31 He was teaching his disciples and
telling them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill
him, and three days after his death he will rise.” 32
But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him.
Many
times we are afraid to ask a question
of the Lord because we do not want to know the answer. We measure success with
an earthly yardstick and not a heavenly one. Christ asks us to trust in Him.
The heavenly yardstick is this as spoken by Michael the Archangel, “Who is like
God?
We
are in a battle with the world, the flesh and the Devil. Let us remember that
St. Michael, along with our Guardian Angel stand to defend us from perdition.
No harm can come to the children of God who place their trust in the Precious
Blood. We must not be afraid to ask for Michaels help and to always call on
Mary the Queen of Angels whose children we are through Christ. We must not be
afraid to question science, literature, or art in its many forms as these achievements
of human works are often pressed into service by the Devil and his cohorts.
God’s
yardstick, “Who is like God?” leads us to Love Him and to love our neighbors.
Why is this commandment
to love God and our neighbor called the great commandment ?
Because in these
two are contained all the others, so that he who fulfills these fulfills the whole
law. For whoever loves God with his whole heart does not murmur against God; does
not dishonor His name by cursing and swearing; does not desecrate the Sabbath-day,
because he knows that all this is offensive to God. On the contrary, he hopes in
God; gives thanks and praise to God; sanctifies the Sundays and holy- days, because
he knows this to be pleasing to God; observes the precepts of the Church, because
he knows it to be the will of God that he should hear the Church; honors his parents;
does no injury to his neighbor; does not commit adultery; does not steal; slanders
no one; bears no false witness; pronounces no unjust judgment; is not envious, malicious,
unmerciful, but rather practices towards every one the corporal and spiritual works
of mercy; and all this because, out of love to God, he loves his neighbor as himself.
Thus love fulfills all the commandments.[1]
Continuing our study of John McCain’s book “Character is Destiny”[2] John points out that an
understanding heart must be generous (Oseola McCarty), forgiving (Nelson
Mandela), tolerant (Four Chaplains), full of mercy (Mother Antonia), faithful (Christian
Guard at Hua Lo prison) and compassionate (Maximilian Kolbe). John now suggests
for us that adding to our understanding heart we must strive to have a creative mind. A creative mind must be
built on a thirst or curiosity in the mysteries of creation. John points out as
an example of curiosity the renowned Charles Darwin.
McCain says of
Darwin:
His curiosity
and courage helped him to discover the history of nature, and start an argument
that has continued for 150 years. A curious thing about the father of the
theory of evolution is that he himself was an avowed agnostic,
keeping to his scientific methods. The evolution of all life on earth,
including man, was and still is, in some quarters, considered an affront to the
belief that the progress of the human race over time bears the unmistakable
sign of the divine spark in our nature. But why can we not be content in our
faith with the understanding that God’s divine intelligence, which exists
beyond time and space, and has left us to choose by the exercise of our free will
whether to accept His grace or reject it, could have left nature to work its
physical changes upon us? We have a second nature, a moral nature, that is not
determined by ecological change but by the workings of our conscience. Is not
our conscience and its effect upon our will enough confirmation for the
believer that God, the Creator, has endowed us with the divine spark of His
love to improve, if we so choose, our second nature in service to Him? It is
enough, I believe, for anyone who can see in our struggle to be good a divine
purpose, as we may still glimpse in the wonders of nature the divine
intelligence that created it and set it all in motion. To believe and follow
God is our choice. Not all will follow. Our principal belief is in our
salvation not in this life but the next. Man and nature, even at their
cruelest, cannot deny us that, nor the gloriousness of His creation, a gloriousness
that human qualities like curiosity have led us to appreciate with humility and
awe. Time and the laws of nature do not expose the absence of God, Whose proofs
are a matter for the heart to contemplate, a matter of faith.
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