2306AFC021023 – Searching in The Dark
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Sirach 15:19-20 –
19 his eyes are on those who fear him,
and he knows every human action.
20 He has not commanded anyone to be wicked,
and he has not given anyone permission to sin.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 – 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
Mathew 5:19 – 19 Therefore, whoever breaks* one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
*Annuls, contravenes, unties, loosens up, disregards, or ignores
¡Que la bendición esté siempre con ustedes y que Dios los bendiga, Amados! (May blessing always be with you and may God bless you, Belovéd!) I am glad to be with you again even if it’s only on these written pages. I got off to a strange start with this topic. I accidentally looked up 1 Corinthians 1:9-10. It didn’t make any sense to have that in with the other verses. Once I cleared that up, the sense came together and I saw that we would be going to the opposite side of Creation – the darkness which God had separated from the light. We are Light, children of the Light and Life, (↔ Music Link) brothers and sisters of the Christ of God, chosen before time to walk in his marvelous light (See 1 Peter 2:9 at that link). Belovéd, we know that’s how it’s supposed to be; after all it’s in the Absolutely Perfect Plan. We also know that sometimes darkness, gloom, or even the terror-of-the-night falls over us. We have to look for that key that unlocks the door to Light as we see in the icon for today’s Key Verses. We know there is Light because we’ve been there. Many or most of us are still there. Some of us are searching for the Light, and we are surrounded by darkness and “how great is that darkness.” (See Matthew 6:22-23 – 22 The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!)
The last reading this week from the Gospel of Matthew is a quite long collection of sayings that begin with, “You have heard it said …,” and then Jesus says something that is astoundingly opposite in tone. The one chosen for today is about fudging on the commandments. Jesus has told the crowd that he’s not there to do away with the Torah (תּוֹרָה Law), but to fulfill it. At that moment, the folks hearing him speaking probably expected the skies to open and he’d be stuck with lightning and fire. He said emphatically that not one smithereen, not one letter, not one pen-stoke of the Law would or could be lessened, excused, overlooked, distorted, or left out. It is important to remember that “The Law” is not limited to The 10 Commandments. There are 613 laws in the Misvot, (↔ Learning Link) and they pretty much cover every aspect of human life. The 14th and 15th, for example, decree that nothing should be added to or taken out of the Torah. What Jesus had told them then, was that all of the tiny little marks used for letters, vowels (13 very small but important marks called the nikud) – all of that had to be followed to the exact “letter of the Law.” Jesus was there for the fulfillment of all of those laws as well as to show people how easily their lives failed to conform to, fulfill, the Law. Failure to fulfill the Law was failure to obey God. Who, then, could ever hope to be saved?
We understand this better now because over the past 20-some centuries, God has continued to reveal himself through Scripture, through catechesis, through scholarly studies, through Church Councils, and in the Holy Spirit. We know that Jesus saves even those who we might deem irredeemable. I find myself asking my El Shaddai-Olam often, “Why did you choose me to receive Grace?” His answer is always the same, and yet I cannot seem to get it through my thick skull because it is “too simple for my complex mind.” His answer always, always, always is “Because I AM – LOVE.” That Love comes from God the Father through Jesus the Son in the Unity of the Holy Spirit. Now, that word “unity” is worth taking another good look-see. We saw it in last week’s post as “the community, the fellowship, the koinonia (Grk: κοινωνία) shared eternally among the three persons in the Trinity.” Kononia is the fellowship, the Unity of Love, which is passed on for and to us so that “Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours for ever and ever. Amen.” This is the final doxology of the Eucharistic Prayer. It is the assurance of our fellowship with the Real Presence presented before us. What does/should that mean to us?
It means that we have a share in the Divine Fellowship of Light, Love, Hope, Fulfillment, Heaven ON EARTH. We are in the Light. The Light is in us; that is, UNLESS we are in 
Darkness. Nearly everyone at some stage of life enters that “dark night of the soul.” Sometimes we put ourselves there (well, honestly, most of the time we do), and sometimes God allows darkness to overtake us. This is how the Absolutely Perfect Plan works. God sends us his Love through his Christ in the Holy Spirit, and we receive that light if we honor the Giver by accepting the Gift. God (the Triune Divinity) has not commanded anyone to be wicked, and he has not given anyone permission to sin. Breaking or even fudging The Law is sinning. That’s another super-simple mystery because it’s so clear, and yet so unattainable because we are sinners, plain and simple. God’s eyes are on those who fear him, and he knows every human action – good or bad. When we plunge ourselves into darkness, we do so at our own peril. We could get stuck there in what we have termed “habitual sin.” There’s always a way out of that kind of darkness. It is called Grace. In The Love and Mercy of God “all things are possible.” (See Matthew 19:23-26 and Luke 1:37 I really do hope you are using all these links.)
