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Does God Harden Human Hearts?

One of the more difficult Biblical themes to understand is the concept of God hardening the hearts and minds of certain human beings. The most memorable case is that of Pharaoh wherein, before sending Moses to him God said he would “harden Pharaoh’s heart” (Ex 4:21). But there are other instances where biblical texts speak of God as hardening the hearts of sinners, even from among his own people.

What are we to make of texts like these? How can God, who does no evil, be the source of a sinful mind or heart? Why would God do such a thing since he has said elsewhere:

  1. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’ (Ez 33:11)
  2. God our Savior…wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2:4)

To be sure, these questions involve very deep mysteries, mysteries about God’s sovereignty and how it interacts with our freedom, mysteries of time, and mysteries of causality. As a mystery within mysteries, the question of God hardening hearts cannot simply be resolved. Greater minds than I have pondered these things,  and it would be foolish to think that a easy resolution is to be found in a blog post.

But some distinctions can and should be made, and some context supplied. We do not want to understand the “hardening texts” in simplistic ways, or in ways that use one truth to cancel out other important truths that balance it. So please permit only a modest summary of the ancient discussion.

I propose we examine these sorts of texts along four lines:

  1. The Context of Connivance.
  2. The Mystery of Time
  3. The Mystery of Primary Causality
  4. The Necessity of Humility

To begin it is important simply to list a selection of the hardening texts. The following are not the only ones, but they sample them widely enough:

  1. The LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. (Ex 4:21)
  2. Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country. (Ex 11:10)
  3. Why, O LORD, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes that are your inheritance. (Is 63:17)
  4. He [God] has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn–and I would heal them. (Jesus quoting Isaiah Isaiah 6:9-10, at John 12:40)
  5. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie (2 Thess 2:11)
  6. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another…..Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. (Rom 1:24, 28)

Point I. –  THE CONTEXT OF CONNIVANCE – In properly assessing texts like these we ought first to consider the contexts in which they were made and written. Generally speaking, most all of these declarations that God hardens the heart, come after a significant period of disobedience on the part of those hardened. In a way, God “cements” the deal and gives them fully what they really want. For having hardened their own hearts to God, God determines that their disposition is a permanent one, and in a sovereign exercise of his will, (for nothing can happen without God’s allowance), declares and permits their heart to be hardened in a definitive kind of way. In this sense, there is a judgement of God upon the individual that recognizes their definitive decision against him. Hence, this hardening can be understood as voluntary, on the part of the one hardened, for God hardens in such a way that he uses their own will, whom he hardens, for the executing of his judgment and his acceptance that their will against him is definitive.

A. For example, in the case of Pharaoh, it is true, as the Exodus 4:21 text says above, God indicated to Moses that he would harden Pharaoh’s heart. But the actual working out of this is a bit more complicated than that. We see in the first five plagues, it is Pharaoh who hardens his own heart (Ex. 7:13; 7:22; 8:11; 8:28; & 9:7). It is only after this repeated hardening of his own heart, that the Exodus text shifts, and speaks of God as the one who hardens (Ex 9:12; 9:34; 10:1; 10:20; 10:27). Hence the hardening here is not without Pharaoh’s repeated demonstration of his own hardness, and God, if you will, “cements the deal” as a kind of sovereign judgment on Pharaoh.

B. The Isaiah texts, many in number, that speak of a hardening being visited upon Israel by God, (e.g. #s 3 and 4 above),  are  also the culmination of a long testimony, by the prophet, of Israel’s hardness. At the beginning of the Isaiah’s ministry, Israel’s hardness was described as of their own doing by God who said through Isaiah: For the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. (Is 1:2-4). There follows a long list of their crimes, their hardness and their refusal to repent.

