Perhaps this happened to you when you were in school. You were taking a hard class. There was a lot of material. There were two texts and class with lecture notes. You attended class faithfully and took good notes. Generally, your experience in school was that if you went to class and took good notes, when exam time came—you’d be OK. Exam time came. You studied your notes. You skimmed the texts. You were pretty sure you’d be OK.
But you weren’t. There were a lot of questions on the exam from the reading material. You sure wished you had read the readings more carefully.
It’s That Time of Year
As the church year closes, it is that time of year when the scripture readings remind us that there is a final exam for each of us—and for the whole world. Whether you believe in God or not, whether you try to follow God’s way or not—there is an end point of assessment. That end point for each of us might be the end times described in yesterday’s first reading from Malachi or it might be the “particular judgment” which happens moments after we die. We Catholics believe both happen. In the first particular judgment, God looks at my life with me. We both see it in its reality. In the second, final judgment, everyone rises from the dead and we all can know what’s true for everybody.
With all the “wars and rumors of war,” the violence, the chaos, the bickering over what is right and what is wrong in our world today, it is a sobering thought that we might be in the “end times” Malachi and Jesus predicted.
But whether we are in THE end times or simply moving toward the end time of physical death of our own individual lives, an end time comes. Then there is a final exam.
Those are sobering thoughts Mother Church gives us this time of year. I’m not fond of them. But, IF an exam is coming, the teacher does us a favor to remind us of it, to encourage us to pay attention and study.
I and II Maccabees
First readings this week come from I and II Maccabees. They were written in Greek less than two centuries before Christ, about the same time as the book of Wisdom, which provided first readings last week. Wisdom guided the Jewish people as they were ruled once again by a foreign ruler and religion. I and II Maccabees described the historical events as the Jewish people struggled to maintain their faith in what truly must have seemed “end times” for them.
Today’s reading describes the chaos of those times. How could you know what to do? Some people said, “Let us adjust to what is required of us by the king—evil though he is.” Others said, “We have no choice. We must comply in order to survive.” Yet others “preferred to die rather than to be defined with unclean food or to profane the holy covenant.”
Guidance for Us Today
If you read posts in social media, writings on the web, or articles in Catholic publications, it can seem like we are living in I and II Maccabees. Many people SOUND very sure they know exactly what is right. But, like the situation in I Maccabees today—they speak in opposition to each other. What IS right?
What is actually going to be on God’s final exam—the one I get when I die?
Today’s Gospel
Last spring I was part of a parish retreat team. The Sunday Gospel of our retreat weekend was the story in today’s Gospel. Bartimaeus is a blind man in Jericho. As Jesus passes by, he calls out again and again, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” Jesus calls him over to talk with him. Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus replies, “Lord, let me see again.”
As our retreat team prepared for the weekend, we dug into our memories and souls to identify how we had been blind spiritually, what the effects of that blindness had been in our lives, and how Jesus had healed us to have sight. We used that as a foundation for what we did with the women who came with us for the weekend. That was a powerful experience for me: To go back and dig to see HOW BLIND I can be. To go back and see HOW God gave me the sight of understanding, repentance, and then proclamation. It was a powerful experience to see how my previous blindness and process of gaining sight could resonate with others to move them closer to God.
Putting the Readings Together for Today
It wasn’t until today, Sunday morning, that I could see to put these readings together to write this reflection. I read and prayed last week, but the chaos in the church bombarded me. I was too much in the situation of I Maccabees to have clarity enough to write. But this morning the Gospel gives me sight.
A few weeks ago, in response to confusion in the church, I began a new habit. It started with my looking for something in the catechism. I couldn’t find it. I was major distressed: what? The Catholic Church doesn’t officially teach…..—which is clearly stated in scripture? It wasn’t in the section of Life in Christ I usually go to—Section 2 on the 10 Commandments. I couldn’t find it from the index. It was perhaps my first moment ever of doubting the teaching authority of the church. I cried out to God LOUDLY—like Bartimaeus.
God heard my cry and answered me. He showed me that, yes, what I thought the church teaches she does indeed teach. Looking for something else in the catechism a day or so later, I discovered that there are 2 sections to “Life in Christ.” The first section covers “Man’s Vocation Life in the Spirit.” THERE, clearly stated as part of Catholic teaching, was what I had been looking for. This section includes how moral law is written into human nature, the beatitudes, how human freedom, as well as sin and grace, influences moral acts. It looks at all those beautiful aspects of human freedom and responsibility that St. Pope John Paul II talked about so frequently. It also includes a summary of the Compendium of Social Doctrine—our responsibilities as citizens and members of society. It looks at grace and justification. WOW!As I found this—and realized that I had NOT been reading the full text for the course in living the Christian life when I had been referencing only Section 2 of Moral Theology, I pledged to read just a page a day of this first section and ponder it. WOW again!
Prayer in Conclusion:
Lord, I recognize there is a final exam to life—whether I study for it or not. That final exam is going to be about how I have lived my Life in Christ. I need to study the notes you give me in mass homilies and popular readings like this web page. I also need to continue to study scripture. But, Lord, you have given me to see now that I must also study and live by BOTH SECTIONS of the catechism on moral life. My observation, Lord, is that I get confused by what others say because I do not know what you through the church say in this full description of a moral life. I pledge to study and try to live by both sections. Lead me, guide me, Lord, so I LIVE by ALL your teaching. Then help me “Learn to discern” as I read or hear what others say. The Holy Spirit is doubtless working through the disagreements, but the Holy Spirit, who is God, is true to God’s self. An author or speaker may emphasize Section 1 or Section 2 of Life in Christ, but, if what is said is of the Holy Spirit, it will not be in opposition to either section.
