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July 4, 2003
"Where the Head has gone, there will the body go." So says St. Paul. And so it is. Christ came to reveal to us the love of the Father, and to reveal us to ourselves. He speaks with wonderful eloquence of the the Father's love in the last supper discourse to his apostles, and even more beautifully, in His prayer for them and us. Our minds and memories should be filled and deeply influenced by both. Chapters 13 through 17 of St. John's Gospel should be read by us frequently; should, indeed, be memorized. His revelation of us to ourselves is only seemingly less obvious. "For, to which of the angels did God say 'you are my son; this day I have begotten you'?" [Hebrews 1:5] But He said it to one of us. In the Incarnation, the Word became man and dwelt among us. Our Lord Christ lives our human life. He reveals the hidden splendor of human existence. For thirty years the boy and man in Nazareth was to his neighbors indistinguishable from the other local lads. When He began his public life his neighbors were amazed. "Is this not Joseph's son?" That Jesus loved the quiet life at Nazareth is, I think, revealed by His response to His mother at Cana. When informed by her of the need for wine, He said "Woman, what is that to me or to thee? My Hour has not yet come." At first glance, the response seems rather harsh, or, at least, impolite. This cannot be true. Is it possible that He is expressing real human regret that the end of the quiet life is about to occur, the life that He loves? The water will become wine, and the wine will become blood, and the Blood will flow on the Hill of the Skull. His own people will follow Him, will want to make Him King, and will cry for His Blood. For the first time, He speaks of His "Hour." He will speak of it again, many times. of course, He sees all this. Perhaps even His Mother suspects it. His real response? He provides, it is estimated, 168 gallons of the best wine they ever tasted to people incapable of appreciating it, because their ability was dulled by the consumption of inferior stuff. Oh, indeed, in many ways, He reveals us to ourselves. Through Christ, the good wine is ever within our reach. The wretched reality of our times is that many prefer the inferior stuff. Because of the love He has for us, and because of what He had in mind when He brought us into being, He is deeply saddened by our poor taste. "How often would I have gathered your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings." He said it over Jerusalem. He said it with tears. Though saddened by our betrayal, He is not overcome by it. His purpose is to show us the glory to which we are called. So He goes His mysterious "Way," seemingly to failure, to death. Yes, to death; but really to the death of death's power over us. Life and death are engaged in mortal combat on the Hill of the Skull, and life is victorious. The brutalized Body on the Cross breaks free from death on Easter Sunday and ascends to our Father and His on the day of Ascension. The lordship of death over us is broken and with it all that leads to death: sin in all its hideous manifestations. "Where the Head has gone, there will the body go." It is not to be wondered at that the culture of death, so frequently mentioned by our Holy Father, is brought about by the rejection of Christ, our light and life. Choose LIFE. Pentecost will be our next subject.
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