God even cares about us. We may engage in prayer to God and try to present our needs before him but when we do not believe God is listening or when we begin to doubt God’s ability to grant us what we pray for, we become like these chief priests and elders. Our prayer becomes a mere challenge of God’s authority, we pray not because we believe but simply to test God’s power.

Dear friends, when faith is absent, even our best and most reasonable decisions and actions become foolish. Reason never works on its own, it depends on faith. Before I start reasoning about whether or not there is any need for me to go to church, I must first believe that the church is a place where I can meet God. Once this faith is missing, all our arguments and debates about church, doctrines and so on become mere foolishness, an exercise in futility. We do not convert people to the faith by arguing with them, no one is ever converted by reasoning or debate. This was what the chief priests tried to do, they thought they could convince Jesus to stop his mission by arguing about his authority. I have seen people who go about with Bible from house to house and try to convert people to their church by arguing with them and each party spend a lot of time trying to convince each other. At the end, it becomes a total waste of time. When faith is lacking, reasoning itself becomes foolishness.

Today we celebrate the memorial of St. John of the Cross. Born in Spain in 1542, John learned the importance of self-sacrificing love from his parents. His father gave up wealth, status, and comfort when he married a weaver's daughter and was disowned by his noble family. After his father died, his mother kept the destitute family together as they wandered homeless in search of work. These were the examples of sacrifice that John followed with his own great love -- God.

When the family finally found work, John still went hungry in the middle of the wealthiest city in Spain. At fourteen, John took a job caring for hospital patients who suffered from incurable diseases and madness. It was out of this poverty and suffering, that John learned to search for beauty and happiness not in the world, but in God.

After John joined the Carmelite order, Saint Teresa of Avila asked him to help her reform movement. John supported her belief that the order should return to its life of prayer. But many Carmelites felt threatened by this reform, and some members of John's own order kidnapped him. He was locked in a cell six feet by ten feet and beaten three times a week by the monks. There was only one tiny window high up near the ceiling. Yet in that unbearable dark, cold, and desolation, his love and faith were like fire and light. He had nothing left but God -- and God brought John his greatest joys in that tiny cell.

After nine months, John escaped by unscrewing the lock on his door and creeping past the guard. Taking only the mystical poetry he had written in his cell, he climbed out a window using a rope made of strips of blankets. With no idea where he was, he followed a dog to civilization. He hid from pursuers in a convent infirmary where he read his poetry to the nuns. From then on his life was devoted to sharing and explaining his experience of God's love.

His life of poverty and persecution could have produced a bitter cynic. Instead it gave birth to a compassionate mystic, who lived by the beliefs that "Who has ever seen people persuaded to love God by harshness?" and "Where there is no love, put love -- and you will find love." John left us many books of practical advice on spiritual growth and prayer that are just as relevant today as they were then. These books include: Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night of the Soul, and A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ. Watch a youtube video of St. John of the cross by clicking this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL58g24NgWPIzvBk2IQVES_xC4WTm6-CDI&v=sY62yARJyTE

Let us Pray:
Lord Jesus, open my eyes to a deeper faith in you. Amen.


Good morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Happy new week.

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