Today’s readings highlight a familiar story. Paul, Saul at the time, getting knocked off his “high horse”…literally. It is the conversion of Saul, a devout Pharisaical Jew, into Paul, a warrior for Christ. Saul spent much of his life learning the Mosaic Law and being a Zealot for its enforcement. He was so convinced of the righteousness of his mission that he diligently persecuted Christian men and women of “The Way”. On his way to Damascus to round up another bunch of these “fanatics” and return them to Jerusalem for persecution, he was stopped in his tracks by Jesus. This story partly reminds me of the Old Testament tale of Balaam and the talking donkey from the book of Numbers. Where Balaam is on his way to curse the Israelites and the request of Balak, King of the Moabites. The donkey is stopped by an angel that only the donkey can see. When Balaam beats the donkey for stopping, and the donkey protests to Balaam, it is revealed that it is an angel blocking his way. The angel convinces Balaam of the error of his ways and instead of cursing the Israelites, he marvels at the beauty of their camps and tents, speaking this proclamation: “How beautiful are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel!” A sentiment proclaimed during the Jewish High Holidays in the song “Ma Tovu”. Balaam went on to say all who bless Israel will be blessed and all who curse them will be cursed.
Balaam’s vision on the road to Moab mirrors Saul’s encounter with Christ on the way to Damascus. A vision that lead to conversion for both Balaam and Saul. In the Gospel from Mark we hear his version of the “Great Commission”. Jesus telling His apostles, just prior to His ascension, that they are to go out into the whole world and preach the Good News to all. Those who choose to believe and be baptized will be saved. Those who refuse will be condemned. So Christ was not mincing words here. He went to great lengths to appear to Saul and to Balaam…AND his talking donkey.
And how will those who the Apostles preach to know that they are truly from Christ? They will handle venomous snakes, drink poison and live. They will heal the sick and speak in new languages. It is important here to stress that Christ was not telling us to go out and grab a rattler by the tell or down a quart of bleach to show the world that we are believers. All that will do is to leave you as a corpse with a very clean intestinal tract. These were words for His disciples who were going out on an important mission. We, instead, are told to never put our God to the test. But…we ARE told to go out and spread the Gospel message. Does that mean we are to go out on a street corner and pound out Gospel verses to anyone who will listen? Well…yes. For some. There are Catholics among us who are comfortable doing that and do a great job engaging strangers and speaking the truth of God’s word. But for most of us? Maybe not so much. But there are other ways of answering Christ’s call:
- contribute to a blog. Either writing or responding. And thank you to all of you who do just that each week at the end of my reflections.
- Volunteer at a homeless shelter, food pantry, St. Vincent de Paul store
- be ready to share your beliefs in daily conversations
- participate in small group discussions and study
- attend a retreat weekend such as CRHP or Cursillo
What might be the consequence of NOT taking the time to speak your faith? Well, I see it every few weeks when Elise and I go to synagogue services. Invariably I connect with someone at services who are in the process of, or have completed, conversion to Judaism. Often they have a background in Catholicism. It breaks my heart because I know what they once had and have now lost. Mostly because they likely were not educated in the faith sufficiently. There is no way you can learn the truth of who Jesus is and what he did for us and then turn your back on Him. I want to shake them and share with them. But, honestly, I find it hard to do so. I get conflicted between sharing the message but not offending them and the congregation. I pray that God will reveal to me how to best manage these situations.
May we ride with Saul and have our eyes open to Christ’s light. And may we ride with Balaam and listen to anyone who might be trying to share a bit of the Good News. Even if that person, like Balaam’s riding companion, is a bit of an ass.
Enjoy this version of “Ma Tovu”
How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, thy dwelling places, O Israel! As for me, in the abundance of thy loving kindness will I come into thy house: I will worship toward thy holy temple in the fear of thee. (Numbers 24:5)
Also, we have had a few episodes of the A Catholic Moment site going down in the last year or two. My concern is that you, our readers, have no way of knowing what is going on. Obviously, we have not had, thankfully, a long term outage. Bill has been very quick to get things up and running. But I wanted to offer to you that, if the site goes down and you are concerned about its status, feel free to write to me directly at this email address: drjdvm@msn.com. This is not an address I regularly monitor but will keep an eye on it if the site is down. I will try to get back to you with updates as soon as possible. I would ask that you give it a few days before writing, giving Bill a chance to get things back up and running.
