I watched a friend of mine one time as he interacted with a girl that he was clearly in love with. Every day he would hang out with her, listen to her intently, and help her in every way he could. Eventually she asked him to help her go out on a date with his friend. The hurt in his eyes was evident to all of us around. We all knew he was in love with her. Everyone knew, but her. How did he respond though? He helped her to be happy. Talking to his friend, he set up the date. He suffered in silence as she dated, had her heart broken, and eventually broke up with this man. All the while he was there for her. A shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, a true friend. I don’t know if she ever knew he loved her. It’s really a story that belongs best in a romantic comedy, but of course those always have happy endings, right?
I see tomorrow’s Gospel reading in much the same way as what I described before. The Pharisees wanted to know when the Kingdom of God would be among them. Jesus warned them that it was already there. God had already condescended among men, becoming a man himself. Here stood the Kingdom of God right in front of them. Jesus Christ. His heart was bulging with love for them. He came to die for them. He emptied himself of everything in order that he might live among them, and redeem them to himself. Then they came to him and asked, where can we find that which makes us happy? Don’t you see? He’s right there in front of you! How easy for us 2000 years later to judge them.
Yet, do we truly see him each day? Isn’t he calling out to use daily? In the face of a friend? In the eyes of a stranger? In the brilliant rays of a morning sunrise? Do you see him? Or do you keep looking over him trying to find him somewhere else? We don’t need to be going to and fro, asking for signs and wonders. No rather, he’s already here. All we have to do is open our eyes, our hearts, our minds. He calls out to us from the tabernacle, in the Eucharist and he says, “I love you. I will do anything to make you happy. I have died for you, and offer you eternal life.”
Why do we fail? Why is it so hard to see him? One thing I think is something that the first reading mentions. We lack true Wisdom. Wisdom it says is the aura of the might of God, and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty. She is the refulgence of eternal light. The spotless mirror of the power of God. Aren’t those beautiful descriptions? It is through Wisdom that we begin to actually notice God in our daily life. Not necessarily in explosions and miracles, though those can happen too. Rather though, also seeing him in the ordinary. In the simple and the plain. Saint Josaphat was one of those who had Wisdom.
We have many today who make the same error that men were making back in his day. They only see God in this rite or that rite of the Catholic church. In their ardor and zeal they reject anything that does not fit their box. Going as far as to reject the Pope, or the Orthodox, or to form their own society rejecting the Novus Ordo. Josaphat, unlike some of the schismatics of today, clung to his unity with Rome. He did not want to change from his orthodox faith, and he did not want his people ‘Latinized’. Yet, he fought to bring understand and unity to his people. Saint Josaphat died seeking to reunite the two, not to create more division.
That is true Wisdom isn’t it? What do we take away from all of this? I think that we learn that like Saint Josaphat we need to work for unity. We need to pray for and seek Wisdom that we might see God in our brothers and sisters. That we need to look for Jesus calling out to us saying, “behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” We need to look inside, examine ourselves, and ask.. are we working for unity or division? We need to let God’s Wisdom and love flow through us until we too become an aura of the might of God, a pure effusions of the glory of the Almighty. Until we are so close to Jesus Christ that when others look at us, they see not us, but rather Him shining through us. Let us cling to the Sacraments, seek His face, and continually knock on the door of our own hearts asking it to open to the influence of the Holy Spirit.
His servant and yours,
In Christ,
Brian