** This is our final Sunday Mass of Spring 2013. We will resume Sunday August 25, 2013 @ 5:00 pm ***
Acts 7:55-60 | Psalm
97 | Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20 | John 17:20-26
Bibliography: John Henry Newman, “Sermon 15, Religious Faith
Rational”, Parochial and Plain Sermons Book 1
(1891), San Francisco:
Ignatius Press, 1997. Pages 123-127.
[__01__] In this Gospel, Jesus is praying for
his disciples at the Last Supper. They are about to be sent out on mission.
[__02__] The upcoming final examinations. In order to prepare ourselves for these
examinations, we would have 2 general paths to take. And, we probably have to go down both paths…
that is… (A) Re-read the material in textbooks,
articles AND (B) re-read / review our notes.
Both are important. But,
are not using our notebook – our teacher’s guidance – as a way to know what would
be most important in the textbook, the article, the equation or experiment.
[__02__] Could we not say the same is true in any of
our spiritual decisions, our moral decisions… our relationships as well?
That is, there is information
that we learn on our own…. And there is
information that we have written down, in our notebooks, learned from others.
[__03__] I make this distinction – in the academics
of Becton, Dickinson ..and Fairleigh Dickinson as an example.
In a sermon about religious
faith, Cardinal Newman / Blessed John Henry Newman reminds us that much our
everyday – and intellectual – knowledge is based on what we learn from others.
That is, we do not
simply learn everything based on our own effort, cognition, and completion of
the syllabus. We learn also from what others tell us. We learn from what we hear from another
person.
[__04__] And,
this telling – and hearing – is the basis of the early Church, the telling of the
Good News. It remains the basis of our communion and worship today.
In this regard, Newman
preaches that religion has a rational basis. In other words, though we cannot prove the
Trinity – as a geometric proof …. Nor can we prove the Resurrection with physical
DNA … we have heard about these events – these facts from others.
We have also learned
these truths from those witnesses for whom their faith became, literally, a
conviction… a death sentence. Many martyrs have died for our faith.
Throughout our lives,
we learn to trust the the perceptions, the information which we gain from
others.
That is, have we not,
at times, put aside our own perception and information for information from
another.
Often, this acceptance
of another’s viewpoint is based on trust
and on love … and, we call this by different names … friendship, family,
marriage.
We also consider this
trust to be part of our faith and salvation. We have been told….
[__05__] The upcoming final examinations. In order to prepare ourselves for these
examinations, we would have 2 general paths to take. And, we probably have to go down both paths…
that is…
(a) Re-read the material in textbooks,
articles
And also…
(b) Re-read / review our notes.
So, also in our
spiritual decisions and moral decisions.
Cardinal Newman
considers our 5 senses to be similar to the books that we have bought or borrowed
from the library. That is, our senses –
as the books – enable us to be independent, to think, to reason, to conclude.
Newman refers to the 5
senses as “infomers” or “informants.”
The “informants” present
themselves to us as sight, sound, smell, touch, taste.
When we hear “informant”,
we may immediately think “criminal”or “confidential”.
Let’s say confidential…
A detective will use
multiple confidential informants to solve the case. And, we will also use
multiple informants (both sight and sound) to ascertain something about a
bright light or big noise.
In the absence of some
expert meteorologist to inform us… on radio/TV … our sense perception of thunder
and lightning together tell us about the storm.
Then, after gaining
this data, we might also tune in for more information, more advice.. evacuate?
[__06__] Cardinal Newman is putting in a word for
religious faith that is based both on what we can know – on our own – and what
we are told from others.
That is, our faith is
based on what we learn – intellectually – and what we are taught … and write in
our notebooks.
[__07__] This
is true in our faith and in our relationships…
We rely on our senses,
our intelligence to tell us what to do. But we also rely on others…
[__08__] Often, for advice, we turn to our
friends, our family, this is natural.
They know us, care for
us, love us.
We turn in prayer also
to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. God loves us and cares for us.
This love enables us
to trust the guidance of another.
[__09__] In such a relationship of trust, we may
hear what we do not want to hear, from an informer not currently on the
payroll.
This is also the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts, informing our consciences. Yet,
the Holy Spirit is also another person, a divine person. He is not on our
payroll.
Jesus invites us to
trust in the person of the Holy Spirit to be informed. The truth may be
inconvenient … truth about our own words, actions, attitudes.
This is an act of
trust.
[__10__] Repentance – expressing sorrow – is also an
act of trust, a an act of trust in the other person and in the Holy Spirit.
We may gain
information contrary to what our paid informers – of sight and sound – are
telling us.
[__11__] Isn’t this trust also the goal in our
relationships of family and of marriage?
That is, we want
unity, community, closeness. But, we
also want protection and love from someone with a greater vision, someone
outside of myself.
Our mothers – whom we
honor and pray for today – are also our first informers.
They are informers,
sworn to protect us, to guide us. And,
they do so not simply by passing us information or raw data.
[__12__] They protect us also by being our first
translators, our first interpreters and giving our lives meaning and
definition.
Our mothers teach us
to trust our own perceptions and to trust in God. Jesus also teaches us that God’s Holy Spirit
is in our hearts as our guide toward justice and love.
Dying and rising to new
life, Jesus also gives this trust new meaning. Our savior gives meaning to the
surrender of his life to God’s will. We
learn, for example, that the weakness of God – on the cross – is greater than
human strength.
We also learn –
through his life and death – that all human life has meaning and is precious to
God at all stages.
We cannot gather this
information solely on our own.
But, we can gain it
through God’s help, through our families… and through trust in the Holy Spirit, in every place and time.
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