{"id":4901,"date":"2013-12-21T12:59:53","date_gmt":"2013-12-21T12:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=4901"},"modified":"2013-12-21T12:59:53","modified_gmt":"2013-12-21T12:59:53","slug":"3rd-sunday-of-advent-15-12-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=4901","title":{"rendered":"3rd Sunday of Advent (15.12.13)"},"content":{"rendered":"

3rd Sunday of Advent (15.12.13)<\/strong><\/p>\n

DOUBT \u2013 The Less Appreciated Disability<\/strong>\u00a0Doubt is an inescapable human experience. Non-rational beings are not subject to it. Did \u2018Adam\u2019 and \u2018Eve\u2019 experience doubt? Yes, but only subsequent to their loss of the \u2018Garden of Eden\u2019 where they had lived in perfect communion with God. Gen. 3:8 describes God as \u2018freely walking and conversing\u2019 with them. As exiles, our first parents discovered many disabilities. Among them was doubt, which they passed to their progeny! Doubt is a cover-all word that attempts to define a human state between belief and disbelief in which the mind, suspended between two contradictory propositions, is unable to assent to either. Politics, ethics and the Law place considerable emphasis on doubt by supporting the adversarial process as a method of revealing what may be concealed under a general heading of \u2018evidence\u2019. Doubt as a form of torment can unbalance a person. This Sunday\u2019s Gospel (Matt 11:2-11) reveals an imprisoned John the Baptist as someone assailed by doubt.\u00a0\u201cWhen John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question,<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAre you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Of comparable age, John had grown up with Jesus, his cousin, as families were supportively close in those perilous times. Moreover, there is reason to suppose that, as young men, Jesus and John had shared some monastic experience with the community of the Essenes at \u2018Qumran\u2019 in the Judean wilderness near the Dead Sea. Though their pathways were distinct, they would have known one another. Moreover, John was challenged to find himself destined to baptize the one whose \u2018sandal he was not fit to untie\u2019. (Acts 13:25) What caused John\u2019s doubt? There is no Biblical answer. Speculation is based on our own experiences. We know, for example, that stress-filled incarceration can undermine a person\u2019s health causing, among other things, severe disorientation. Couple this with exposure to concentrated evil and a person can be driven to doubt the existence of God. Brian Keenan\u2019s book \u2018An Evil Cradling\u2019, describing his four and a half year incarceration in Beirut, is illuminative. The Baptist\u2019s prison conditions were probably on a par with the worst known today in North Korea, China, Tibet or the Russian gulags. We are told it was John\u2019s \u2018hearing about the works of Christ\u2019 that caused him to send messengers to Jesus. Neither the identity of John\u2019s informants nor the nature of the information they gave him is recorded. Either element could have \u2018tempted\u2019 John to doubt his faith given his inhuman incarceration. There\u2019s nothing new in the feeding of false information to a vulnerable person, for example, in order to break their spirit. This Gospel extract calls to mind the punishing experience being endured today by our Christian brothers and sisters held without trial in China, Tibet, North Korea and elsewhere. John\u2019s question for Jesus, while indicative of doubt:\u00a0\u201cAre you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0is not indicative of an overall loss of faith in God. This is an important distinction. The accumulative effects of Herodias\u2019 deep hatred and malevolence failed to undermine John\u2019s faith in God, the gift to John in his mother Elizabeth\u2019s womb at the event we call \u2018The Visitation\u2019 \u2013 Luke 1:39-41 \u2013\u00a0\u201c<\/em><\/strong>At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah\u2019s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary\u2019s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0John\u2019s persevering faith in adverse conditions testifies to his lifelong commitment to prayer and fasting. This, in turn, prompts a question for the Baptised today. Were persecution to break upon us, and who is to say it couldn\u2019t given the history of human behaviour, are the foundations of our faith sufficiently well cared for? The \u2018trinkets\u2019 of certificates, candles, videos, photos and clothing don\u2019t equate with being grounded in a protracted, living and loving, personal relationship with God. Jesus\u2019 reply to John may have surprised some people then, as well as Gospel readers now.\u00a0\u201cGo and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offence at me\u201d.