Bellarmine University
“THE EYES HAVE IT:” PART 2, “Hindsight and Foresight”
Rev. Ronald Knott
March 1, 2015
His clothes became dazzling white.
Then Elijah appeared to them along
with Moses, and they were conversing
with Jesus.
MARK 9
“Imagination” Now that’s an amazing human ability. “Imagination” means “to make an image with your mind.” Your mind can look back and make an image of some past event. Likewise, your mind can look forward and make an image of some imaginary event in the future. Amazing still, is that your mind can do all of this while processing information about the here and now. Because we can look back and look forward, we can cope with the reality in front of us. Neither what we look back on, nor what we look forward to, have reality anywhere except in our minds, but being able to do that helps us know where we are in the present.
When all three of these abilities come together, the ability to “imagine” past, present and future at the same time, we experience a powerful blast of insight! Some call it an “ah, ha” experience. Others refer to it as “clicking.” Others say, “One day, it all just fell into place.” Others call it a “conversion” experience. The comics picture it as a “light bulb being turned on.” It’s that insight that comes from knowing “where you’ve been, where you are and where you are going” all at the same time. People who go through an experience like that have a glow about them. It’s almost like they give off light. If you’ve had one of those experiences, you know what I am talking about. If you’ve never had one of those experiences, I hope you will. It’s life changing!
Jesus had one of those experiences in today’s gospel story. It says that Jesus took his closest companions on a mountaintop retreat. While in intense prayer, his clothes turn white, the brightest white you can imagine. What is amazing about that is that those are the same words used about Jesus clothes in appearances after his resurrection. This is a way of telling us, Jesus got a vision of the future, a glimpse of glory and sneak preview of his life to come. While in that state, we are told that Jesus has a discussion with Elijah and Moses. Elijah and Moses helped Jesus realize where he came from, the voice from heaven and the dazzling clothes helped him to see where he was going. In this wonderful story of looking back, Mark presents Jesus as the fulfillment of every prophecy concerning the Messiah. In this wonderful story of looking forward, Mark presents the fulfillment of Jesus’ mission, not through glory, majesty and triumph over foreign nations, but through his death on a cross and, after that, resurrection from the dead.
This Lent we look back and we look forward. By looking back into scripture we get in touch with our history and we get a glimpse of our destiny. By looking into scriptures, we find out who we are today. We are God’s people. Our God has always taken care of us in the past and our God has incredible things waiting for us in the future. Because of that, we can live without worry in the present. We can wait in joyful hope. Our history is not in doubt and neither is our destiny. We are God’s people. We are earthenware jars that hold a great treasure. We are temples of the holy spirit. We are Christ’s body in the world. We are ambassadors for Christ. Knowing where we came from and knowing where he are going, we are free to “wait in joyful hope,” in full confidence, no matter what is happening to us or around us, for the eternal life promised us by our loving God.
This gospel today is not just a report of some long-ago “mountain top experience,” it is an invitation to us, an invitation to go up on our own mountain, look back over our lives and look forward to where we are headed. It is a time to “get back on the path of discipleship,” to remember where we came from and where we are going, to live deliberately, on purpose and with intention as a follower of Jesus.
Students, we have heard a lot about the weakness and sinfulness of the church these past years. It has been painful for me and you. Because of this pain, many of us may have lost our confidence, if not our way. I have tried to remind myself and remind you that just because our church leadership has made mistakes, just because many of our members have given up on the church, that does not mean we are off the hook. We, all of us, are still called to holiness. We are still called to become serious and effective disciples of Jesus. We are still called to carry on some part of Christ’s work. And, yes, we are called to heal the weaknesses of the church, rather than run from them, as if they were somebody else’s responsibility to fix. St. Paul tells us that, together, we are the Body of Christ and when one member suffers, we all suffer. He goes on to tell us that when one part of the body is sick or weak, the whole body works together to heal it.
This time of Lent, this time of looking back and looking forward, is a time to remember who we are, where we came from and where we are going! We were created out of love and, out of love, we have been redeemed. If we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, not on our sins and failures or the sins and failures of others, we can live in joyful hope, even now!
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Sunday, February 22, 2015
February 22 - 1st Sunday of Lent
Bellarmine University
“THE EYES HAVE IT:” PART 1, “Insight”
Rev. Ronald Knott
February 22, 2015
Jesus remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan.
Mark 1:12
What do you do when you are faced with an important decision? Ask the audience? Take the 50/50? Phone a friend? Do you take a poll? Flip a coin? Call Miss Cleo’s horoscope hotline? What do you do when you are faced with an important decision? Choose the least painful option, the most popular choice, the easiest route? What do you do when you have an important decision to make?
