Choosing to gaze upon Jesus
Brothers and sisters: Since the law has only a shadow of the
good things to come, and not the very
image of them, it can never make perfect
those who come to worship by the same sacrifices that they offer
continually each year.
Mark 3:31-35
The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.
Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around
him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside
asking for you.” But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and my
brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are
my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and
sister and mother.”
Joyce Kilmer, the American poet, is
only remembered for one poem – he was a one hit wonder, like people who only
write one book. The poem was called
“Trees,” and many students memorized it in grade school. Can you recite it with me? “I think that I shall never see, A poem as
lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry
mouth is prest, Against the sweet earth’s flowing breast; A tree that looks at God
all day, and lifts her leafy arms to pray.
Upon whose bosom snow has lain, Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God
can make a tree.” Catchy, ain’t it? Kilmer wants to contrast poems, which are
just clever conjurings of our contemplation (our imagination), with trees,
which are real and true and solid. The
difference between a poem and a tree is the same as the difference between a
shadow and the tree that casts it. Maybe
that’s why Kilmer wasn’t very good at poems: why stare at the shadow when you
can gaze upon the real thing?
Today’s Scriptures also caution us about
confusing the shadow with the reality.
Hebrews says, “The law has only a shadow of the good things to come
and…cannot make [us] perfect.” That is,
the law is like a shadow, but Jesus is the Law on two legs, the Law-giver
himself, the reality, who alone can make us perfect. Stop staring at the shadow and gaze upon the
real thing. In the gospel, Jesus’ family
stands outside the house waiting for him, and he asks, “Who are my mother and
brothers?” And he answers his own question, like I do at school Mass because
I’m afraid of what the kids might say!
He says, “For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and
mother.” In other words, human families
are like a shadow of the divine family – those who do God’s will. Don’t confuse one with the other; keep your
eyes on what’s real, not its shadow.
Joyce Kilmer is not the only one
tempted to write poems instead of look at real trees – we all tend to live in
the make-believe world of our minds instead of in reality. Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “We all begin
to believe our newspaper clippings,” and think we’re smarter or holier or more
beautiful than we really are. And if we
don’t believe that about ourselves, we certainly think that about our
children! We take the shadow over the
reality. Satan, the tragic hero of
Milton’s Paradise Lost, said, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can
make a heaven of hell, and a hell of heaven.”
And he would boldly go on to declare: “Better to reign in hell than
serve in heaven!” He preferred the
shadowy hollows of hell to the sunlit heights of heaven. Ask yourself today and everyday: “Do I choose
to stumble in the shadowlands of my imagination, or rather choose to gaze upon
Jesus, he who alone is the way, the truth and the life?" It’s a choice we face every day.
“Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.” Be
careful: you may be a poet and don’t even know it.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
No comments:
Post a Comment