Thursday of the First Week In Ordinary Time
1 Sam 4: 1-11; Mk 1: 40-45
Dc. Larry Brockman
You see it quite frequently, someone riding around with a Rosary hanging from their rear view mirror. Sometimes even cabbies have rosaries dangling from their rear view mirrors. I asked a cabbie with such a rosary once if he was Catholic, pointing to his rosary. He told me “no”, but said he believed that “it couldn’t hurt” and it might protect him against an accident! This poor cabbie was just putting his trust in symbols, but not having any real sense of belief in what the symbol represented.
And so it was in the story about the Israelites defeat in battle against the Philistines this morning. The words very clearly show that the Israelites summoned the Ark itself- they wanted the physical presence of the Ark there. There wasn’t any semblance of faith in what the Ark symbolized- the presence and power of Almighty God. In fact, the Philistines seem to have a better understanding of the power behind the Ark than the Israelites did. For they said “Gods have come to their camp”. This motivated the Philistines to redouble their preparation, and to make sure they were as ready as possible. Meanwhile, the Israelites whooped it up in a party, trusting that the symbol itself would carry the day. Such a dreadful mistake. Where was their respect for the God the Ark represented? How did they prepare in God’s name for the battle? By whooping it up?
Contrast all of this with the story of Faith presented in the Gospel. Lepers were isolated from society, and if they approached people, they could be severely dealt with by the authorities. But this leper violates all these taboos and takes a big risk because the leper’s faith is strong; and his attitude is very humble. He has a plan, and he boldly approaches Jesus directly. Kneeling before the Lord he says “If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Notice that his faith is strong, and he takes direct action. By contrast the Israelites faith is lukewarm, and they are content to let the symbol do all the work for them. There’s a lesson for all of us in this contrast. It isn’t enough for us to just go through the motions that our Faith demands. We need to embrace the Faith itself and take action.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am all for proudly displaying religious symbols in our homes and even on our persons. But, the symbols are there to give witness to our Faith and to remind us of our Faith. They are there to call forth our Faith, whether we are in need or not. But the Symbols themselves are powerless without the faith behind them.
One such symbol that we must carefully consider in today’s world is the Church itself. People come to Church for a variety of reasons. Do they come just to be associated with what the Church symbolizes- a religion. For example- coming to be seen; to provide a social context; to validate a life style; to fulfil an obligation or to find a safe haven.
Or do they come to worship God and to get to know him? For example, to give special time and praise to God; to seek direction in one’s life; to know more about God; to teach and foster faith to our youth; to help spread our Faith to others outside the parish and to serve others as an example of Christ’s love.
I say all this because as numerous as Christians are in this country today, we are losing ground in battle against the forces of secularism each and every day. Why? Perhaps we are lukewarm in our Faith and hoping the Church will do the work for us? But you see, the Church is us.