Under attack, Elijah withdrew to a cave by himself to listen to God and get clarity about what to do next. His guidance did not come out of some dramatic windstorm, thunderous earthquake or roaring fire or any other big spectacular event. His guidance came to him in a tiny whispering sound.
What do you do when you have an important decision to make? Gideon, in the Book of Judges, is more like us. When God calls him to save Israel from the incursions of Midianite terrorists, he was just an ordinary man going about his business. Feeling totally incompetent for such a big task, Gideon points out to God that he was the most insignificant son in a family of the most insignificant tribe in Israel. He asked God how could he possibly lead his people in battle against such a huge enemy. God answered him simply, “I will be with you.” Gideon was still suspicious, so he asks God for a “signs” so that he could make sure it was really God calling him to such a task. God sent a sign, but still Gideon wavered. He then asks God to send a second sign for good measure.
What do you do when you have an important decision to make? Our gospel today takes up immediately after Jesus’ baptism. Right after he came up out of the water, the clouds parted and God spoke to him saying, “You are my beloved Son. On you my favor rests” But what did that mean? Jesus immediately headed for the desert, a traditional place to go on retreat. The desert is a place unmercifully devoid of distractions, a place to hear God’s voice and get clarity. Jesus withdrew from all the noise and distractions to listen for that tiny, whispering voice that Elijah heard when he was in the desert. There he spent 40 days going over the options about what being “God’s Son” meant. Was he being called to be a liberator king? Was he being called to change the world by defying the laws of nature? Was he being called to produce amazing feats of power? All those options were tempting, but when all was said and done, when he had finished his listening, he got his answer: God’s way is not about worldly power, or changing things with supernatural tricks, its about changing minds and opening hearts, its about loving, even loving one’s enemies, its about seeing the presence of God already with us.
When he came out of the desert, Jesus preached that if people changed their hearts and open their minds they would see that they already have what they needed. A changed heart and a changed mind is the only path to a changed world. Changed people change the world. Jesus taught that if people would open their minds and hearts, they would see that they were already in heaven. Elizabeth Barrett Browning says it this way, “Earth’s crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God; but only he who sees takes off his shoes.
What do you do when you faced with an important decision? Forget what the audience says, don’t try to guess and don’t phone a friend, just shut up and listen. If you shut up and listen, God will tell you the way to go. As Isaiah put it, “A voice shall sound in your ear, should you turn this way or that, saying, “this is the way, walk in it.” God says this to Jeremiah, “I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts.” The Book of Revelation speaks of the church in heaven as people who have “his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.” What did Jesus learn in the desert? He learned that life’s secrets are “in here,” not “out there!”
I learned something a long time ago about counseling: most people already know what their answer is when they come in. All you have to do as a counselor is to cajole them into listening to their own hearts for that tiny whispering voice, the whispering voice of God. The reason they cannot hear it is because their heads and hearts are filled with noise: their own mind chatter, the manipulations and opinions of others and the noise of an “always-talking- and-never-listening world.” If their head was a radio, they would be picking up 50 station at once. With all the chatter in the air, pulling us this way and that, no wonder it is so hard for people today to make a decision and stick with it. There are so many things to choose from, so many competing voices, some are paralyzed by all of it, some refrain from choosing and some bite into all the chocolates in the box and never completely eat one.
Do you hear what I am saying today? I could have given you a talk about the geography of Palestinian deserts, I could have talked about the symbolism of 40 days and I could have compared this desert story with those of the other evangelists. I am more interested, however, in telling you what it means than what it says. What this story is trying to get across is simple: Jesus got direction for his life through intense listening and so do we. What should you do when you are faced with an important decision? Simply put, just shut up and listen for that small whispering voice, the voice of God’s speaking to your heart.
Lent is retreat time in the church. A time to slow down, cut back and listen. Forget about giving up candy bars! It would be better to spend ten minutes a day sitting in God’s presence. Learn how to empty your mind of chatter, let it be still and focus on the spirit of God living within you. Forget about giving up pizza! It would be much better to spend ten minutes a day asking God to give you the courage to listen to your self, your true self, not the self you try to project for the world. Forget about giving up Pepsis. It would be better to ask God to help you recognize what you are running from and what you are running toward and show you where you ought to run. Jesus got direction for his life through intense listening and so do we! If you are not clear about what to do with your life, Lent is for you. If you have strayed from the path you know you should walk, Lent is for you. If you want to intensify the life you are living, Lent is for you.
“THE EYES HAVE IT:” PART 1, “Insight”
Rev. Ronald Knott
February 22, 2015
Jesus remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan.
Mark 1:12
What do you do when you are faced with an important decision? Ask the audience? Take the 50/50? Phone a friend? Do you take a poll? Flip a coin? Call Miss Cleo’s horoscope hotline? What do you do when you are faced with an important decision? Choose the least painful option, the most popular choice, the easiest route? What do you do when you have an important decision to make?
