5th Sunday of Easter (18.05.14)
The Artistic Process In Reverse
Works of art are normally displayed within a building. In the case of artistic stonemasons the entirety of a building, externally and internally, can constitute their work. Their fine art graces, even identifies, our cities and historic homes! An artistic stonemason’s very particular gift is visualising how the block of hard, inanimate material before them can be chiselled, with skilful patience, to represent a unique artistic expression of timeless beauty.
As Baptised people, we believe that each person is born innately bearing the image and likeness of God, a likeness perhaps most evident in the fleeting years of innocence. Thereafter, the spiritually weathering effects of our place of exile conspire to occlude the Divine likeness, though deep within that likeness remains. Individually, we are the scarred battlefield on which God and Satan struggle for our soul until we draw our last breath.
A human artistic stonemason chisels his vision on to inanimate matter. God, by contrast, continually breathes eternal life through a living, loving, individual relationship with us to make possible, with our repeated assent, the surfacing of the Divine likeness already within.
This Sunday’s 2nd. Reading from St. Peter’s First Letter (2: 4-9) helps us understand the process. Be prepared for metaphors! St. Peter uses the term “living stone”. We may not, previously, have thought about the metaphor yet it contains rich teaching.
Here’s an extract from today’s reading:
“Beloved –
Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
If we deconstruct the passage good things can be found.
“Beloved -”
The Holy Spirit, through St. Peter, addresses us as his ‘beloved’, his irreplaceable, much loved people whom he cherishes individually. Do we believe, really believe, God? Or do we treat God as we might treat an ageing grandparent – with patience and some distance?
“Come …”
Do we hear an imperial command or a gentle, encouraging invitation from the Holy Spirit? One day, it is true, God, revealed in his full Divinity, will summon all humanity to eternity and there will be no backsliders. But until then, God invites.
The choice is ours – to accept, to decline or to postpone. Are we alert to his daily invitations? Do we misjudge his gentleness and show it by our procrastination, presuming that we paid attention to the invitation in the first place?
“Come to him.”
Come to whom? To Jesus, He is ‘the’ Living Stone, the Living Foundation Stone of a Redeemed humanity whose likeness to God has yet to surface in us.
Jesus would have been indistinguishable among many male Palestinian Jews of a similar age. Judas had to point out Jesus to the arresting mob in the Gethsemane garden yet the Son of Man had within himself the essence of God. The majority of his contemporaries did not recognise that essence. The individuals who did are identifiable, in the main, by their poverty, suffering and misfortune. Think of Simeon and Anna who looked at the infant Jesus being presented in the Temple and recognised God-made-Man. Recall the blind people, deaf people, dumb people – dead people too – who heard his word, felt his touch and were made whole. The suffering, the poor and the genuinely holy came to or were brought to Jesus and knew him for who he is. That should challenge many of us.
“a living stone.”
Am I comfortable with this description? Or is a ‘living stone’ just a metaphoric phrase associated with the Bible? Can there be a stone-likeness revealed, at times, in my stubborn, unyielding will perhaps with an explosive sharp, cutting edge?
The phrase ‘a living stone’ also reminds Christians that remaining faithful to the point of death, if need be, in a time of persecution is part of our Baptismal commitment. Our forebears laid down their lives and are honoured as martyrs that we might be free to believe today.
Most important of all is the will of each ‘living stone’ to form a holy, visible unity with all the other ‘living stones’ forming The Church. This is what Jesus prays for: “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21)
“rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God.”
Jesus is the cornerstone rejected by humanity. He is the rock on which his heavenly Father’s family is redeemed. In choosing his heavenly Father’s will, Jesus brings upon himself pain beyond our understanding as he validates, in his own blood, being The Beloved Son of his Father.
In our waking hours we continuously exercise our freedom of choice. In which direction do our conscious choices take us? Are we tempted towards social popularity more than towards endorsing God’s choice of us as his adopted daughters and sons? For sure, when we put God first we may well become unintelligible, inexplicable, objectionable to quite a number of people; some may even be blood relatives as well as friends and acquaintances.
We are precious in God’s sight. Do we believe it and is our belief visible in the way we live? How often do we consciously thank God our Father for sending us his Son, Jesus?
“like living stones, let yourself be built into a spiritual house”
Very exceptionally a stonemason may find a piece of stone that requires little dressing. It just seems a perfect fit. One such ‘living stone’ must surely be Mary, the Mother of the Lord. The Archangel Gabriel addressed her as,“Hail! Full of grace.” (Luke 1: 28)
Mary’s reply, “Let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1: 38) is the perfect human response from a person perfectly and uniquely in harmony with God.
All others need to be fashioned by the Holy Spirit. For this to happen, we must give not only our consent but also our collaboration. Nor is the exercise a pain free experience for Satan will fight to keep his hold on us. The sinless Mary was advised by Simeon “and a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke2:35)
“ .. to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The word priesthood has become, sadly, synonymous with power in the minds of many; more specifically, with the abuse of power.
Jesus, in his life and teaching, demonstrated that at the heart of priesthood lies in the loving service, even to the point of the giving of one’s life as he did, to which each Baptised person is called by this Sacrament of Initiation.
Pope Francis, in his writings and his spoken words, frequently explores the multiple aspects of both the Priesthood of the Laity and the Ordained Priesthood. Personal holiness characterises all Priesthood, as St. Peter’s words make clear.
Holiness is a gift not something purchasable or manufactured. Essentially, it is an individual’s deliberate, committed, emptying of self to allow the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit. St. Peter’s “to be” could also be translated as “to become a holy priesthood” for it is asks a lifetime of dedication. The indwelling Holy Spirit radiates holiness from within transforming even the mundane into a spiritual offering.