Charity and Knowledge

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  Though not celebrated today since it falls on a Sunday, today is the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  After Mass today, as part of your thanksgiving, maybe add a few Marian prayers like the Hail Mary, Memorare, Hail, Holy Queen, or even the Litany of Loretto to wish a happy birthday to our Blessed Mother, reigning in heaven alongside her Son.
    Our Blessed Mother is the perfect example of being rooted in charity and knowing the charity of Christ, as St. Paul wrote in our epistle today.  And St. Paul compares charity, divine love, with knowledge, saying that charity surpasses knowledge.  St. Paul says in his first epistle to the Corinthians that, “knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up.”  
    As someone who loves learning, these words can be a challenge.  And, indeed, many have rightly put an emphasis on learning the truths of the faith, so that they can be shared.  God has given us the gift of reason to understand what He has revealed through His Church, both in the Scriptures and through Sacred Tradition.  To the extent that we can understand, and then share, those truths, we can.
    But entrance into heaven does not come from having a degree in theology.  Indeed, just because we know something about God doesn’t mean that we will get to heaven.  The pharisees in today’s Gospel knew God’s law very well, at least in its external practice.  But they didn’t understand the love which undergirded that law.  Satan, for his part, knows the truths of the faith, probably better than many of us.  St. James, in his epistle, writes, “You believe that God is one.  You do well.  Even the demons believe that and tremble.”  So, as helpful as knowledge is, it cannot substitute for love.
    For those who may not be so intellectually gifted, this should be a consolation.  Not everyone can study theology, but everyone can go to heaven.  One can love God deeply without being able to explain precisely the relationships between the Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity.  And, as St. John of the Cross says, at the end of our life we will be judged, not on knowledge, but on our loves.

    Think about the Annunciation.  The Archangel Gabriel brought incredible news, that is, news that was hard to believe, that she would become the Mother of God.  First of all, Mary, though of the family of King David, had no royal training.  She was not part of palace life.  She was a young, humble virgin in a backwater town in a backwater province of the Roman Empire.  Further, and even more incredible, she was not married, so how could she conceive?  If the Virgin Mary had relied solely on her knowledge, she would have never said yes.  In fact, Zechariah, the husband of Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, seems to have only relied on this knowledge when the same Archangel Gabriel appeared to him some six months earlier, and told him and that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would conceive a great prophet who would prepare people for God “in the spirit and power of Elijah.”  But Zechariah responded from his knowledge, saying, “‘How shall I know this?  For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.’”  For his lack of acceptance, his lack of love of God, Zechariah was struck mute until he affirmed Gabriel’s message that his son should be named John.
    The love of the Blessed Mother for God and her trust in His love for her allowed her not to doubt, but to wholeheartedly respond to the plan of God, “‘May it be done to me according to your word.’”  Love filled in the gap where knowledge left off.  
    Now, love is not contrary to reason, but sometimes flies above reason.  Think of a mother whose child is threatened.  While the mother may not be the strongest woman in the world, God help the person who comes between a mother and her child!  Her love gives her a reason beyond simple knowledge that can preserve life when reason would give up in the face of such danger and such odds.  
    And, as in the Gospel, love informs the law.  Yes, God gave the Sabbath as a day of rest, where no work could be done.  But even the rabbis had known that sometimes you have to respond to special situations that cannot wait beyond the Sabbath, so they allowed people to pull out their farm animals from harm, even on the day of rest.  But, because they did not love, the Pharisees could not see how healing the man fulfilled what God intended for the Sabbath: rest, freedom, and wholeness in God.  So healing a man on the Sabbath did not violate God’s commandment, but, in love fulfilled it.  The healing was not contrary to our understanding of the Sabbath rest, but flew beyond the mere outward expression of not doing work.
    This can even apply to some laws of the Church.  Perhaps the easiest example is Friday as a day of penance.  We should, all things being equal, do some sort of penitential act on every Friday.  Traditionally, this has meant that Catholics don’t eat meat.  But let’s say a friend had a dinner and did not observe abstinence from meat.  While our understanding of the law might suggest that we simply eat nothing and be a rude guest, love understands that, from time to time, on special occasions, we might not do as much penance as usual for legitimate reasons.  Friday weddings can often be times where we set aside our penitential practices for one meal, in order to rejoice in a new sacrament of God’s love.
    We cannot simply ignore the law and claim that we don’t have to follow it because of love.  Love often undergirds just laws.  But knowledge of the law, and our understanding of the faith, has to be supported by love, or else it is a clanging gong or a crashing symbol.  Today, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, may we grow in love of God and neighbor, and so be prepared for the eternal contemplation of love in heaven, where our Lord reigns, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.  Amen. 

