There is a sadness and an ache that accompanies today’s readings. David sins again and many people suffer because of the choices he makes as leader. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus preached and taught in his “native place”, but for the most part, his words were not received. Because of the lack of faith of his hometown crowd, their unwillingness to trust in him, Jesus did not perform many healings or exorcisms. He was not able to bring those who knew him for the majority of his life into deeper communion with his Father.
The whole reason that the Son of God became man was to bring light to a world suffering in darkness and to reconcile humanity to their rightful place as sons and daughters of his Father. And yet, those closest to him refused the invitation such that: “he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith” (Mk 6:6).
Is our world today becoming more and more like Jesus’ “native place”? Is Jesus taken for granted? Do we pay attention to him at all? Many expend more energy on cynicism, taking care of number one, and an uncritical acceptance of empiricism or scientism. Again, a sad state because science is an awesome gift. Science and faith come from the same source, our intrinsic ability to embrace the wonder of God’s creation! These two are not incompatible. Authentic faith seeks understanding. A questioning and searching mind are the ingredients for a living, relevant, and vibrant faith, and life.
Faith without reason, as well as reason without faith, leads to a more limited understanding of the vast expanse of our world. Scientism is limiting the very gift of science itself because it stops when the questions get really interesting, when the exploration goes beyond the measurable, the sensate experiences as we know them. Faith without reason can devolve into mere superstition and legalism.
Jesus invites us to resist setting limits, settling for a minimalist or cynical approach, and the hardening of our hearts. He instead is inviting us to open ourselves up to the limitless possibilities God opens up before us! There is so much to experience in God’s creation if we just slow down and are still enough to experience the wonder of our everyday moments all around us.
The Holy Spirit works through each of us when we resist keeping each other at a distance and placing each other in a box. Many of Jesus’ own people could not see Jesus as anyone other than a simple carpenter and son of Mary. There was no way he could do all the things people were saying about him.
May we resist the lie that we know all there is to know about each other. There is so much wonder to the gift of each individual, especially when we allow ourselves to expand by following the will of God for our lives and helping each other to do the same. We can experience so much more by embracing our faith and reason, opening our hearts and minds to the wonder and glory of God and each encounter with one another. As we do so, we will begin to experience God’s greatest joy, the human being fully alive!
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Photo: Short morning walk yesterday, enjoying some blue sky and sight of the moon. Mary has often been compared to the moon as she reflects the light of her Son!
Spiritual Stepping Stones 