Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Another way

Have you ever met some one that, throughout your encounter with them, there is something in the back of your mind, something on your heart, that is telling you there is something different about this person. Not because they're wearing a shirt that says "It's what's on the inside that counts" and has a picture of a twinkie on it, and they just seem generally awkward in whatever conversation you may be having with them. Not that kind of different. But, a different that causes you a certain peace within your heart. A different that calls you to look inside yourself and see the type of person you are. A different that calls you to transformation and conversion. A different that brings you to another way.

There have been a number of people in my life that I can think of that fit this bill. Whether it was in the first encounter I had with them, or in the relationship that continued after, their influence and their heart called me to something more. I may not have realized it at that particular moment, but i certainly can recall it later. This in a way reminds me of what people have said about Mother Theresa or Pope John Paul II after they have met them. I've heard a few people mention their encounters with these incredible human beings, and what they all mention is the gaze they had when talking to them. They said these two looked at you with such a gaze that it made you feel like you were the most important person in the world to them at that moment in time. WOW! What a gift!?!?! For all the people that those two met day in and day out, for them to look at you as if you were THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE WORLD to them... Wow! Of course hearts would be changed with this!

I bring this up because this was my meditation when thinking about the Epiphany! These three wise men, they traveled so far, following a star with great faith, to find themselves before God made man in Jesus Christ. There they worshiped and adored Him and encountered someone that will change their life forever! And after giving the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords their humble gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they traveled back to the land from which they had come. But the thing that really caught me was in the scriptures where it says "they departed for their country by another way." (Matthew 2: 12). Certainly this was because God warned them in a dream about Herod, so they left in a different way, but still, they went another way after their encounter with Christ...

Then I started realizing that this was what an encounter with Jesus Christ called for... "another way". You look at all the encounters with Jesus Christ in the Gospels and you realize that every encounter He had, the other person, or persons, was called to "another way". Think about it. Ever since the Incarnation of Christ, every one of His encounters calls the other to another way. He called Mary to another way when the Angel Gabriel declared to her that she was to bear the Son of God. Her fiat led her along this different way. He called Joseph to another way in again Gabriel's proclamation in his dream. Joseph was thinking of divorcing Mary quietly to avoid the scandals that would come with her pregnancy, but he went another way because of his encounter with Christ. The Magi, visiting Jesus, as I mentioned before, left by another way. I'm sure the shepherds, when they returned to their home from visiting the Christ child as they were "praising God for all they had heard and seen" started to see life in another way. I'm sure that Simeon and Anna in the temple at Jesus' presentation began to worship in another way after their encounter with Jesus. No doubt the preaching of John the Baptist began another way after he had baptized his own savior and messiah Jesus in the Jordan.

What about the call of the Apostles? Approaching Simon and Andrew in their boats, along with James and John, to become fishers of men. Simon recognized this when he mentions to Jesus "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." Yet, Jesus insisted, and they left everything and followed him on another way. Or Matthew, a tax collector, called from his post to follow Christ on this way. The man who was full of leprosy. From one encounter with Jesus Christ, he was made clean, and no doubt his life was lived in another way. There were plenty of others who for sure were called to another way from their encounter with Jesus. Nicodemus the Pharisee, Levi the tax collector, the Samaritan woman at the well, Martha and Mary and Lazarus, the woman caught in adultery, Zacchaeus the short tax collector, the man born blind, the centurion and his servant, the man with a withered hand, the mute person, the 5,000 or 4,000 he fed with loaves and fish, and the list goes on and on and on... No doubt each of these individuals and groups of people, after encountering Jesus, continued on another way.

What would these encounters have been like? To meet a man who "did all things well", who "felt pity" on many, who inspired faith with the way He loved. What would each of these encounters look like? For me in particular I think of the encounter of the woman caught in adultery, one of my favorite encounters with Christ. This woman, caught in the VERY ACT OF ADULTERY by the scribes and Pharisees, the very leaders of their faith, was brought before the man Jesus Christ, the one who taught with such authority, who loved with such compassion, the one who did miraculous, unexplainable things, God made man... She was thrown on the ground before Him... Certainly tears streaming from her eyes... Hearing the Pharisees explain that through the law of Moses, she should be stoned to death. Who even knows. Maybe this was the first time she had even committed adultery, maybe it was one of many, and yet, she finds herself, before Jesus Christ, on the verge of death in her shame... No doubt she knew that Jesus was a righteous man and knew the law very well! Maybe she even knew the law of Moses and understood that she would be condemned to death if she were caught. She was probably expecting Him to agree along with the Pharisees. Yet, when He was pushed to respond, He straightens up and says "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."... And slowly, one by one, all the Pharisees and scribes, starting with the elders, went away till she was there, on the ground, in the dirt, left alone with God Himself in Jesus Christ. A moment went by. How long this moment must have felt for this woman on the ground... Feeling fear, shame, despair, in the face of death before all these people to a feeling of wonderment, forgiveness, mercy, compassion, understanding... Then, Jesus straightened up, and what gets me is I just imagine Him lifting His head to look at her, and catching her eyes with this gaze of love, compassion, mercy, this look as if she is the most important person in the world to Him at that moment and He says "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?". To which she replies "No one, sir." And the Incarnate Word, God made man, Jesus Christ, the only one on this whole earth who truly knows this woman, who truly knows her heart and her intentions, and her desire to be loved and feel lovely, the only one who could truly condemn her for He truly knows her actions and knows her intentions, this one says: "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more." Try to tell me, that after this encounter, this woman left living her life the same way she did before... THERE IS NO WAY!!! She most certainly continued on another way! A way in which she knew the love God had for her, the mercy in His heart, and the beauty that she has in being his creation. She no doubt went on another way. She was transformed at that moment, or maybe a little later, because of her encounter with Christ.