Under attack, Elijah withdrew to a cave by himself to listen to God and get clarity about what to do next. His guidance did not come out of some dramatic windstorm, thunderous earthquake or roaring fire or any other big spectacular event. His guidance came to him in a tiny whispering sound.
What do you do when you have an important decision to make? Gideon, in the Book of Judges, is more like us. When God calls him to save Israel from the incursions of Midianite terrorists, he was just an ordinary man going about his business. Feeling totally incompetent for such a big task, Gideon points out to God that he was the most insignificant son in a family of the most insignificant tribe in Israel. He asked God how could he possibly lead his people in battle against such a huge enemy. God answered him simply, “I will be with you.” Gideon was still suspicious, so he asks God for a “signs” so that he could make sure it was really God calling him to such a task. God sent a sign, but still Gideon wavered. He then asks God to send a second sign for good measure.
What do you do when you have an important decision to make? Our gospel today takes up immediately after Jesus’ baptism. Right after he came up out of the water, the clouds parted and God spoke to him saying, “You are my beloved Son. On you my favor rests” But what did that mean? Jesus immediately headed for the desert, a traditional place to go on retreat. The desert is a place unmercifully devoid of distractions, a place to hear God’s voice and get clarity. Jesus withdrew from all the noise and distractions to listen for that tiny, whispering voice that Elijah heard when he was in the desert. There he spent 40 days going over the options about what being “God’s Son” meant. Was he being called to be a liberator king? Was he being called to change the world by defying the laws of nature? Was he being called to produce amazing feats of power? All those options were tempting, but when all was said and done, when he had finished his listening, he got his answer: God’s way is not about worldly power, or changing things with supernatural tricks, its about changing minds and opening hearts, its about loving, even loving one’s enemies, its about seeing the presence of God already with us.
When he came out of the desert, Jesus preached that if people changed their hearts and open their minds they would see that they already have what they needed. A changed heart and a changed mind is the only path to a changed world. Changed people change the world. Jesus taught that if people would open their minds and hearts, they would see that they were already in heaven. Elizabeth Barrett Browning says it this way, “Earth’s crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God; but only he who sees takes off his shoes.
What do you do when you faced with an important decision? Forget what the audience says, don’t try to guess and don’t phone a friend, just shut up and listen. If you shut up and listen, God will tell you the way to go. As Isaiah put it, “A voice shall sound in your ear, should you turn this way or that, saying, “this is the way, walk in it.” God says this to Jeremiah, “I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts.” The Book of Revelation speaks of the church in heaven as people who have “his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.” What did Jesus learn in the desert? He learned that life’s secrets are “in here,” not “out there!”
I learned something a long time ago about counseling: most people already know what their answer is when they come in. All you have to do as a counselor is to cajole them into listening to their own hearts for that tiny whispering voice, the whispering voice of God. The reason they cannot hear it is because their heads and hearts are filled with noise: their own mind chatter, the manipulations and opinions of others and the noise of an “always-talking- and-never-listening world.” If their head was a radio, they would be picking up 50 station at once. With all the chatter in the air, pulling us this way and that, no wonder it is so hard for people today to make a decision and stick with it. There are so many things to choose from, so many competing voices, some are paralyzed by all of it, some refrain from choosing and some bite into all the chocolates in the box and never completely eat one.
Do you hear what I am saying today? I could have given you a talk about the geography of Palestinian deserts, I could have talked about the symbolism of 40 days and I could have compared this desert story with those of the other evangelists. I am more interested, however, in telling you what it means than what it says. What this story is trying to get across is simple: Jesus got direction for his life through intense listening and so do we. What should you do when you are faced with an important decision? Simply put, just shut up and listen for that small whispering voice, the voice of God’s speaking to your heart.
Lent is retreat time in the church. A time to slow down, cut back and listen. Forget about giving up candy bars! It would be better to spend ten minutes a day sitting in God’s presence. Learn how to empty your mind of chatter, let it be still and focus on the spirit of God living within you. Forget about giving up pizza! It would be much better to spend ten minutes a day asking God to give you the courage to listen to your self, your true self, not the self you try to project for the world. Forget about giving up Pepsis. It would be better to ask God to help you recognize what you are running from and what you are running toward and show you where you ought to run. Jesus got direction for his life through intense listening and so do we! If you are not clear about what to do with your life, Lent is for you. If you have strayed from the path you know you should walk, Lent is for you. If you want to intensify the life you are living, Lent is for you.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
February 15 - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Bellarmine University
“We Do Not Think Like God”
Rev. Ronald Knott
February 15, 2015
Moved with pity, Jesus touched the leper.