1. St. John Chrysostom – of the numerous texts Later in Isaiah (and also referenced by Jesus (e.g. Jn 12:40), that speak of Israel as being hardened by God, and having him shut their eyes, St John Chrysostom says, That the saying of Isaiah might be fulfilled: that here is expressive not of the cause, but of the event. They did not disbelieve because Isaias said they would; but because they would disbelieve, Isaias said they would…. For He does not leave us, except we wish Him….Whereby it is plain that we begin to forsake first, and are the cause of our own perdition. For as it is not the fault of the sun, that it hurts weak eyes, so neither is God to blame for punishing those who do not attend to His words. (on a gloss of Is. 6:9-10 at Jn 12:40, quoted in the Catena Aurea).

2. St Augustine also says, This is not said to be the devil’s doing, but God’s. Yet if any ask why they could not believe, I answer, because they would not…But the Prophet, you say, mentions another cause, not their will; but that God had blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart. But I answer, that they well deserved this. For God hardens and blinds a man, by forsaking and not supporting him; and this He makes by a secret sentence, for by an unjust one He cannot (Quoted in the Catena Aurea at Jn 12:40).

C. Of the text of 2 Thessalonians,  God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie quoted in # 5 above, while the text speaks of God as having sent the delusion, the verse before and after make clear the sinful role of the punished saying: They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved….so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness ( 2 Thess 2:10,12).

1. Of this text, St. Augustine says, From a hidden judgment of God comes perversity of heart, so that the refusal to hear the truth leads to the commission of sin, and this sin is itself a punishment for the preceding sin [of refusing to hear the truth]. (Against Julian 5.3.12).

2. St John Damascus says, [God does this] so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (The Orthodox Faith 4.26).

D. The texts from Romans 1 speak  of God handing them over only after they have suppressed the truth (1:18), persevered in their wickedness (1:18) and preferred lust and idolatry (1:23-24), hence, as a just judgement, he hands them over to sexual confusion (homosexuality) and to countless other destructive drives. So here too, though it is said God hands them over, it is really not that simple. God has, in effect, cemented the deal. They do not want to serve them and so He, knowing their definitive decision, gives them what they want.

E. Thus, our first point of distinction in understanding the “hardening” texts is that the context of connivance is important in assessing them. It is not asserted by Scripture that God takes a reasonably righteous man and, out of the blue, hardens his heart, confuses his mind or causes him, against his will, to become obstinate. The texts are usually presented as a kind of prevenient judgement by God, that the state of the person’s hardness has now become permanent. They refuse and so God cements the deal and “causes” them to walk in their own sinful ways since they have insisted so.

Point II.  – THE MYSTERY OF TIME – In understanding these hardening texts, which we have seen, are akin to judgment texts, we must strive to recall that God does not live in time in the same we do. Scripture speaks often of God’s knowledge and vision of time as being comprehensive, rather than speculative or serial (e.g. Ex 3:14; Ps 90:2-4; Ps 93:2; Is 43:13; Ps 139; 2 Peter 3:8; James 1:17; inter al.).

A. To say that God is eternal and that he lives in eternity is to say that he lives in the fullness of time. For God, past, present and future are all the same. God is not wondering what I will do tomorrow, neither is he waiting for it to happen. For Him, my tomorrow has always been present to Him. All of my days were written in His book before one of them ever came to be (Ps 139:16). Whether, and how long I live, has always been known to him. Before he ever formed me in my mother’s womb he knew me (Jer 1:4). My final destiny is already known and present to him.

B. Hence, when we strive to understand God’s judgments in the form of hardening the hearts of certain people, we must be careful not to think he lives in time like we do. It is not as though God is watching my life like a movie. He already knows the choice I will make. Thus, when God hardens the hearts of some, it is not as though he were merely trying to negatively influence the outcome, and trip certain people up. He already knows the outcome and has always known it, he knows the destiny they have chosen.