\u00a0<\/em>People may have wondered why Jesus didn\u2019t bring about the release of his cousin. The proclamation of \u2018The Good News\u2019 took precedence then as it does today. Those deprived of liberty need access to God no less than those who walk free. Both Peter and Paul made use of their incarcerations to spread the Gospel. Jesus, himself, was jeered at on Calvary:\u00a0\u201cThe people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, \u201cHe saved others; let Jesus save himself if he is God\u2019s Messiah, the Chosen One.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(Luke 23:35) Jesus\u2019 response John would have confirmed for John that Jesus was the \u2018One\u2019 and so prepared John for the martyr\u2019s death he could see approaching. Today, too, Christians face martyrdom in many different ways. Their faith in Jesus supports them in lifelong unimaginable deprivation. They accept martyrdom as their call to proclaim the \u2018Good News\u2019 though they may be silenced and hidden from view. In today\u2019s world of insatiably aggressive, instantaneous media it\u2019s hard to appreciate the slowness of communication in that distant era. John\u2019s messengers may have spent weeks finding Jesus, relaying the question, hearing the response and returning to John. John and Jesus had been spiritually linked, womb-to-womb, since Mary, the Mother of Jesus, had visited her cousin Elizabeth who was carrying the future John the Baptist. Their level of communion would make today\u2019s vaunted electronic media look prehistoric. They had faith in God and in each other. Satan constantly seeks to undermine our relationship with Jesus and therefore with the Father and the Spirit. But Satan also attacks our belief in the Divine Origin of the Catholic Church. When Jesus appointed Peter, still recovering from his denial and betrayal of Jesus, as \u2018Keeper of the Keys\u2019, he warned Peter (Matt 16:17-19)\u00a0\u201cBlessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! \u2026 \u00a0And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.\u00a0I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, \u2026. \u201d<\/em>\u00a0The history of The Church is human as well as Divine. Sadly, in its humanity is ample painful evidence of human sinfulness. For sure, we will feel the full force of Satan\u2019s attack. If we have allowed the devil to stealthily lower our defenses by undermining our faith in Jesus, then we need to beware.\u00a0 For example, no sooner had Jesus confirmed Peter as\u00a0\u2018the keeper of the keys\u2019<\/em>\u00a0(Matt 16:19) and then gone on to speak of his (Jesus\u2019) grievous suffering to come than Peter was doing the devil\u2019s work:\u00a0\u201cLord, this must not happen to you\u2019<\/em>. (Matt 16:22) Jesus\u2019 response to Peter\u2019s protective impulse must have floored the future leader of the Church:\u00a0“Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”<\/em>(Matt.16:23) There\u2019s comfort for all who choose to believe in Jesus, and value their living, loving, relationship with him, in knowing that so blessed a disciple as John the Baptist could be infiltrated by doubt. Jesus described John in Matt 11:11:\u00a0\u201c<\/em>Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist\u201d.<\/em>\u00a0The first Reading for this Third Advent Sunday (Isaiah 35) lists some of the fallout, in terms of faith, that can result when doubt is ignored:\u00a0\u201cStrengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God; he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0When unattended doubt causes faith to be weakened or to fail then feeble hands are not uplifted in prayer, weak knees are not bowed in adoration and frightened hearts are invaded by fear. The resulting paralysis of faith injures not only us but others, too, through us. Judas Iscariot is identified as the betrayer of Jesus. Judas is not alone. There have always been betrayers – the Apostles who ran away when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter who denied knowing Jesus (that\u2019s a form of betrayal) in the High Priest\u2019s courtyard, Thomas who refused to believe until the Risen Lord confronted him, the two disciples walking with heavy hearts to Emmaus until the Risen Jesus joined them, Saul the Pharisee and famous persecutor of Christians until his encounter with Jesus on the Road to Damascus \u2013 are just some of the early names. Do we examine ourselves for evidence of our betrayal of Jesus? Do we ask Jesus to help us see how we betray him? Surely, this would be a more worthwhile use of our time than hunting and naming others as \u2018betrayers\u2019! \u201cLet the one who is without sin cast the first stone.\u201d (John 8:7)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3rd Sunday of Advent (15.12.13) DOUBT \u2013 The Less Appreciated Disability\u00a0Doubt is an inescapable human experience. Non-rational beings are not subject to it. Did \u2018Adam\u2019 and \u2018Eve\u2019 experience doubt? Yes, but only subsequent to their loss of the \u2018Garden of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archdiocese-of-liverpool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4901"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4902,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901\/revisions\/4902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}