Lord come save us
While in prison and upon hearing the works of Jesus, John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus with the question, “are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” All commentaries and homilies from Church Fathers I looked at, including the brief reflection in The Magnificat Advent Companion, says that John the Baptist sent his disciples for their benefit. They just could not accept that John had a weakening of faith. I think it’s possible John doubted, because it is in doubting that we seek and find truth—or it is in doubting that our Soul reaches toward Truth and the Truth finds us…and we…
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-Back! was checking my phone!
We live in a culture blessed with so much at our fingertips--where immediate satisfaction—is the norm---and we can find anything and everything in a matter of moments that supports our own limited world view. And yet, we doubt. And yet, we are impatient—but we don’t know for what. Our culture clashes with doubt and patience, but our souls, our minds, our hearts, still doubt, impatiently. Culturally, we want the certainty of John the Baptist. John, the voice calling out in the wilderness, the eater of honey and grasshoppers, cannot possibly doubt—he is harbinger. We want him to be sure because it eases our patience. There is comfort in knowing. But patience becomes an annoyance with certainty, because we want immediate gratification. Our culture of want and satisfaction brings more want and more instant satisfaction; we no longer want to be patient. It becomes an unwanted burden, not too cumbersome, but too niggling to our comfort. So we seek to know. To know more and more, but maybe not understand in the light of Truth, but only know. As we know more, patience is no longer necessary. In this manner patience is transformed into a vice. We have “it,” but “it” does not fulfill us. It leaves us always counting down to the next holiday, season, break, episode, snack, Friday—we constantly, without even knowing it, seek a respite from what we have created ourselves…and so we yearn for rest. But this is but a shadow of Patience as the true nature of patience is virtuous. Properly thought of, patience is waiting with joyful expectation of what’s to come. Not a chore. To this end doubt and patience are close friends. One says, “are you sure?” The other says, “no but we will find out!”
There is comfort in patience. In embracing the unknown. Savoring the moment. Being still. Patient. Through patience and doubt, like possibly John, we learn humility and dependence upon God. We learn that we don’t know, REALLY don’t know, and what we thought we knew wasn’t that important…we begin then to turn our doubt inward and question the things within us that should be questioned, not external things. In questioning our nature, we reinforce our humility, so that we can wait in joyful expectation for the Word to come among us as Man.
Author: Jude Harrington, Theology Dept.
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-Back! was checking my phone!
We live in a culture blessed with so much at our fingertips--where immediate satisfaction—is the norm---and we can find anything and everything in a matter of moments that supports our own limited world view. And yet, we doubt. And yet, we are impatient—but we don’t know for what. Our culture clashes with doubt and patience, but our souls, our minds, our hearts, still doubt, impatiently. Culturally, we want the certainty of John the Baptist. John, the voice calling out in the wilderness, the eater of honey and grasshoppers, cannot possibly doubt—he is harbinger. We want him to be sure because it eases our patience. There is comfort in knowing. But patience becomes an annoyance with certainty, because we want immediate gratification. Our culture of want and satisfaction brings more want and more instant satisfaction; we no longer want to be patient. It becomes an unwanted burden, not too cumbersome, but too niggling to our comfort. So we seek to know. To know more and more, but maybe not understand in the light of Truth, but only know. As we know more, patience is no longer necessary. In this manner patience is transformed into a vice. We have “it,” but “it” does not fulfill us. It leaves us always counting down to the next holiday, season, break, episode, snack, Friday—we constantly, without even knowing it, seek a respite from what we have created ourselves…and so we yearn for rest. But this is but a shadow of Patience as the true nature of patience is virtuous. Properly thought of, patience is waiting with joyful expectation of what’s to come. Not a chore. To this end doubt and patience are close friends. One says, “are you sure?” The other says, “no but we will find out!”
There is comfort in patience. In embracing the unknown. Savoring the moment. Being still. Patient. Through patience and doubt, like possibly John, we learn humility and dependence upon God. We learn that we don’t know, REALLY don’t know, and what we thought we knew wasn’t that important…we begin then to turn our doubt inward and question the things within us that should be questioned, not external things. In questioning our nature, we reinforce our humility, so that we can wait in joyful expectation for the Word to come among us as Man.
Author: Jude Harrington, Theology Dept.
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