C. Now be very careful with this insight, for it is a mystery to us. We cannot really know what it is like to live in eternity, in the fullness of time, where the future is just is present as the past. If you think you know, you really don’t. What is essential for us is that we realize that God does not live in time like we do. If we try too hard to solve the mystery (rather than merely accept and respect it) we risk falling into the denial of human freedom, or double predestination, or other wrong-headed notions that sacrifice one truth for another, rather than to hold them in balance. That God knows what I will do tomorrow, does not destroy my freedom to actually do it. How this all works out is mysterious. But we are free, Scripture teaches this, and God holds us accountable for our choices. Further, even though God knows my destiny already, and yours as well, does not mean that He is revealing anything about that to us, as though we should look for signs and seek to call ourselves saved or lost. We ought to work out our salvation in a reverential fear and trembling (Phil 2:12).

D. The Key point here is mystery. Striving to understand how, why and when God hardens the heart of anyone is caught up in the mysterious fact that he lives outside of time and knows all things before they happen. Thus he acts with comprehensive knowledge of all outcomes.

Point III. – THE MYSTERY OF CAUSALITY – One of the major differences between the ancient and the modern world is that the ancient world was much more comfortable in dealing with something known as primary causality.

A. Up until the Renaissance God was at the center of all things and people instinctively saw the hand of God in everything, even terrible things. Job of old said, The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised….if we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil?” (Job 1:21; 2:10). Thus the ancients would commonly attribute everything as coming from the hand of God, for he was the “first cause” of everything that happened. This is what we mean by primary causality. The ancients were thus more comfortable attributing things to God that we are not. In speaking like this, they were not engaged in a form of superstitious or primitive thinking, but they emphasized that God was sovereign, omnipotent and omnipresent and that nothing happened apart from his sovereign will,  He is the Primary Cause of all that is.

1. Of this ancient and scriptural way of thinking the Catechism says, And so we see the Holy Spirit, the principal author of Sacred Scripture, often attributing actions to God without mentioning any secondary causes [e.g. human or natural]. This is not a “primitive mode of speech”, but a profound way of recalling God’s primacy and absolute Lordship over history and the world, and so of educating his people to trust in him. (CCC # 304)

2. The Key point here is understanding that the ancient Biblical texts while often speaking of God as hardening the hearts of sinners, did not, as we saw above, mean that man had no role, or no responsibility. Neither did it mean that God acted in a merely arbitrary way. Rather, the emphasis was on God’s sovereign power as the first cause of all that is and hence he is often called the cause of all things and his hand is seen in everything.  We moderns are uncomfortable in speaking this way as we shall see.

B. After the Renaissance man moved to the center and God was gradually “escorted” to the periphery. Thus our manner of thinking and speaking began to shift to secondary causes (causes related to man and nature). If something happens we look to natural causes, or in human situations, to the humans who caused it. These are secondary causes however, since I cannot cause something to happen unless God causes me. Yet increasingly the modern mind struggles to maintain a balance between the two mysteries of our freedom, and responsibility and God’s Sovereignty and omnipotence.

C. In effect we have largely thrown primary causality overboard as a category. Even modern believers unconsciously do this and thus exhibit three issues related to this.

1. We fail to maintain the proper balance between two mysteries: God’s Sovereignty and our freedom.

2. We exhibit shock at things like the “hardening texts” of the Bible because we understand them poorly.

3. We try to resolve the shock by favoring one truth over the other. Maybe we just brush aside the ancient biblical texts as a “primitive mode of speech” and say, inappropriately, “God didn’t have anything to do with this or that.” Or we go to the other extreme and become fatalistic, deny human freedom, deny secondary causality (our part)  and accuse God of everything; as if he were the only cause and had the sole blame for everything. Thus, we either read the hardening texts with a clumsy literalism, or dismiss them as misguided notions from an immature, primitive, and pre-scientific age.

D. The point here is that we have to balance the mysteries of primary and secondary causality. We cannot fully understand how they interrelate, but they do. Both mysteries need to be held. The ancients were more sophisticated in holding these mysteries in the proper balance. We are not. We handle causality very clumsily and do not appreciate the distinctions of primary causality (God’s part) and secondary causality (our part, and nature’s too). We try to resolve the mystery rather than hold it in balance and speak to both realities. As such, we are poor interpreters of the “hardening texts.”