In the darkness of sin and death, it is often frustrating, and sometimes even terrifying, to realize we cannot see the Light. In the same passage as our Gospel Key Verse, Jesus says that the eye is the light of the body, and if the eye sees poorly – or not at all – then there is no light in the body. What this shows us is that our eyes are what we use to navigate through our world. In this sense, Jesus shows us that our spirit is that part of us that is most like our El Shaddai-Olam. If that Light of our existent is dimmed, distorted, injured, trapped, blinded, or lost, then the Light has “gone out of us.” This comes about when we let PEGSLAW (↔ Learning Link) usher in Darkness. When we let Worldly wants and cares to fill up our view of the spiritual landscape, we can’t see how to help others because we can’t help ourselves. Jesus addressed this in Matthew 7:3-5. (← Check it out!) I would paraphrase that as, “Take the World out of your own eye (soul), then you will see clearly to take the Darkness out of your neighbor’s eye.” How do we take that blinding Worldly desire out of our own eyes? How can we stop groping around in the Dark and come into the Light? “Can a blind person guide another blind person?” What did Jesus tell us about that in Matthew 15:10-14? He said, (in part; use the link for context)”13 […] “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind, And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” What this means to us is that if we try to follow someone who is spiritually blind, we’re in real danger of serious consequences, the most extreme of which is the reality of Hell.
To get shed of the obstructions caused by that Worldly darkness, we need to turn to someone or something already living in and filled with the Light of Life and Love. The only way we can know that Darkness is not where we belong is to know we have been in Light, and remember that Light is in us. Remember, God is used to hearing us say, “I forgot.” He forgets stuff all the time – for example sins for which we have been forgiven. Through baptism we make our lives open to the Grace of God, and when we accept that Grace, it becomes our YOLO-F source of Light. Turn off the light, close the curtains, draw down the shade, and the darkness returns – BUT THE LIGHT NEVER LEAVES! The Light is separated from the darkness, and if we turn our spirits to walk toward and into the darkness, the Light is always right behind us – so, what do we do? (I never get tired of this!) We repent and believe the Gospel! We open the door or window or ceiling or floor or whatever it takes to let the Light back in for getting back in the Light. (↔ Music Link). We get out the M.A.P. and check our whereabouts. More concisely, we stop searching in the Dark because that is not where the Light can be found. God always knows where we are, and he never gets caught up in Darkness even in the times when we do!
“Eye has not seen (↔ Music Link), ear has not heard …” This Key Verse is a paraphrasing by The Apostle Paul of Isaiah 64:4 –
4 From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.
Paul replaces “for those who wait for him” with “for those who Love him.” We can recall the words of the embolism (↔ Learning Link) used during the Lord’s Prayer: Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul’s words have been shanghaied by a few blind guides to speculate what glorious things might await us in the Presence of El Shaddai-Olam after we die. The point of the passage is actually in verse 10 – these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
Everything that God has in store for those who long for him – gratefully, joyfully, expectantly watch for him – have been revealed to us in the Holy Spirit. Why? How? Why: because God is Love. How: the Holy Spirit – the bond of Love between the Father and the Son, the Wisdom of Creation, the Lord who is the Giver of Life – has fathomed and divulged everything that can be understood about the ecology and economy of El Shaddai-Olam because the Holy Spirit is God who knows us and wants to be known by us, for us, and in us. Repeating for the sake of emphasis: the Holy Spirit is God who knows us and wants to be known by us, for us, and in us. We don’t have to go anywhere near the Darkness to figure that out. It’s standing right in front of us in unapproachable light so brilliant that only God could BE it. That’s the Light The Apostle John knew when he said in John 1:5 – 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
Don’t even turn around to look how far we’ve trudged out of the Dark. No benefit comes from searching in the dark. The Darkness is still there behind us where it is supposed to be. Leave it behind, but do not leave it alone; take the adelphos (↔ Learning Link) with you. That might just be me who needs your guidance.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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