17th Sunday Reflection: Where Is Truth Found?
Franciscan Reflections From The Hermitage – Where Is Truth Found? – 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time – (Luke 11:1-13)
Sanctify them in the truth; your Word is truth. (John 17:17) St Francis warned his followers not to go about the world contending about ‘words’… “When they go into the world, they shall not quarrel, nor contend with words, nor judge others… as becomes the servants of God and the followers of most holy poverty”. This is the holy poverty that saves us from imposing our will on the meaning of God’s Word.
The ‘Our Father’, is the prayer of a third of all peoples of the world, in every place, in every occasion, in times of celebration, in times of grief, and in times of uncertainty. A prayer said in virtually every language on this earth. It can be a jolt to remember that Jesus did not speak English, nor did Jesus speak Latin as the language of the invaders, the language of their oppressors. The spoken language of the Jewish people at that time and in that area was Hebrew for sacred Temple use, Aramaic for everyday use and to a lesser degree Greek as the commoner’s language of the Empire.
We all recognise the importance of language, that words and symbols are important! Words and symbols can get us really riled up, especially when it comes to liturgical words and symbols, so intimate to our relationships; they can even become a burning obstacle to community unity and peace, even between close family members.
The word ‘our’ is really demanding. It requires that we step out of the closed circle of our ‘I’ and ‘mine’. It requires that I surrender myself to communion with the other children of God, the fellowship of the human race and creation. It requires that I strip myself of all that is merely my own, of all that divides and separates. To truly experience the presence of the Sacred in another and in creation strips the shadows of their darkened fear and words, so that the unity of the sacred dance may begin. It requires that I accept the other, all others, to open my ear and our heart to them, without judgement. This requires presence and awareness for understanding to take root.
When we say the word ‘our’, we also say ‘yes’ to the living Church in which Christ gathers his family. Can I in all truth accept this when all within us craves to be better than the next; to win and to be above and beyond the other? Without the community, without others, and without my neighbour, there is no prayer.
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he gave them the disciple’s prayer, which we call the ‘Our Father’ or ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. This prayer addresses God as ‘Our Father’ in accordance with Jewish custom, directed in accord with their understanding of God as male pro-generator.
Words carry meaning and they have power, the power to unite or the power to separate! The word Abba translated as father is not a title or a word of endearment, but rather a word of power and authority, even over life and death itself. It is the traditional term used in the Jewish Liturgy and prayers and was also used as a title of honour, dignity and authority for Jewish Rabbis. In Roman Law, the father had the power of life and death over his ‘property’, his household and his children and could punish any member by execution.
The authority of religious words and symbols holds terrible inherent power. My language about God affects what I think about the holy, the divine, and creation. There is a correlation between my view, my belief, and my language, each serves and supports the other. By calling God ‘Father’, I am saying that God is like a man, including the physical and emotional properties that coincide with this image, whether positive or negative.
We are brothers and sisters with God as our common first ancestor, the pro-generator of all life. This has been renewed in Jesus the Christ who gives to us the communion with his very self to break down barriers between us and God, and the barriers we have erected between ourselves.
When I feel righteous it is easy to grandstand, ‘love the sinner, but hate the sin’. This is a judgement that injures, demeans, and ostracises others, our brothers and sisters. At the heart of Jesus’ life and ministry is the way he drew people close to him, listened to them, touched them, broke bread with them, wept with them, and treated them with dignity. It is only by our Love for each other that each and every one of us is affirmed in our intrinsic and inalienable sacred dignity. In the Love of the Beloved Community there can be no one who is more or less innocent, more or less holy, or more or less deserving redemption.
Let us ask the Lord to free our hearts of any anger, fear, bitterness, resentment, selfishness, indifference, or coldness towards others. Let us not wait for others to lead the way, a first little step is all that is required. Let the Holy Spirit, the Breath of Life, fill us with the fire of burning love, compassion, and with the river of overflowing mercy and kindness.
This is the hope of the beloved assembly and it must begin with everyday life so that when we come together as one, we will know that we are all in equal standing upon the one unshakeable ground of the Cosmic Christ.
- 19th Sunday Reflection: What Shall We Do? - August 5, 2022
- 18th Sunday Reflection: The Parable Of The Rich Fool - July 29, 2022
- 17th Sunday Reflection: Where Is Truth Found? - July 22, 2022