Point IV – THE NECESSITY OF HUMILITY – By now it will be seen that we are dealing with a mysterious interrelationship of God and Man, between our freedom and God’s sovereignty, between primary and secondary causality. In the face of such mysteries we have to be very humble. We ought not think more of the details than is proper for us, for, frankly they are largely hidden from us. Too many moderns either dismiss the hardening texts or accept them and sit in harsh judgment over God, as if we could do such a thing. Neither approach bespeaks humility. Consider a shocking but very humbling text where Paul warns us in this very matter:

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!  For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” (Romans 9:14-20)

In effect, none of can demand an absolute account of God for what he does. Even if he were to tell us, could our small and worldly minds ever really comprehend it? My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways, says the Lord (Is 55:8).

Summary – In this post, rather too long, we have considered the “hardening texts” where it seems that God is said to harden the hearts of certain people and groups. And so he does. But texts like these must be carefully approached with proper distinctions, appeal to the scriptural and historical context, and deep humility. There are profound mysteries at work here: mysteries of God’s sovereignty, our freedom, his mercy and also his justice.

We ought to careful to admit the limits of our knowledge when it comes to such texts. As the Catechism so beautifully stated, when it comes to texts like these, they are to appreciated as a profound way of recalling God’s primacy and absolute Lordship over history and the world, and so of educating his people to trust in him. (CCC # 304)

This video says a lot of how many of us in Western Culture hold views of God that are out of balance. Most of the views are partially true, but they end up being false because they are partial and out of balance.

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Praying as a Christian

A few summers back, my family was driving to Washington’s Air and Space Museum in our minivan. The parking options were pretty slim, so my wife asked our six-year old son  if he would pray for a parking spot. He did, out loud, and then to everyone’s surprise he added: “…and make sure it has a broken meter so we don’t have to pay.” Everyone laughed for a moment until, lo and behold, a perfect parking space appeared right in front of them- with a broken meter!

Now, as we all know from our own experience, not every prayer request is granted so quickly. Just consider the case of the Canaanite woman in today’s gospel. As we heard, she pleaded with Jesus that he might cure her daughter. At first, Jesus gave her no response. And then, after she continued to beg for help, Jesus quoted a proverb which referred to her people as dogs- something that might very easily have turned her away. Nevertheless, this desperate woman continued to persist, and because of her great faith, Jesus healed her little girl.

This little episode demonstrates the importance of persistence in prayer. First of all, persistence demonstrates to God that something is very important to us- and God likes to hear that sort of thing! Second, persistence teaches us patience, and reminds us of God’s infinite patience with us. And third, the need for persistence reflects the fact that we have a personal relationship wit a personal God, and that God isn’t a spigot of grace that we can simply turn on and off whenever we wish.

Persistence, however, doesn’t always translate into a prayer request being granted, as it did for the Canaanite woman. So why is it, then, that our prayers at times seem to go unanswered? It could be that we’re praying without faith, thinking that God either can’t or won’t answer our prayer. A priest friend of mine tells a funny story about a group of farmers who, in the middle of a drought, came together to pray for rain- but not one of them brought an umbrella. They, my friend concludes, were not praying with faith.

Another possible reason a prayer seems to go unanswered is because we’re asking for the wrong thing. As I’ve heard it explained before, God is a loving parent, and what parent would give their child a knife to play with? C. S. Lewis once speculated that we’ll probably spend eternity thanking God for the prayers he did not answer!

However, sometimes the problem is not our faith, or the nature of our request, but our own inactivity. Think of it this way: As Christians, we typically end our prayers by saying, “Through Christ our Lord.” By praying through Christ, however, we include ourselves in our requests, because we are members of the Body of Christ, the Church. In other words, when we pray for something through Christ, we take upon ourselves the responsibility, as best we can, to help answer our own prayer.

