Elise and I recently purchased a vacation home in North Central Pennsylvania in a little town called Mainesburg. The Closest decent sized town near us is Mansfield, as well as Williamsport (home of the Little League World Series). We lived in the area back in the 80s after graduating from veterinary school. We fell in love with the place but ended up moving back to the Chicago area after the kids were born so that they could be near family. We had always said we were going to move back when the children were older. Elise developed deep roots in the Chicago area so moving completely is not yet in the plans.
As part of the move, we needed to find places of worship. This was not too difficult in terms of finding a Catholic Church but finding a synagogue was a challenge. After striking out in the nearby town of Elmira, NY we turned our sites on Williamsport and found a Reform Congregation. They were very friendly and welcoming to the point of inviting us to a summer pool party held by one of the congregants. At the party we met a gentleman named William Dever. He was in his 80s and was apparently an expert on Israeli archaeology. He explained that he was ordained as a Christian preacher at 17 and had a congregation for 13 years. He studied theology at Harvard and continued there studying Old Testament theology. He became disillusioned by what he saw as the fiction of the Old Testament and switched to archaeology spending much of his time in Israel. His time there, and the fact that he married a Jewish woman, led to his conversion to Judaism even though he does not practice the faith.
Fast forward one week later and I am preparing for this reflection. So I google for individuals who had lost their faith as a direct or indirect consequence of their study at the university level on matters of God…mainly theology. And lo and behold who was highlighted in one of the articles I found? None other that William Dever. A man I had no concept of just a week earlier. There are no coincidences. Dever, and the others interviewed for the article, had relinquished their belief in God or Christ after immersing themselves in the scholarly world of university religious studies. It is as if the more they dove into religion as primarily a pursuit of knowledge, the more their faith, their trust in something beyond intellectual understanding, faded.
Today’s first reading from 1st Corinthians Paul tells the followers in Corinth that God chose those who were not wise, powerful, rich or noble in order to shame those who were. So that none could boast in themselves. Only boast in the Lord. Now I am not sure I would have been flattered by Paul’s word if I had been one of the early Corinthians that he was addressing. I mean basically he was saying “you guys are great because you lack intelligence, power and nobility.” Ummm…thanks Paul? What Paul was telling them was that it is not their intellect or power that makes them believers. They possess none of the qualities that people were admired for then and now. But their lives were changed in ways that the rich and noble could not even imagine.
Jesus tells us a in Matthew, Chapter 18: 1-5:
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Or how about the case of Saint José Sánchez del Río. He was a child in early 20th century Mexico when Catholics were being killed if they tried to practice their faith. Out of the persecution grew an army of rebels who fought to regain their religious freedom. José Sánchez del Río was a young boy who fought with the resistance and was captured by the Mexican army. He was told to renounce his faith or die. His response? “Viva Cristo Rey!” Long live Christ the King. As a result, he was martyred for his faith. You can see his story in the movie “For Greater Glory”
José Sánchez del Río was not a scholar. Not a university theologian. He was a boy who knew the Lord in a way that books could not teach. Now this is not to say becoming learned in Scripture, or Church history or the writings of theologians is a bad thing. By no means…as St. Paul would say. We are all encouraged to read scripture daily and to discuss it in study groups. And read good Catholic and other Christian books. But in the end there is a potential gap between understanding the Gospel and accepting it. To make understanding as the end goal in study would be like practicing shooting free throws all day long and never playing in a basketball game. Study is a means to an end…not the end in of itself.
At some point in our lives we either open our hearts to receive the Spirit and use our study to grow closer to the Lord…or we don’t. We cannot learn to believe in God. It is a gift from God that we either are open to accept or we deny.
“Faith is building on what you know is here so you can reach what you know is there.” Cullen Hightower
I would like to close by recognizing today’s Saint. Saint Monica of Hippo. Monica was the Mother of perhaps the greatest Catholic theologian in history. St. Augustine. Augustine was a student of theology and philosophy who had also sunk to great levels of depravity in his early years. Much to the dismay of his Mother. After much pleading with Augustine to change his life and turn to God, she was advised by St. Ambrose (who eventually helped turn Augustine to God) to “talk less to Augustine about God and more to God about Augustine”. It was Augustine who said our hearts are restless until they rest in God. He also had this quote that speaks to our topic in today’s reflection:
“Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.”
