Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter(Click here for readings)
Jesus said to Nicodemus: "If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?"
Earthly Things. Not too long ago, I was eating lunch with a family of five. As we were enjoying our food, a woman came up to my friend and said, "Oh my...do you remember me?" After some time together, the woman turned and looked at my friend's children. She couldn't believe how much they had grown. She walked over to the eldest child, a girl in sixth grade, and said to her,
"Aw...[big sigh] you look so beautiful. Stand up and turn around... You know [pause] one day [pause] you could be in a sorority [grand pause with the head going up and down] and maybe even be homecoming queen. But if you don't make it [pause], it's okay. You'll be a beautiful girl, anyways."
Can you believe this? Talk about unimportant.
While this woman was speaking, I began to think of a college girl I once knew, a girl I once dated. When I asked what religion she belonged to, she said: "My religion is my sorority." That was the last date we ever had. [I wasn't very religious or patient back then, but I knew there was no future with her].
Many "earthly things" are important; some are not. Defeating world poverty is important. Defending marriage and family are important. Preventing world wars are important. Attacking domestic violence, crime rates and dropout rates are important. Sharing the faith with friends and enemies is important. There are many earthly things that are very important. As for the unimportant things, I will leave it up to you to decide.
Heavenly Things. The Lord is inviting Nicodemus to think outside the box; that is, outside earthly things. It's not easy. It requires faith, hope and love, which requires prayer and contemplation of earthly things as well as heavenly things.
Christ is inviting us to think big, bigger than we have ever thought and bigger than we have ever dared to think. And sometimes to think big requires an awesome role model, someone who has been where no other has been before.
"No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man."
Father Alfonse -- We must not forget the "obvious" feast day we celebrate today: Saint Catherine of Siena! I think she's the epitomy of "thinking out of the box" through her mysticism. She synthesizes heavenly things with earthly things so well. I recommend everyone check out her writings. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for re-inspiring me to write. I was going through a brief dry spell where I felt no motivation. (I blame it on Lenten burnout.) But, now I read your posts about how we should dive deeper into our faith, think out of the box, and shy away from the superficial aspects of our relationships with Christ as well as others. Awesome-sauce! (Like the Discover card commercial.)
I think Nicodemus is a very interesting character. You commented yesterday that you thought his questions to Jesus as childish. I think of it is this way: He was so curious about Jesus that he simply couldn't think of intelligent questions to ask. Have you ever met someone that you highly respected, or even felt intimidated by, and had a hard time formulating your thoughts? I think Nicodemus may have had the same problem. Plus, he feared his "betrayal" would be discovered by his fellow Pharisees. No way he wanted to be crucified right next to Jesus!
Blessings,
-Jennifer :)