Friday, November 1, 2013

Solemnity of All Saints

Lectionary 667

Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure,
as he is pure.

Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the hope they might be “like gods, knowing right and wrong.” Saint John promises we shall be “like him, for we shall see him as he is.” That surely would be knowing what is right.

Knowledge is sacred; the aspiration to knowledge is not evil. It can be misguided as Genesis makes clear. Human beings want to know where we came from and where we are going. We want to know the One of whom we are born, our Progenitor. Created in that image we will not know ourselves until we have seen God. Nothing could be more natural than that desire.

The passion for knowledge is a kind of eroticism. It is intense and insatiable. Knowing, it wants to know more. We want to know the universe in which we live, from the most distant stars to the nearest atomic particles to the complexities of the human brain. We want to know the Artist whose artistry confronts us at every turn.

Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.

The pulp fiction writer Raymond Chandler, in his essay The Simple Art of Murder, describes the purity of the wisdom seeker. Despite the apparent cynicism of Philip Marlowe, there is purity in the character who only wants to know who killed whom, and why. He is willing to risk danger and death, jail and beatings, humiliation and bewilderment to learn the truth. With neither family nor home, he cannot be compromised by threats. Occasionally the PI’s employer, realizing that the search has turned in an unexpected direction, cancels the contract; but Mr. Marlowe must pursue the trail of clues to its dreary end. He cannot live without knowing the truth.

On this Solemnity of All Saints we celebrate the real people, as opposed to fictional sleuths, who made themselves pure and lived in truth. Not one would say the path is easy; nor would any boast of the achievement. They know their craving for knowledge is that undefiled impulse of the Holy Spirit which gives the Son to the Father and the Father to the Son. They found the Mysterious Trinity of God within their hearts and they honored it in the Church.

This Solemnity belongs to all the saints, including you and me, as we journey to God. Dear Lord, give us that purity of heart which draws us irresistibly to you.

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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.

Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.

I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.

You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.