Bone of my Bones & Flesh of my Flesh

Genesis 2: 23a reads, " This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." Right off the bat we think this means woman man made of the same material as man. She was taken from his rib, so naturally she is made of the same "stuff" he is made of. Brueggemann of the Eden Thological Seminary in an article entitled, "Of the Same Flesh and Bone" points out that that Flesh from the root "bsr" has a physical meaning and a psychological connotation of frailty. Bone has a similar psychological connotation of power. So putting the words flesh and bone together meant for the ancient Israelites the entire range of weakness and strength. To be "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" indicates a kind of binding to another person such that there is a covenant relationship of fidelity through thick and thin. Marriage is a binding gift of self as a "helper" to your spouse in unfailing loyalty through every trial and triumph of life. "This one at last..."

Gossip

In the 5th chapter of Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, Paul who is wary about the seemingly eminent coming of Christ, exhorts the people to be vigilant, to be children of the day, to be awake and not asleep at the hour that Christ comes. But after these instructions he says, "therefore encourage one another and build each other up, as you are doing." 

Words are important. Paul realizes words of encouragement will help the Thessalonian community to live in vigilance until Christ came. These words of affirmation are life-giving and up-lifting. They are the kind of words that we need to give to each other in order to help each other best live out our Christian mission. 

But words can also bring a kind of death. Gossip. There is a huge question we should consider: When we are talking about other people what is acceptable and good and what is gossip? Fr. John Malign O.P.  in his homily today clarified that words about another person can be true or not true and helpful or not helpful. You should always avoid spreading any words about someone that are not true. This would be slander and lying. But just because something is true about someone does not mean it should be shared to the world. Just because Tim made a dumb comment in class does not mean that your friends at lunch need to hear about it. Unless what you are saying about another person is helpful, it should not be shared at all. The words you say about others should be helpful to the person you are talking about, helpful to the person you are talking to, and helpful to yourself. If not, you are spreading negative things about a person and unnecessarily reducing their reputation. There is no need for this use of words. Speak the truth in ways that are helpful, not harmful. Then you can be one of those who follows the advice of Paul to "build each other up."  

Social Justice and Public Policy

Today I met with Tom Malloy, a policy advisor at the DSD of the JPHD at the USCCB. I learned some really key things about American poverty and the government's role in eradicating it.

1) The government has a moral obligation to uphold the dignity of the human person. This means that the government is responsible for policy that promotes families and individuals and builds for them an environment where they are able to provide for themselves and their families.

2) The poverty rate would be increased about 45% if it were not for Government Aid

3) Government is responsible for Social Justice, creating just systems under which people can find fair work, decent housing, educational opportunities, and sufficient food. The Government also has the unique capability and money to provide charitable services to large populations in ways that could not be accomplished by the private sector alone. This is evidenced in the fact that even with government access now, a whopping 46 million americans are still in poverty. If private social services and nonprofits could reduce that number, they would do so now. The fact is they do not have the resources. Government absence from social service would lead to an increase of the poverty rate from 15% of America to something more like 25% of America.

Faith in Creation and Evolution

I recently heard a man on the metro say, "And those Catholics, man. Evolution happened. You can't deny it." Since the age of Darwin there has been a conflict between creation and evolution in which the two are often considered mutually exclusive. But they need not be.

Pope Benedict calls evolution and creation "complementary realities"(Benedict, 50). The former explains how man came to be while the latter explains what man is. Evolution explains the exterior formation of the species while creation explains the interior origin of a child of God.

Many scientists today believe in evolution and divine creation. I'm no scientist but the world did not need to form as it did. According to the laws of physics, the mathematical probability of any life coming to exist is very close to zero. Even less likely is the probability of that life evolving into humanity.

Additionally, evolution occurs when an error in reproduction causes a defect in the species. If this defect proves advantageous, it is sustained in future generations. Our existence, therefore,  as evolved animals is a result of genetic defects.

But do we really have the nerve to say that all of humanity in its intricateness has no creative Reason behinds its existence. We are not the product of some random error! Rather "the human being is indeed a divine project, which only the creating intelligence was strong and great and audacious enough to conceive of"(56-57). Our existence only makes sense in light of One who was smart enough and artful enough to create such an exquisite creation.