Love and Knowledge

Solemnity of St. Thomas Aquinas

            I remember hearing at one point that, as children are first learning to draw people, they emphasize the aspects that stick out to them.  Tall people may be the entire height of an 8½ x 11” page; someone who is really intelligent may have a really big head; if the child notices that the person has beautiful eyes, they may be out of proportion to the person’s face, and the same could be said about a smile.

            It is interesting the things that we highlight.  In classic artistic representations of St. Thomas Aquinas, our parish patron, he is depicted in his Dominican habit, usually with the black cappa, and a sun at the level of his heart.  It might seem strange to us to consider that, arguably, the greatest mind Christianity has ever known, does not have a light by his head, the bodily seat of wisdom, but near his heart, the bodily seat of the passions and of love. 

            If St. John of the Cross is true, and at the end of our lives we will be judged on our loves, then it makes perfect sense that iconographers and religious artists focus on the heart, rather than on the mind.  And while St. Thomas’ mind certainly did not hurt his cause of sanctity, one is welcomed into heaven not because of knowledge (even the demons know the precepts of the faith), but because of the love of God and love of neighbor. 

            Why did St. Thomas study and write so much?  Because he loved so much.  But love and knowledge are not two opposed avenues, but work in symphony with each other.  Those of you who are married: think back to when you met your spouse, and when you first had an inkling that the person you wed was not just any relationship, but was “the one.”  You probably had a great desire to get to know that person much better: favorite food, favorite movies, outlook on life, faith, etc.  Even those who aren’t really in love, but think they are, the young who have a crush on someone, want to know all they can about the person for whom they have fallen head-over-heels. 

            When I talk about discerning my vocation, I use the imagery of dating someone as I learned more about the Church.  The more I can to know about her, the more I fell in love with her, truly, madly, deeply in love, and wanted to spend the rest of my life with her and at her service.  I had to learn a lot in my years in seminary, but I loved it, because I could learn about her and be with her and love her. 

            Even the Biblical phrase for the greatest expression of love between a husband and wife, the height of a physical expression of love, is connected with knowledge of the other.  Knowledge and love are not two separate things, but are intimately connected and intertwined with each other. 

            Love of God and the love which flows from and gives witness to it, the love of neighbor, cannot be divorced from knowledge of God.    Both love and knowledge have to be emphasized.  Why have people stopped going to Mass?  While there are a variety of reasons, no small reason is the fact that, due to a lack of catechesis and formation, more and more people are estranged from God.  They do not know Him.  They may know about Him, but they do not know Him.  And when times become difficult, simply knowing about someone doesn’t heal the pain, doesn’t provide support, doesn’t comfort.  This is, perhaps, most true at times of death.  If people only know that there’s this guy whom others say came back from the dead, that doesn’t help.  If people know Jesus, and have experienced His love in very personal, real ways, then when death comes, as it does for us all, they can truly lean on Jesus for support, and know that His love is stronger than death, and will remain forever, even after the presence of friends and family withdraws, and the cards and the dinners, have started to decrease. 

            Now, we don’t have to be a St. Thomas Aquinas and write copious volumes of theological instruction to have that real relationship with God.  But we have to know God.  We have to know Jesus.  We have to know the Holy Spirit, not just on paper, but in real life.  We have to be as comfortable with God as we are with a spouse or a best friend.  Only that way will we be truly happy.

            This week we celebrate Catholic Schools Week, under the patronage of St. Thomas Aquinas.  He is our model, not just because he was smart, but because he knew God and loved God intensely, which gave him the motivation to write about God, and then even to realize that all that he wrote was like straw compared to the love and majesty of God.  While other public schools, especially those in our parish, can tend to the academic needs of a child, it is my firm conviction that Catholic schools, with the necessary and foundational support of parents in the home, do the best job of helping children to love God and love their neighbor.  It certainly cannot happen without the support of the first teachers of a child, his or her parents, but with that support, a child can not only learn about God, but can get to know God personally, and then share that love with others.

            In the end, that’s what this Year of Faith is all about: the pastors of the Church, from Pope Benedict XVI all the way down to me, the parochial vicar of St. Thomas Aquinas parish, want all of you to know the joy and peace of knowing and loving God.  We can’t force you to get to know and love God, any more that we can force you to truly get to know and love another person.  But we want to offer you opportunities to know God and love God, so that you, like St. Thomas Aquinas, can have that ray of light emanating from your heart out to others, that light that comes, not just from knowing about God, but from truly knowing God, and falling in love with Him, just as He knows you, and is in love with you.  Lord, help us to want nothing other than you; nothing other than you.