“Fruitful not Veiled” by Beth DeCristofaro
And even though our Gospel is veiled, it is
veiled for those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this age has blinded
the minds of the unbelievers, so that they may not see the light of the Gospel of
the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. …
For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our
hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Jesus
Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4, 6)
But I say to you, whoever is angry with his
brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, 'Raqa,'
will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be
liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and
there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there
at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and
offer your gift.
(Matthew 5:21-24)
Piety
God, grace me to see your light and hear your
voice so that my heart might soften, shining solely to point to your glory, to the
mercy of Jesus Christ, and to the presence and fire of the Spirit among us.
Study
This passage is troubling. It feels too difficult to approach the altar
of God having no dispute with others.
Jesus talks about the enveloping and obscuring effects on our
personhood, our Christian identity when we choose anger over forgiveness and
mercy. We veil our own hearts when
falling into anger and separation and, he points out, this can lead to violence
or killing if not of the body then of the soul. Jesus’ message is actually
pretty simple while the “yes” in action challenges us to look beyond our own
hurts, slights, and failings. The
Christian’s “yes” sees Christ in the other from the Christ within ourselves.
St. Anthony of Padua was named Doctor of the
Church for his inspired ability to preach so that even the least educated and
simple person could understand and be moved by him. The Apostle Paul might have said that he
removed the veil of misunderstanding and shone the light of God for all to
hear. A lovely story is told that when
heretics resisted Anthony’s teaching he preached to fish instead “for the glory
of God, the delight of the angels, and the easing of his own heart.”[i] While such a gesture might seem silly, God is
pleased when we turn to him always even in the face of confrontation.
Action
How might we best know that we are not blinded
by a veil of our own foibles or the “gods of our age?” but that our life exhibits the fruits of the
Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control. In what ways
am I opening myself to the Spirit, asking for what I lack so that these fruits
might blossom? Who do I most need to
practice these fruits upon?
No comments:
Post a Comment