Mark 1:41
I have never met a person with leprosy, but I have visited the tomb of St. Damien the Belgian leper priest of Molokai, Hawaii. However, I have known several people who have died with AIDS and who were treated like lepers. This was especially true twenty-five years ago. I was called several times to do those funerals by people I had never met, because I had the reputation of being the pastor of a church where everyone was welcomed.
Some families were so embarrassed by how their family member died that they made up some other excuse about the cause of death. Other families were so embarrassed that some members did not even attend those funeral.
The reason they asked me was the fact that I would, at least, not preach hell and damnation over their family members. I was often moved with pity, not so much that someone died – people die all the time - but that people, not only lost a loved one, but also had to go through an unnecessary and painful embarrassment because of a disease.
I am proud to say that I started the first parish fund-raiser here in Louisville, a downtown dessert festival went on for about 25 years, to assist those who were abandoned by their families.
Nazareth Home across the street was the first nursing home to invite AIDS patients in Kentucky. The ignorance surrounding AIDS has subsided, but it has not gone away. The members of the small Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka are still carrying out their gay-hating demonstrations at funerals of people who have died from complications relating to AIDS, gay victims of murder and even American servicemen.
Leprosy was the AIDS of ancient Israel. Leprosy, like all diseases back then, was seen as punishment by God for sin. The Book of Leviticus tells us how horrible the disease itself was, as well as how horrible people’s response was to it. Leprosy was not only a painful, disfiguring disease that led to the loss of extremities, one by one, over a twenty or thirty year period. Lepers were required to wear ripped clothing, to shave their heads, to cover their faces and to call out “unclean, unclean” when they saw someone coming so that people could run away from them. Lepers were required to live apart, in caves and cemeteries. Besides that, both the leper and the people around him believed it was God’s punishment for sin. So the leper not only had to suffer physical and emotional pain, but worst of all, had to endure it cut off from society and die believing that God hated him as well.
It is against this background, this history and these rules that Jesus’ words and actions stand out in bold contrast. Jesus did two things that would have been shocking in his culture: moved with pity, he touched the leper and spoke to him. Only a pariah would understand how important those two things really are. Think about it: being sick and slowly dying with no one to touch you or talk to you for years because you and everybody else believed God hated you for something you had done - maybe you didn’t even know what it was! When Jesus touched the leper and talked to the him, that in itself must have carried a healing as powerful for him as the physical healing itself. By touching him and speaking to him, Jesus reconnected this man to his dignity in God’s eyes, as well as well as his own and those watching.
The leper must have heard about the compassion of Jesus because we are told that he took the risk of approaching Jesus on his knees, instead of warning him away as was the custom.
By healing this man and many other rejects of society - the blind, the crippled and the mentally ill - Jesus taught the crowd that a disease is just a disease, a handicap is just a handicap, not some punishment from God for sin. Getting people in those days to believe these things took a miraculous physical cure. The God that Jesus embodied was a compassionate and loving Father, not some kind of super sadist god with a chip on his shoulder! In his miracles, the message of God’s love is more important than the physical cure, spiritual healing is always more important than physical healing.
What can we learn from the cure of the leper? The thing that Jesus taught us here and everywhere in the gospel is that all of us have worth, no matter what condition we are in and we will be judged by how we treat each other. Jesus did not fix every person he came upon, and neither can we, but he did teach us how to notice each other, to do what we can to reverence and respect every person, especially the weakest and most vulnerable among us, and to be the touch and voice of God himself.
The lepers of our day and time are the elderly, the mentally ill, the handicapped, the imprisoned, the diseased, foreigners, and the poor. In our society, the rich, the beautiful, the capable, the popular, the well-connected and the healthy are worshipped, while the old, the handicapped, the sick, the failures and the poor are often isolated, ignored, shunned and relegated to the margins. It is to them, especially, that Pope Francis says we must go.
One of the earliest and most enduring teachings in all the Scriptures is the teaching that “we are our brothers and sisters keepers.” That teaching is repeated in hundreds of ways throughout the Bible. St. John says, “If we say we love God and hate our neighbor, we are liars.” The whole point of the Good Samaritan story that Jesus told his disciples is that we be inspired to do the same for each other, regardless of who it is or what condition they are in. St. Paul teaches us that “the member of the body that is most hurting should get the greatest care from the other members.” Jesus told those who would hind behind pious religious duties that “it is not those who say “Lord, Lord,” but those who do the will of God.” He goes on to tell us that when it comes to our final judgment, “As long as you failed to do it for one of these least ones, you failed to do it for me.”
“We Do Not Think Like God”
Rev. Ronald Knott
February 15, 2015
Moved with pity, Jesus touched the leper.
