By the Finger of God

October 10, 2009

Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree,” that the blessing of Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:13-14

But if it is by the finger of God that (I) drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Luke 11:20-22

Piety

Lord, we hang our lives on your very Words. Come into our lives with the strength of your faith and drive out all the thoughts, words and deeds which try to crowd you out. Just like you confronted the Pharisees, aid us as we confront the forces of evil in our world, the culture of death around us. Help us to overcome these forces though the tools you gave us for our spiritual life and guide us to rededicate ourselves to making your word our living spirit. Amen.

Study

St. Paul outlines the battle between faith and law. The bottom line is that Jesus is not looking for a people who just follow the rules in the book. If so, the Lord could be satisfied with a baseball team. They follow the rules. Instead, Jesus wants us to accept the enlightenment offered by the Holy Spirit. After having seen or heard the testimony about him, Jesus wants us to believe and act accordingly.

The basis for our action is the free choice of faith, not some restrictive prescription of blind obedience to a set of laws. Such faith is a sign of strength. It is because of faith (not blind adherence to the laws) that Jesus drives out demons. St. Paul reminds the Galatians that “no one is justified before God by the law.”

Right now there is a Synod going on in Rome – the 22nd Synod of Bishops, this one devoted to “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.” The other day, John Allen wrote about the developments there…developments which partly echo themes expressed in today’s readings. In the NCR web edition, Allen wrote:


Much mischief in Catholicism often results from over-emphasizing one or another pole of a continuum. For example, push too hard on the church as a hierarchy, and the result is an inflated notion of authority; put too much stress on the church as the “people of God,” and you get congregationalism.


Applied to the current Synod of Bishops on the Bible, this "both/and" feature of Catholicism means that the bishops need to do two things at once: foster a deeper knowledge and love for the Scriptures, without generating an exaggerated cult of the printed word divorced from broader notions of tradition and the living church. A more succinct way of phrasing the point is this: How can the church stress the Bible as fundamental, without turning Catholics into fundamentalists?


Yesterday saw just such an effort to strike the right balance, with a forceful plea from a key papal advisor to reject the idea of Christianity as a “Religion of the Book.”


“It’s important that we commit ourselves to constructing a culture that sees Scripture as a living word,” Fisichella [Bishop Salvatore Fisichella, the rector of the Lateran University and President of the Pontifical Academy for Life] said. Otherwise, he warned, “we run the risk of humiliating the Word of God by reducing it exclusively to a written text, without the provocative capacity to give meaning to life.”

Our daily wrestling with Scripture (what is says, what it means and why it matters) informs our lives built on piety, study and action. These are not just words on a page. These Scriptures come to life through this struggle. Sometimes they are not easy to understand. Sometimes they are even harder to put into action. However, let us use them to give us strength to wrestle the “strong man” and achieve victory. The pursuit will leave St. Paul smiling.

Action

Just over a year ago, the national media was not gripped with the financial crisis (meltdown/bail-out/rescue plan). We watched from afar as Buddhist monks in Myanmar (Burma) protested the “strong man” tactics of the government there and called for democracy.

People there were already spending 70 percent of their income just to buy food. In August 2007, the price of fuel skyrocketed and sparked peaceful protests which were quieted by the military regime.

Last spring, the cyclone Nargis hit the country and the military government blocked humanitarian aid from the west despite the fact that the storm left 84,530 people dead, with a further 53,836 people still reported missing. Other groups claim that the death toll has passed 130,000, while 12 million are displaced.

Continue to support action which will bind the strong man tactics in Myanmar/Burma and lead to freedom and prosperity for the people there.