Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
We live in a world of technique. Applied science – technology – has created a world which beleives that human knowledge can solve all problems. Now and then we have rude awakenings. Medicine cannot save someone, and they die “young.” A piece of technology fails. But we soon recover our faith in technology and keep humming along.
The human heart is the gate to heaven – or hell – and it admits of no techniques. And yet, even religious leaders nowadays often seem intent on applying technique to the human heart as well, as if some program – power point! – can save us. We are used to this, of course. But it is all nonsense. Only God can save us, and we can find Him only by faith.
Jesus’ counsel to “turn the other cheek” – and other “hard sayings” in the Gospel – are only possible if we believe in God. They are amenable to no technique. Of course, we can drug people up to seem docile, non-aggressive: we can dose people up ‘til their smiles make them acceptable to the successful egos who run this world. But the heart, the heart: it is only God who can give us the grace we need to forgive and accept forgiveness, the grace we need to love, sincerely, from the heart. And loving sincerely, to receive the grace to laugh at the folly of a world that is headed for lonely oblivion, lights flashing, music pulsing. A whole lot of “sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Love is the answer, and true love is only from God, who must be wondering why we have never learnt the lesson of Babel.