Mark 1:41
I have never met a person with leprosy, but I have visited the tomb of St. Damien the Belgian leper priest of Molokai, Hawaii. However, I have known several people who have died with AIDS and who were treated like lepers. This was especially true twenty-five years ago. I was called several times to do those funerals by people I had never met, because I had the reputation of being the pastor of a church where everyone was welcomed.
Some families were so embarrassed by how their family member died that they made up some other excuse about the cause of death. Other families were so embarrassed that some members did not even attend those funeral.
The reason they asked me was the fact that I would, at least, not preach hell and damnation over their family members. I was often moved with pity, not so much that someone died – people die all the time - but that people, not only lost a loved one, but also had to go through an unnecessary and painful embarrassment because of a disease.
I am proud to say that I started the first parish fund-raiser here in Louisville, a downtown dessert festival went on for about 25 years, to assist those who were abandoned by their families.
Nazareth Home across the street was the first nursing home to invite AIDS patients in Kentucky. The ignorance surrounding AIDS has subsided, but it has not gone away. The members of the small Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka are still carrying out their gay-hating demonstrations at funerals of people who have died from complications relating to AIDS, gay victims of murder and even American servicemen.
Leprosy was the AIDS of ancient Israel. Leprosy, like all diseases back then, was seen as punishment by God for sin. The Book of Leviticus tells us how horrible the disease itself was, as well as how horrible people’s response was to it. Leprosy was not only a painful, disfiguring disease that led to the loss of extremities, one by one, over a twenty or thirty year period. Lepers were required to wear ripped clothing, to shave their heads, to cover their faces and to call out “unclean, unclean” when they saw someone coming so that people could run away from them. Lepers were required to live apart, in caves and cemeteries. Besides that, both the leper and the people around him believed it was God’s punishment for sin. So the leper not only had to suffer physical and emotional pain, but worst of all, had to endure it cut off from society and die believing that God hated him as well.
It is against this background, this history and these rules that Jesus’ words and actions stand out in bold contrast. Jesus did two things that would have been shocking in his culture: moved with pity, he touched the leper and spoke to him. Only a pariah would understand how important those two things really are. Think about it: being sick and slowly dying with no one to touch you or talk to you for years because you and everybody else believed God hated you for something you had done - maybe you didn’t even know what it was! When Jesus touched the leper and talked to the him, that in itself must have carried a healing as powerful for him as the physical healing itself. By touching him and speaking to him, Jesus reconnected this man to his dignity in God’s eyes, as well as well as his own and those watching.
The leper must have heard about the compassion of Jesus because we are told that he took the risk of approaching Jesus on his knees, instead of warning him away as was the custom.
By healing this man and many other rejects of society - the blind, the crippled and the mentally ill - Jesus taught the crowd that a disease is just a disease, a handicap is just a handicap, not some punishment from God for sin. Getting people in those days to believe these things took a miraculous physical cure. The God that Jesus embodied was a compassionate and loving Father, not some kind of super sadist god with a chip on his shoulder! In his miracles, the message of God’s love is more important than the physical cure, spiritual healing is always more important than physical healing.
What can we learn from the cure of the leper? The thing that Jesus taught us here and everywhere in the gospel is that all of us have worth, no matter what condition we are in and we will be judged by how we treat each other. Jesus did not fix every person he came upon, and neither can we, but he did teach us how to notice each other, to do what we can to reverence and respect every person, especially the weakest and most vulnerable among us, and to be the touch and voice of God himself.
The lepers of our day and time are the elderly, the mentally ill, the handicapped, the imprisoned, the diseased, foreigners, and the poor. In our society, the rich, the beautiful, the capable, the popular, the well-connected and the healthy are worshipped, while the old, the handicapped, the sick, the failures and the poor are often isolated, ignored, shunned and relegated to the margins. It is to them, especially, that Pope Francis says we must go.
One of the earliest and most enduring teachings in all the Scriptures is the teaching that “we are our brothers and sisters keepers.” That teaching is repeated in hundreds of ways throughout the Bible. St. John says, “If we say we love God and hate our neighbor, we are liars.” The whole point of the Good Samaritan story that Jesus told his disciples is that we be inspired to do the same for each other, regardless of who it is or what condition they are in. St. Paul teaches us that “the member of the body that is most hurting should get the greatest care from the other members.” Jesus told those who would hind behind pious religious duties that “it is not those who say “Lord, Lord,” but those who do the will of God.” He goes on to tell us that when it comes to our final judgment, “As long as you failed to do it for one of these least ones, you failed to do it for me.”
