The Cosmic Equilibrium

 

Seeing how others must increase and we decrease

12/14/2025

Matthew 11:2-11 When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me." As they were going off, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, "What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine clothing? Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces. Then why did you go out?  To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

After a long, hard day of saving souls I like to relax by reading Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow. At the beginning of Part Four, the protagonist Alexander Rostov is reflecting on how quickly his adopted daughter, Sophia, has grown up, and by contrast, how he himself is growing older. But we all like to say: “Our kids sure are getting older, but we haven’t changed at all!” But that’s not entirely true, is it?

Count Rostov muses: “Perhaps it is a matter of celestial balance. A sort of cosmic equilibrium. Perhaps the aggregate experience of Time is a constant and thus for our children to establish such vivid impression of this particular June, we must relinquish our claims upon it.” And his friend, Vasily, sums it up saying: “So that they might remember, we must forget.” In other words, life is like a see-saw, as our children go up we adults go down. Or as St. John the Baptist memorably put it: “He [Jesus] must increase, and I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). And that cosmic equilibrium is a good thing.

Let me give you a saintly example of this cosmic equilibrium. I went to seminary with a remarkable athlete named Tom Vander Woude. He played all sports well, but he was especially skilled as a quarterback and moved like Patrick Mahomes. Although watching the Chiefs recently, Tom would move better than Mahomes. Fr. Tom was ordained a priest in 1992, and is the oldest of 7 boys, one of whom, Joseph, has Down Syndrome.

In 2008, Joseph fell into a toxic sewage tank. Joseph’s father, also named Tom, without hesitation jumped into the tank after him. Battling deadly fumes, Tom pushed his son up to the surface, and kept him alive even as the poison overwhelmed Tom’s own lungs. Tom died moments after saving his son. Tom Vander Woude heroically maintained the celestial balance: his son Joseph increased while Tom decreased.

In the gospel today John the Baptist wonders like Count Rostov, has the time come to restore the cosmic equilibrium so that people would remember Jesus and forget about John? Hence, John sends some disciples to ask Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” In other words, is it time for me to decrease and for you to increase?

That question uttered in chapter 11 today would be the last words of John the Baptist recorded in the gospel of Matthew. And Jesus answers John by pointing to his miracles of healing and his message of salvation to the poor. That is, it was indeed time for John’s side of the see-saw of life to go down as the Precursor so that Jesus’ side of the see-saw could go up as the Messiah.

Let me give you some examples of how we, too, must maintain this celestial balance, the cosmic equilibrium of sacrificing ourselves so that our kids can rise above the toxic sewage of our modern culture. My generation has created artificial intelligence, a truly amazing achievement. It is sometimes called “the last invention” because AI will beat the slower human mind to future inventions. But will it truly give our children lives that are happier, healthier, and holier?

I often ask high school and college students what their major is or what career path they are pursuing. Why do I ask? Well, because they will need a job that is AI-proof or won’t be replaced by robots. Of course, they can always become priests or nuns because an AI robot cannot save your soul. In other words, soon AI might become the toxic sewage of our modern society and we must raise our children above it, like Tom Vander Woude raised his son. And that may require a lot of sacrifices on our part.

In the midst of the Christmas season – by the way, we hear Christmas music by October now – we all want to get memorable gifts for our children. But does filling their lives with more material clutter genuinely help them to mature and flourish as children of God? I will never forget Fr. George Tribou’s (my high school principal’s) definition of a man: “a man is he who controls the animal within which he lives.”

Instead, take a page out of the Vander Woude family playbook, who had 7 boys. That is, rather than buying more gifts, give your children another brother or sister. Easy for me to say, right?! But I do have over 7,000 spiritual children. And if for some reason you cannot have children naturally, foster a child or adopt a child. By having a larger family we raise our children above the toxic culture that is anti-children, and anti-life.

Another great gift you can give your children is to love their mother or father. In other words, work on your relationship with your spouse. I have an older brother and a younger sister. Growing up, we fought all the time. My parents complained: “All we want in life is for our three children to get along and love each other.” I often thought: “Well, all we children want in life is for our parents to get along and love each other.” When parents sacrificially love each other, they may feel like their happiness decreases, but that is the only way their children's happiness increases.

You see, when Tom Vander Woude jumped into that toxic tank to save his son, he was not doing something extraordinary or out of character or even heroic. Such sacrifices were what he had been doing every day as a husband and a father. He had daily been dying so that his children could live. He raised them up everyday long before he raised Joseph in the tank. And that sacrificial love is how Tom Vander Woude maintained Count Rostov’s cosmic equilibrium.

Praised be Jesus Christ!