This is what an encounter with Christ calls for. Conversion... Transformation... Questioning in your heart who you are and what you were created for. A calling to another way. There were some who encountered Christ, but from the hardness of their hearts, they did not allow themselves to meet the true person that is Christ and the relationship that was waiting for them. There was the rich man who asks Jesus "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" to which Christ replies "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments:..." and He goes on to share some of them. Yet, the rich man replies "Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth." And the scripture continues; "Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, 'You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.' At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions." This rich young man was too concerned about what he had to "do" to inherit eternal life. He was not willing to recognize the person that is God. He was more interested in doing what he had to in order to get what he wanted. That is why, I believe Jesus tested him in saying "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone." He was testing him to see if he truly knew the person that Jesus was. And Christ looked at him, His very look was an act of love, as it says "Jesus, looking at him, loved him..." And out of this love, He called this man to conversion, to give up his relationship with his things and enter into a relationship with Him. But this man could not do it. He didn't understand the power of relationship. He especially did not understand what it meant to BE in relationship with God, for he could not DO anything to achieve that. So he left, face fallen, sad... The same way he came...

Still there were others... What about the number of Pharisees and scribes and elders who were too set in their ways and who held hardened hearts of pride, that kept them from recognizing the divinity in the humanity of Jesus Christ? They were too concerned with the laws of God and the prophecies of God and their knowledge of God to understand the importance of RELATIONSHIP with God. So there was no conversion from their encounters with God in Jesus Christ, for there was no relationship, only competition. Their way remained the same.

Or, how about the many disciples, who after hearing the Bread of Life discourse from Jesus Christ Himself, decided to "return to their former way of life and no longer accompany" Christ? This large group, (who knows how many? The Gospel of John just mentions "many of his disciples", but you could imagine it being a big group) who devoted their life to be a "disciple" of Christ and follow Him and His way, could not handle the idea of having a relationship with God so great that they would even consume Him in the most intimate of ways through the Eucharist. They could not comprehend that He truly meant that and truly called them to that. That was calling for faith far greater than they could handle. So, what did they do? They returned to their "former way"...

Some people, you question why they don't believe in God... Why they feel so alone... Why they are so discouraged and live in such despair... Why they continue living a life of sin despite KNOWING this way is self-destructive... Why they can not seem to love others but live with such hate and rage in their hearts... Why they live for the things of this world and feel unfulfilled if they do not have their "things"... Have they not met Christ? Maybe, at some point, they did meet Jesus Christ along their way, but because of their experiences of hate and anything but love, they cannot recognize Him, for they know not love. Or maybe they weren't called to a relationship with a loving Christ, but instead felt called to follow a taskmaster who wanted us to do "what was right" rather than live in His love. Or maybe they, out of such discouragement and despair in their hearts, felt they could not live a life that another way was calling them to, that they weren't good enough or strong enough, or smart enough, or loving enough, that they weren't worth it. Whatever it is... They continue living their way instead of another way towards Christ. And I believe, in some way, that is because they did not truly meet the PERSON of JESUS CHRIST.

Encountering the person of God calls for living another way. There are many people in this life who meet this. Who find the person of Christ in some way, and understand the call to another way, and despite the difficulties that they could see accompanying it, (whether that be giving up what you don't want to give up, or following despite the strong desire to live as you've always known, or the large demands of faith it will undoubtedly call you to) continue to follow this different way. These people meet the PERSON of CHRIST and allow His GAZE to look into their hearts and confirm in them not only their weakness, but more importantly their overwhelming GOOD, and recognize that along with all the weakness and all the good, HE STILL LONGS TO BE IN RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM, and they allow God to love them in this way. And those people go on to personify Jesus Christ to the world, like Mother Theresa and Pope John Paul II, and the many saints before them, and still the many saints we meet in this life who look into our eyes, and for that moment, it is as if it is no longer that person who is looking at us but the person of Christ Himself. And they call us to relationship not with them necessarily, but to relationship with our Creator, our Redeemer, our Comforter, our GOD, JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF. They call us to live another way. And our lives are changed forever...

My prayer for you and for me is that we can be people of another way. That we can meet the person of Jesus Christ, and feel the call to live another way, and fulfill that call to live another way despite our weakness and because of our good, and then become people so transformed through our conversion from the person of Christ that we become people who look into the eyes of every human being we encounter, and they no longer see our gaze looking back at them, but the GAZE OF JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF...

Let us all live in this way. So that there may be no one on this earth who could claim that they have not met the person of Jesus Christ. So that every human being created may live in another way.

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