Monday, February 9, 2015
February 8 - 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
“A Time For Quiet”
Rev. Ronald Knott
February 8, 2015
Rev. Ronald Knott
Rising very early before dawn, he left and
went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Mark 1:29-39
When I was a young boy, we lived across the road from my grandparents. We simply ran back and forth all day, as if we had a home and a branch office across the road. One of the things I remember clearly is going in the front door of their house after dark, knowing they would be sitting side-by-side in the dark in their rocking chairs.
They sat down in their rocking chairs after supper and, even though the sun had gone down and it had gotten dark, they didn’t bother to turn on a lamp. They just sat there in silence, rocking. I always knew where my grandfather was sitting because I could see the red dot of his unfiltered Camel cigarette glowing in the dark. It never crossed my mind whether they thought my arrival was a nuisance or a relief from the solitude. I guess I thought I was doing them a favor barging in uninvited!
I read somewhere that couples who can enjoy their time together in silence will always stay together, but a child cannot imagine anyone actually enjoying silence.
Today we read about Jesus getting up early in the morning to go off by himself for some silent prayer. Notice some of the things it says right before he got up early, before dawn, to be by himself in silence. “Everybody was looking for him.” “The whole town was gathered at the door.” “They brought to him all who were sick or possessed.” “He cured many of the sick and drove out their demons.” After all that, it says he rests, prays for direction and then moves on to another town to minister to the people there.
This is the pace and pattern of Jesus’ ministry – frantic activity, withdrawal and rest, prayer for clarity and then back to work! We see it here and we see it again and again. In chapter six, after an especially busy time, it says that Jesus took his apostles to a deserted place to rest and pray before going back to work. “People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat!”
For many people today, this kind of silence can be downright scary. There is a term for it – sadatephobia. This “fear of silence” was relatively unheard of fifty years ago, but today psychotherapists are seeing large numbers of individuals and they believe the numbers will continue to rise in the coming decades.
Many experts believe that technology has given rise to the constant need for sound, therefore producing a greater number of people suffering from sadatephobia. For many more people, not just the young anymore, it is impossible to sit in a quiet room for even a few minutes without their phones, music, TV or the noise of traffic around them.
I have suspected for a long time now that there is, as well, a connection between the noise level of the world and the loss of our sense of the divine. Simply put, it seems to me that the world is so noisy today that even God can’t get a word in edgewise!
There is a beautiful moment in the Bible when the prophet Elijah feels God’s presence. The Scriptures say that a powerful wind tore the mountains apart, but God was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. It was the whisper of God. God doesn’t yell, he whispers. Maybe that is why we can’t hear him too well these days.
Silence, today, is looked on as odd, when in reality it may be dangerous to do without it. “We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly - spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity to renew itself and create order.” (Susan L. Taylor)
Several years ago, we dumped the idea that we need to honor the third commandment that tells us that we should stop every seventh day to rest and pray. Thinking that the whole idea of regular day of rest was outdated, thinking that we know better than God, we created the endless-loop workweek. Now we are dealing with the results of such arrogance: stress related diseases, alienation among spouses and children and the rise of the drug culture to kill the pain and to help us sleep. Thinking that the whole idea of a regular day of prayer was outdated, thinking that we can do without God’s guidance and input, we replaced regular prayer time with recreation, shopping or more work. God only knows how many Catholics skipped Mass last Sunday to get things set-up for the Super Bowl!
Is it a sin not to observe the Sabbath, not to rest and pray with the community once a week, like they used to say it is many years ago? Yes, I believe it is! Does it hurt God? Yes, but only because God loves us and it hurts us! God gave us the third commandment, not because he needs our worship and he needs rest, because we need to express our gratitude and we need to rest, because we need to listen for God’s direction in prayer before we go back into our frantic lives on Monday and because we need to spend some quiet time, on a regular basis, with our families and friends.
The world tells us that the secret to success is to do more. God tells us that the secret to success is to do less. Who are you listening to?
Rev. Ronald Knott
February 8, 2015
Rev. Ronald Knott
Rising very early before dawn, he left and
went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Mark 1:29-39
When I was a young boy, we lived across the road from my grandparents. We simply ran back and forth all day, as if we had a home and a branch office across the road. One of the things I remember clearly is going in the front door of their house after dark, knowing they would be sitting side-by-side in the dark in their rocking chairs.
They sat down in their rocking chairs after supper and, even though the sun had gone down and it had gotten dark, they didn’t bother to turn on a lamp. They just sat there in silence, rocking. I always knew where my grandfather was sitting because I could see the red dot of his unfiltered Camel cigarette glowing in the dark. It never crossed my mind whether they thought my arrival was a nuisance or a relief from the solitude. I guess I thought I was doing them a favor barging in uninvited!
I read somewhere that couples who can enjoy their time together in silence will always stay together, but a child cannot imagine anyone actually enjoying silence.
