There has been none greater than John
the Baptist;
yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven
is greater than he.-Matthew
11:11
Imagine
if the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (Congregatio de Causis Sanctorum)
approached me and you and all the faithful and asked for us to make our own
case(s) for sainthood. Let’s ignore for
the sake of the argument that we are not talking about canonization but the
actual case for our own sainthood. The
Prefect has literally asked us to make our case for whether or not we should
find ourselves in heaven with Jesus. How
should we react? Let us begin this reflection with Mass readings.
The
readings for December 13, 2012 (the feast of St Lucy) give us strength and
encourage us to pursue a faithful life.
The Prophet Isaiah gives us some interesting images. First, the image is that the Lord, our God,
grasps our right hand. There are
immediately two interpretations that come to my mind. The first thought, and more likely, is that God
is pointing to my need to repent because we are on his left. The left is a position of subordination and
the right is a position of honor, traditionally. Our 21st century Catholic
Christian understanding can help us to accept this because Jesus tells us that
he is seated at the right hand of the Father.
The second thought is a much more provocative reflection. God freely chooses to stand at our right hand
because we graciously honor him in our lives AND because God exalts our freedom
to choose to have him stand at our right hand.
This reflection leads me to believe that Jesus’ humble nature is prefigured
by Isaiah in this passage even though the passage is about the greatness and
strength of God. Immediately following
this thoughtful introduction the Prophet tells us to “fear not, O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel; I will help
you, says the LORD.” These images of
the worm and the maggot certainly help us to realize just what God thought of
the people of Israel, and of us today.
Together with the grace of God we can accept that though we have sinned
and fallen short of the glory of God, we rest in the hope that with a humble
heart and a contrite spirit that the Lord will be true to his word that we will
help us. The entire passage from Isaiah
is filled with hope and grace but I reflect on one more line from this passage. The Lord tells us that he “will make of [us]
a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and double-edged, to thresh the mountains and
crush them, to make the hills like chaff.”
In spite of our fallen nature and in overlooking our sinfulness, God
recognizes the penitent ones in his flock.
And the ones who embrace God will be renewed, strengthened and will be
able to overcome major obstacles in their lives. If we are penitent and God bestows upon us his
grace, what are the mountains in our lives that we can crush? Trust in the Lord to overcome pride, greed,
lust, gluttony, anger and all other mountains in our lives. Make them like chaff to be discarded on the
winds.
The
Gospel passage offers some interesting reflections for us as well. Jesus gets the attention of his disciples and
those who are listening to his words by stating a publicly held sentiment that
there has been none greater than John the Baptist. Then he moves forward with his message by
pointing out that the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than John the
Baptist. This certainly had to stir some
controversy. If the least is better than
the widely accepted living saint at the time, then what hope is there for the
rest of the people of that time? My
conjecture is that Jesus speaks to purgatory when he makes this statement. There is truth to the nature of heaven and
how only the pure in heart can see God.
The Lord then tells us that the violent are taking the Kingdom of heaven
by force. The Kingdom of heaven here
could be metaphorically our own world and Jesus is essentially telling us to be
on guard for our own faith so that the secular world does not take faith from
us. What we have here is an implied task
from the Lord to fight for our faith and religious freedom. If the Kingdom of heaven is under siege by
violence, her defense is our defense. By
virtue of our baptism, we have a vested interested in our own faith life which
is part of the community of faith and is part of the communion we have with
God. The greatest risk during this siege
is our own salvation.
This
returns to our case for sainthood. Even
though we are unworthy sinners who have fallen what we have been called to be,
we are redeemed only by the grace of God.
We can find comfort in the Holy Mass. The priest says during the Liturgy of the
Eucharist, in prayer, asking God to “look not on our sins but on the faith your
Church.” God has called us to bear fruit
and live in a manner which allows him to work through us to witness to the
Kingdom of God in our lives. So in all
humility and all honesty, we should be making our case for our own
sainthood. It is just that when making
that case, it should never appear as though that is what we are doing.
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