"I did not have to exist but I do exist and you, O God, wanted me to exist" (53).

Benedict XVI. 'In the Beginning...'. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990.



 

Being Seen

Recently I've been fixated on the idea of being seen.

I know that there is a desire in human nature to be seen, a longing in every human heart to be known, to be understood, to be loved. But what does it really mean to be seen, beyond the visual sensation?  

True vision sees your truest and best self, beyond your faults, as God created you. True vision sees beyond fault - beyond sin, shame, or insecurity. It does not deny that your faults exist, nor that they are a integral part of developing your person. But, it brings out the goodness in you. For example, I've noticed that when you truly love or admire someone you speak about them in a way that brings out the best in them. For instance, some of my friends are huge Kobe Bryant fans. They rave about his incredible agility, his unrelenting motivation, his unbelievable shots. They would never start a conversation about Kobe with his tendency to hog the ball because they are too caught up in his superior basketball swag. While I wouldn't say they fully "see" Kobe, their fascination with him fosters an admiration necessary for true vision. When you truly “see” someone you are so caught up in the goodness of someone that their faults seem insignificant.

When you truly see someones goodness, you desire for them to attain their goodness more fully.When my dad looks at me, sometimes he pauses and smiles. At that moment, I know he’s “seeing” me. He sees the best of me and desires that best for me. He wants for me to be the best me I can be. He “sees” and desires for me to be “the best version of myself” as Matthew Kelly puts it. In the sentiment of JPII, a "seer" would want you to “Become who you are.” In other words someone who sees yo desires you to embrace the totality of the greatness for which you were created, to assume the unblemishedness of your true self, untained by sin, made for heaven- as St. Araneaus says – "man fully alive."  Attainment of your truest self is the deepest desire of the one who sees you.

I would liken this idea of seeing someone to Aristotle's idea of true friendship. Aristotle writes that true friends desire happiness for each other. They are not friendships of utility, desired for usefulness or personal gain; they are not friendships of pleasure, desired for one's own enjoyment, for laughs or to make you feel good about yourself. Friendship proper, however, is characterized by mutual love and selflessness, authentic desire that the other would attain the end for which they were made, happiness. For Aristotle, humanity's happiness is the proper used of reason in pursuit of virtue, pursuing your best self. And if Aristotle had been a 21st century Christian, I bet he's liken his life of happiness to St. Arraneus' "man fully alive," Matthew Kelly's "best version of yourself," and JPII's "who you are." The desire of the friend who truly loves you is for yo to be fully happy, fully alive, fully yourself.

That’s why I think to see someone is one of the deepest forms of intimacy possible for two human people. It is to see them as God sees them, to gaze on them with the eyes of God. Love enables you to see the invaluable uniqueness of a person, the wondrous way that person has been created, and the irrepeatable way that person brings the image of God into the world. And upon encountering that person in the beauty they are created, one cannot help but desire for them to embrace this image of God within them more fully. 

God is the perfect "seer."  He’s the only one who fully totally knows who you were created to be... because duh he created you!  For he “formed you in the womb,” and “before you were born he consecrated you.” He brought you to life and breathed his precious Spirit and life into you. He knows everything about you, and sees right through you. And you best believe that His most burning desire is your embrace of who he made you to be, ultimately union with him.

It think it is a very divine act, then, to don the eyes of God. Beg the Holy Spirit for the gaze of the Father so that you can “see” people.  For this type of vision, I think has a clearer view of reality. “Seeing” someone is dually a fruit of loving someone and further motivation to love someone.  So in our constant effort to love as Christ did on this earth, let us pause and see the beauty of the creation of God that is all of those around us. “See” your friends and classmates, “see” the cashier at the grocery store, "see" the man begging for change, “see” your mother and your father. See them and desire them to live into their best self, their happiness, their fullest life.  Feast your eyes on the magnificence of God in one another. Pray for the Kingdom of Heaven to crash down on earth.