Today we read about Jesus getting up early in the morning to go off by himself for some silent prayer. Notice some of the things it says right before he got up early, before dawn, to be by himself in silence. “Everybody was looking for him.” “The whole town was gathered at the door.” “They brought to him all who were sick or possessed.” “He cured many of the sick and drove out their demons.” After all that, it says he rests, prays for direction and then moves on to another town to minister to the people there.
This is the pace and pattern of Jesus’ ministry – frantic activity, withdrawal and rest, prayer for clarity and then back to work! We see it here and we see it again and again. In chapter six, after an especially busy time, it says that Jesus took his apostles to a deserted place to rest and pray before going back to work. “People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat!”
For many people today, this kind of silence can be downright scary. There is a term for it – sadatephobia. This “fear of silence” was relatively unheard of fifty years ago, but today psychotherapists are seeing large numbers of individuals and they believe the numbers will continue to rise in the coming decades.
Many experts believe that technology has given rise to the constant need for sound, therefore producing a greater number of people suffering from sadatephobia. For many more people, not just the young anymore, it is impossible to sit in a quiet room for even a few minutes without their phones, music, TV or the noise of traffic around them.
I have suspected for a long time now that there is, as well, a connection between the noise level of the world and the loss of our sense of the divine. Simply put, it seems to me that the world is so noisy today that even God can’t get a word in edgewise!
There is a beautiful moment in the Bible when the prophet Elijah feels God’s presence. The Scriptures say that a powerful wind tore the mountains apart, but God was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. It was the whisper of God. God doesn’t yell, he whispers. Maybe that is why we can’t hear him too well these days.
Silence, today, is looked on as odd, when in reality it may be dangerous to do without it. “We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly - spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity to renew itself and create order.” (Susan L. Taylor)
Several years ago, we dumped the idea that we need to honor the third commandment that tells us that we should stop every seventh day to rest and pray. Thinking that the whole idea of regular day of rest was outdated, thinking that we know better than God, we created the endless-loop workweek. Now we are dealing with the results of such arrogance: stress related diseases, alienation among spouses and children and the rise of the drug culture to kill the pain and to help us sleep. Thinking that the whole idea of a regular day of prayer was outdated, thinking that we can do without God’s guidance and input, we replaced regular prayer time with recreation, shopping or more work. God only knows how many Catholics skipped Mass last Sunday to get things set-up for the Super Bowl!
Is it a sin not to observe the Sabbath, not to rest and pray with the community once a week, like they used to say it is many years ago? Yes, I believe it is! Does it hurt God? Yes, but only because God loves us and it hurts us! God gave us the third commandment, not because he needs our worship and he needs rest, because we need to express our gratitude and we need to rest, because we need to listen for God’s direction in prayer before we go back into our frantic lives on Monday and because we need to spend some quiet time, on a regular basis, with our families and friends.
The world tells us that the secret to success is to do more. God tells us that the secret to success is to do less. Who are you listening to?
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
February 1 - 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
A Convincing Voice
Rev. Ronald Knott
February 1, 2015
He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
One of the hardest, and most valuable, lessons I learned as a pastor was one I learned from one of my associate pastors. It’s embarrassing to talk about. When I arrived at the Cathedral in Louisville to be its pastor in 1983, I had already been pastor of three small churches – so small in fact that I could remember what I was supposed to do without even looking at a calendar or do much planning. I could wing it most of the time and get by!
At Cathedral staff meetings, I would enter the meeting with an empty yellow pad and my associate would enter with hand-outs. I was disorganized and he was super-prepared. I was getting madder by the week until one day it hit me. I had power and he had authority. I was pastor in name and he was pastor in fact! I realized at that point that I had two choices. I could either kill him or get my act together and become pastor, not only in name, but also in fact. It became painfully obvious that the problem was not his strength, but my weakness.
I was reminded of this situation when I read today’s gospel. Jesus was a teacher in fact, while the scribes were teachers in name. When Jesus taught, people listened because he was believable. What he said rang true with them. When the scribes taught, people did not listen because what they said seemed so cold and impersonal and abstract. It did not ring true with the people.
This whole contrast between Jesus and the scribes reminds me of our wonderful new Pope, Francis. When he teaches, his words have “authority.” What makes Pope Francis so popular with ordinary people (even non-Catholics), and so threatening to those overly invested in the status quo, is that people find what he says rings true! Like Jesus, who moved among the common folk rather hiding behind titles, positions, robes and rules like the scribes, he asks us to become who we say we are, he calls us to leave our comfort zones and get out among the people on the margins of society. He asks us to leave our self-righteous certainty and radically trust God. If we don’t, he says we become “abstract ideologists,” “fundamentalists,” “little monsters that gives him goose-bumps.” “rigorists locked up in small things,” “bureaucrats and government officials” and “people who connect the proclamation of the gospel with inquisitional blows of condemnation.” Pope Francis is calling us to be authentic priests, deacons, sisters and faithful lay people – not some caricature of those high callings.
