The Apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while”…People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
Why did the crowd follow Jesus? What were they interested in? What did they want to hear?
The Lord saw the vast crowd; his heart was moved with pity for them. So he began to teach them. What did he begin to tell them?
Listen to me…Truly, truly I tell you, the reason why the sky is blue is because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun. This is the reason why.
Listen to me, all of you…The reason why your stomach is growling at this moment is because your digestive muscles are contracting.
Listen to me. The reason why you’re sweating so much is because it’s your body’s way of staying cool.
No. This is not what the Lord talked about or the reason why the crowds were enormous.
People do not want to know how they came to be but why they came to be. The answers to these questions go way beyond the reach of Materialistic Darwinism and the natural sciences and right into the hands of philosophy and theology.
It is these aspects of life that most interest us and continue to intrigue us and attract our attention. No wonder why scientific symposiums attract so few people. No wonder why science books do not sell as well as poetry, music and romances. They don’t even sell better than war stories!
We love the drama of human life, especially the sticky-and-gooey feely, subjective and striving type that is played out before us in real time.
So what did the Lord talk about? He spoke about life and our part in all of it; that is, our relationship with God and with His world. He spoke about what to do and what not to do; what to watch out for and what to look forward to. He spoke about how to get the most out of living and dying.
But most importantly, He revealed who God is and who we are.
His miracles were not to impress the crowd but to inform them: I know you. I love you. I am here with you. I can heal you.
The purpose of life is to love and be loved, not to survive today and die another day. The instinct to survive is just an impulse, a beat; but to love and be loved is the rhythm of a strong and steady heartbeat.
Hunting and gathering is what keeps the body in motion, but Love is what keeps us interested in going on.
Wherever the Lord went, he was accompanied by huge crowds and He did exactly what God would do: He loved them. He gave them physical and spiritual food to feed the mind, the body and the heart and the soul. There's no excuse not to love God with all your mind, with all your body, with all your heart and with all your soul.
And there's plenty enough to go around for others.
And there's plenty enough to go around for others.
When scientists declared a breakthrough in the discovering the Higgs Boson, many journalists try to create some fanfare, but the news only flickered a moment before something else took its place. Few people talk much about it now, and even fewer people seem to care that much about it. All the billions of euros devoted to constructing these massive particle accelerators, like the LHC in Switzerland, seem to amount to a few more abstractions and little else. Personally, I believe in the virtue of leaning more about the world and think the cost is worth it, but for those who see no meaning in it, these types of enterprises only look like expensive wastes of time. Denis Prager, a writer for the National Review, speaks on this issue: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/306580/god-particle-and-god-dennis-prager
ReplyDeleteFar from fostering curiosity, a faithless outlook on life closes off a person. Atheist scientists, who pore into the abstract, are living off the legacy of theists who had Truth as their absolute. Curiosity contains an element of faith. To seek the truth about the nature of the universe necessitates a belief in Truth itself, otherwise the purpose of any scientific enterprise will eventually dwindle into relativist stagnation. Without a rational faith, it's only money and power that will drive scientific studies, and those two motivators have very little patience. Little patience will respectively achieve little breakthroughs, if any at all.
Of course, I may be wrong and the Star Trek scenarios, confidently projected by the atheist science popularizers like Dawkins and Sagan, will bloom right before out eyes. If it does, I'll probably be long dead along with Sagan and Dawkins, so the accomplishment will mean little to me anyway. My faith in Christ however will mean absolutely everything. I'm not sure why those who rely exclusively on reason think it doesn't apply to them. Both their souls and the progress of science will become seriously endangered.
"The purpose of life is to love and be loved, not to survive today and die another day. The instinct to survive is just an impulse, a beat; but to love and sacrifice is the heart and steady heartbeat " This is Beautiful Father !
ReplyDeletegoing off the subject Father : I met an interesting, wise ,kind and Catholic man yesterday. He asked me on a date, then I LOL ! ( I asked him are u sure me and he respond of course ) then I said ok !
God Bless u Father Alfonse
"If I have a God I am no longer God.
ReplyDeleteHeard this last night. I guess scientists like feeling they are gods?
Cristina,
ReplyDeleteI only know you from your wonderful comments on this blog, yet I'm sure you're a terrific lady. I hope your date goes very well.
DeleteYou have made my day
;) Oh Thank you so much ! ;)
@ Anonymous God Bless you
oh by the way ! It turned out great, found out his favorite patron Saint is Joan of Arc :)
DeleteHe's a keeper!
DeleteKatie