Deaf and Dumb

Seeing the journey of faith as an act of remembrance

09/28/2024

LK 9:43B-45 While they were all amazed at his every deed, Jesus said to his disciples, “Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

Our RCIA classes are now in full-swing and it is one of our biggest classes in years, with almost 30 candidates, non-Catholics who want to become Catholic. Often Catholics come with their non-Catholic spouses to the classes, not only to support them in their journey of faith, but also as a refresher for themselves.

And at some point in the course of the year cradle Catholics inevitably exclaim: “I never knew we believed all that!” That is, they are learning some doctrine about the Eucharist, or Mary, or papal infallibility as if they were hearing them with fresh ears, as if for the very first time. But I always smile when veteran Catholics are astonished by Church teaching. Why?

Well, because they are not learning something new but actually remember something old. In other words, they had learned about the Eucharist, and Mary, and papal infallibility (and a 100 other doctrines) in grade school. But the pleasures and pressures of adulthood have suppressed those lessons, almost to the point of having forgotten them. And now they feel like they are learning something brand new.

Fr. Daniel Velasco still gives me tennis lessons – for four years now – and sometimes when I ask him why I am missing my forehand shot, he replies: “It’s your faulty footwork. Remember, I told you that in the beginning.” You know, I just love it when he says that. In other words, our journey of faith, like learning tennis, is far more about remember the old than learning the new.

In the gospel today the apostles also experience a moment of learning the faith that they will have to return to and remember again and again and again. Jesus says – knowing full well how the human mind and memory work (or better don’t work) – “Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.”

Of course, he means his suffering and death. But notice the next verse: “But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it.” Jesus knows that he is teaching his apostles like a teacher in Catholic grade school, instructing cradle Catholics: “I will teach you this, but the problems, pressures, and pleasures of life will make your forget what you learn.”

Like Fr. Daniel when he told me the preliminary lessons of tennis that I would have to re-learn and remember, so too the apostles’ journey of faith would consist far more of remembering the old than in learning the new. And the function of remembering would helped by the Holy Spirit. So, Jesus explains in Jn 14:26, “The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name – he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”

In other words, Jesus’ public ministry of teaching, healing, suffering, dying, and rising only lasted 3 years. But it would take the apostles the rest of their lives, and indeed all eternity, to grasp the full significance of all our Lord taught and did. And we should not be surprised if it takes us a lot longer than eternity. The journey of faith is far more about remembering the old than discovering the new.

My friends, the central lesson of our Lord’s life revolved around the Eucharist, a memorial meal. He would even say, after consecrating the bread and wine into his Body and Blood: “Do this in memory of me.” And he did not intend us to celebrate the Mass once a year or once a month but at least every Sunday, and if possible even every day. Why?

Well, because we weak-minded mortals forget the lessons we learned in childhood about the majesty and mystery of the Mass. And we have to walk into church and kneel down as if for the first time and gasp like cradle Catholics in RCIA class, “Wow, I never knew we believed all that about the Eucharist!”

The journey of faith is far more about remembering the old than about learning the new, when the problems, pressures, and pleasures of life are not making us deaf and dumb. Jesus said, “Pay attention to what I am telling you.” But we are only half paying attention, or not paying attention at all. Or as Fr. Daniel would say to me: “Remember, I told you that in the beginning.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!