He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
I am worried about Pope Francis. If I remember correctly the scribes were part of an establishment coalition, who had a lot to lose, committed to having Jesus killed. The scribes were religious leaders in name. Jesus was a religious leader in fact. Prophets are not killed because they lie. They are killed because they tell the truth.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says there are two sacraments directed at the salvation of others: holy orders and marriage. In other words, there are two kinds of “spiritual leaders” in the Church: bishops, priests and deacons, as well as married couples. Yes, married couples are “spiritual leaders” too! Priests, like me, are “spiritual leaders” of the people entrusted to them by the bishop. Married couples are “spiritual leaders” of their spouses and their children. Just as I am responsible to lead you spiritually when I preach and preside at Mass, when you get married you will be responsible to lead your spouse and your children spiritually.
Neither you, nor I, can give what we do not have! If I do not practice what I preach, I cannot hope to inspire you to grow spiritually. You can, no doubt, tell if I am a phony and a fraud and practice what I preach! Just so, when you are married, you will not be able to inspire your spouse or your children if you are not a credible example of what you expect them to do and be like!
Just being a “priest” or “spouse” or “parent” as a noun is not enough! We have to be able to “priest,” “spouse” and “parent” as a verb!
Rev. Ronald Knott
February 1, 2015
He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
One of the hardest, and most valuable, lessons I learned as a pastor was one I learned from one of my associate pastors. It’s embarrassing to talk about. When I arrived at the Cathedral in Louisville to be its pastor in 1983, I had already been pastor of three small churches – so small in fact that I could remember what I was supposed to do without even looking at a calendar or do much planning. I could wing it most of the time and get by!
At Cathedral staff meetings, I would enter the meeting with an empty yellow pad and my associate would enter with hand-outs. I was disorganized and he was super-prepared. I was getting madder by the week until one day it hit me. I had power and he had authority. I was pastor in name and he was pastor in fact! I realized at that point that I had two choices. I could either kill him or get my act together and become pastor, not only in name, but also in fact. It became painfully obvious that the problem was not his strength, but my weakness.
I was reminded of this situation when I read today’s gospel. Jesus was a teacher in fact, while the scribes were teachers in name. When Jesus taught, people listened because he was believable. What he said rang true with them. When the scribes taught, people did not listen because what they said seemed so cold and impersonal and abstract. It did not ring true with the people.
This whole contrast between Jesus and the scribes reminds me of our wonderful new Pope, Francis. When he teaches, his words have “authority.” What makes Pope Francis so popular with ordinary people (even non-Catholics), and so threatening to those overly invested in the status quo, is that people find what he says rings true! Like Jesus, who moved among the common folk rather hiding behind titles, positions, robes and rules like the scribes, he asks us to become who we say we are, he calls us to leave our comfort zones and get out among the people on the margins of society. He asks us to leave our self-righteous certainty and radically trust God. If we don’t, he says we become “abstract ideologists,” “fundamentalists,” “little monsters that gives him goose-bumps.” “rigorists locked up in small things,” “bureaucrats and government officials” and “people who connect the proclamation of the gospel with inquisitional blows of condemnation.” Pope Francis is calling us to be authentic priests, deacons, sisters and faithful lay people – not some caricature of those high callings.
He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
I am worried about Pope Francis. If I remember correctly the scribes were part of an establishment coalition, who had a lot to lose, committed to having Jesus killed. The scribes were religious leaders in name. Jesus was a religious leader in fact. Prophets are not killed because they lie. They are killed because they tell the truth.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says there are two sacraments directed at the salvation of others: holy orders and marriage. In other words, there are two kinds of “spiritual leaders” in the Church: bishops, priests and deacons, as well as married couples. Yes, married couples are “spiritual leaders” too! Priests, like me, are “spiritual leaders” of the people entrusted to them by the bishop. Married couples are “spiritual leaders” of their spouses and their children. Just as I am responsible to lead you spiritually when I preach and preside at Mass, when you get married you will be responsible to lead your spouse and your children spiritually.
Neither you, nor I, can give what we do not have! If I do not practice what I preach, I cannot hope to inspire you to grow spiritually. You can, no doubt, tell if I am a phony and a fraud and practice what I preach! Just so, when you are married, you will not be able to inspire your spouse or your children if you are not a credible example of what you expect them to do and be like!
Just being a “priest” or “spouse” or “parent” as a noun is not enough! We have to be able to “priest,” “spouse” and “parent” as a verb!
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