So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him [Jesus].
John 7:43
Day 32: Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent – John 7:43
So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him [Jesus].
Additional Reading(s) today: John 7:40-53; Jer. 11:18-20
Today’s Lenten Reflection
Division. It seems to follow Jesus (and His followers) wherever He goes. While many people of His time wanted to give up everything “and follow Him,” it seemed just as many wanted Him arrested or dead. His message both then and now breeds both hope and fear. Hope in those who are hungry for truth and peace; fear in those who don’t like change and sacrifice; those who sense their view of the world is being challenged by “someone” they don’t know and don’t understand. Catholic author Richard Rohr, in his book The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See, explains that the division that seems to follow Jesus in Scripture and in our world today comes down to our dualistic mind-set being unable to truly reconcile the fact that Jesus was and is both fully divine and fully human: “It doesn’t compute with our limited computer! Our dualistic mind needs to split and divide, with the result that it understands Jesus as only divine and understands human beings as only human, despite all scriptural and mystical affirmations to the contrary.” He goes on to say that overcoming this divide is the “whole point of the Incarnation of God in Christ,” but still our nature makes us unable to fully integrate that reality. Unfortunately what we (humans) don’t understand (which is most things), we tend to push away from rather than draw forward to in faith with a willingness to learn more. In today’s Gospel readings, we sense that same human disposition … even though the Roman guards were admitting, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” Who is this man? That was the question then, and is still the question in many hearts today.
Day 32 Lenten Meditation
Sit with Jesus in silence and reflect on how you see Him and how you approach Him. Know that it is okay not to be able to wrap your head around the fullness of Jesus’ reality. After all, what is divine is beyond our limited human comprehension. We will not understand divine things like we understand a mathematical equation or a piece of literature because divinity, in addition to reason, demands faith. Moreover, all things divine are innately felt in the soul. St. Augustine said of the human comprehension of God: “If you understand it, then it is not God.” Trappist monk Thomas Merton said, “We can never fully know Him if we think of Him as an object of capture, to be fenced in by the enclosure of our own ideas [and mortal rationale].” Take a moment and think about what kind of fence you may have put around God and your understanding of Him. How does that impact your faith today?
Lenten Prayer
Jesus our brother, our Savior, our God, our everything, we sit before You today surrendering all our limitations before You. We ask for hearts and minds of faith to be opened. We desire to be opened up to the beautiful reality of who You are and a deeper understanding of Your ability to live in us and through us. Help us to recognize You in the mystery of all things both internally and externally. Merciful Father, heal our divided hearts and give us the simple hearts of children, that in our humility and spiritual poverty we may begin to see, know and understand You as You truly are. Amen.
Today’s suggested penance
*Pray in a special way to Jesus. Ask for increased [divine] wisdom to understand more of which you do not currently understand.
“Don’t let your life be sterile. Be useful. Blaze a trail. Shine forth with the light of your faith … and light up all the ways of the earth with the fire of Christ that you carry in your heart” -Saint Josemaria Escriva.
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