Friday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Saint Scholastica, Virgin
Genesis 3:1-8 | Psalm 31(32):1-2,5-7 | Mark 7:31-37
Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘No! You will not die! God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.’ (Genesis 3:4-5)
A friend asked me yesterday to help his programming team rescue an important project for his company. While my current livelihood hinges on consulting opportunities like this, and he did indeed sound desperate for my help, the details he was able to relate gave me pause. Instead of agreeing on the spot, I arranged to meet up with him and his team next week, to better understand their struggles.
I’ve pulled consulting rabbits out of hats several times over the years, and I’m always up for a challenge, but when others’ companies are at stake, it behooves me to be very careful. I have to ensure that my eyes are opened, knowing both the opportunities to broaden my horizons (and wallet), and the dangers of overstepping my abilities to adapt and learn.
I have to “eat the fruit”, so to speak.
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I have known Catholics who practise their faith by taking Matthew 8:8 and twisting it subtly:
Lord, do not come into my house, do not come into my heart, just fix this for me, can? Thank you hor!
This sort of God-as-personal-manservant attitude might have worked in the Garden of Eden, where He oversaw all of creation, and Adam and Eve really didn’t need to know much about Him at all.
But this is a world of skepticism and secularism, where treating God as a “convenient miracle worker” simply won’t work, especially when our desires and His plans for us collide. When that happens, nothing happens, and we end up looking foolish for calling on a “nonexistent deity”.
Refusing to know God is no longer an option, if we want to keep our faith.
It’s especially appropriate that today also happens to be the feast day of St. Scholastica. Perhaps we should consider “going back to school”, refreshing our memories with the repository of ecclesial knowledge that is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. There is much to be gleaned from its pages, and we have an obligation to form an informed relationship with the One who made us.
Because when Jesus said Ephphata to the deaf man, he was really commanding all of us to “be opened”.
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As I was finishing up this blog entry, wondering what to put in the title, I suddenly remembered a song from The King and I, and the words became obvious.
I think you already know which one I’m thinking of.
Getting to know You, getting to know all about You.
Getting to love You, getting to know You love me.
Getting to know You, putting it my way,
But nicely,
You are precisely,
One God in three.
Getting to know You, knowing that gift You gave freely
When I am with You, letting myself freely say
That I have noticed, my life is now bright and breezy
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I’m learning about You
Day by day.
Amen.