Consider the experience of an elderly nun who had prayed for a younger nun in her religious community. She personally liked this young nun, and was appreciative of her enthusiasm and energy. She knew that the young nun had been wrestling over whether or not she should leave the community, or even if the community wanted her at all. So the elderly nun prayed that she might stay, prayed that she might realize that she was wanted and valued, and prayed that God might give her the strength to see beyond her doubts. However, she never went, at any time, to speak with the young nun. She never told her how much she liked her, how much her gifts were treasured, and how much she wanted her to stay in the community. When the young nun left, the elderly nun was deeply upset.

Later on, a friend pointed out that she had never tried herself to bring about what she was asking God to do. She had offered her prayers through Christ Jesus, but had forgotten that she herself was part of Christ’s body. She had tried to make God responsible for solving a problem, and hadn’t taken any responsibility herself. (1)

St. John Chrysostom once wrote that “The sincerity of our prayer is determined by our willingness to work on its behalf.” For us, this means that if we pray for peace, we need to be peacemakers in our families, and in our communities. If we pray for good health, we need to adopt a healthy lifestyle. If we pray for a lonely person, we need to reach out and touch his or her life in some way. If we pray for the Church’s mission, we need to contribute our time, talent, and treasure. If we pray for the poor, we need to be faithful and generous stewards of God’s gifts to us. If we pray for a sick relative or friend, we need to help with their care as best we can. And if we pray to pass a test, we need to crack the books, and study. The old expression, “God helps those who help themselves,” has some truth to it. Or as St. Thomas Aquinas often stressed, “Grace builds on nature.”

Now, it has to be said that God doesn’t need our help in answering prayer. Instead, God asks us for our help; it’s all part of his plan. God freely chose to enter the human scene in Jesus, and he continues his presence in the human scene though us- we who are united with Jesus in his church. In a sense, we are extensions of Jesus, and God invites us to willingly give ourselves to his service. When we pray then, we need to present ourselves as part of the answer. In the words of St. Augustine, “Pray as if everything depends on God, and act as if everything depends on you.”

Photo Credits:  zieak, Joe Shabotnik,  Xenia Antunes, via Creative Commons

(1) This illustration comes from Fr. Ronald Rolheiser’s book, The Holy Longing

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While On Others Thou Art Calling, Do not Pass Me By! A Meditation on the Gospel for the 20th Sunday of the Year

Here is a Gospel that teaches us to pray always and not lose heart. Here is a Gospel about having tenacity in prayer and, even when the results seem discouraging, continuing to beseech the Lord. This is also a gospel about the Lord’s will to extend the Gospel to all the nations and to make the Church truly Catholic.

Lets look at this Gospel in Five stages.

STAGE I – TRAVELS – The text says, At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Thus Jesus goes north of Israel into the territory we know today as Lebanon.

Now Matthew is not just giving us a quick travelogue here. We are not interested merely in Jesus physical location but, even more, what this location signifies. Jesus has gone up north to Pagan territory. Other things being equal, this is a rather an odd destination for a Jewish preacher. But we need to recall that Jesus is preparing the Church for a mission to all the nations. So it makes sense that he pushes the boundaries of the Jewish world. Jesus interacted with Gentiles and Samaritans as if to say, “The racism of a Jewish only world must now end….The Gospel must break the boundaries of nation and race and be truly universal, truly catholic.”

This vision of the Gentiles being drawn to the Lord was actually well attested in the Old Testament. But, just like today, there were texts in the Scriptures that were popular and well known, and other texts that were conveniently “forgotten” or made little impact. Consider a few examples of texts which announced the entry of the Gentiles into the holy People of God:

  1. The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to him, loving the name of the LORD, and becoming his servants– all who keep the sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant, them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. (Isaiah 56:6-9)
  2. I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isa 49:6)
  3. Babylon and Egypt I will count among those who know me, Philistia, Tyre and Ethiopia, these will be her children and Zion shall be called “mother” for all shall be her children. (Psalm 87:4-5)
  4. I come to gather nation of every language; they shall come and see my glory. Some of these I will take as priests and Levites says the Lord….All mankind shall come to worship before me says the Lord. (Is 66:18; 23)

Hence we can see that the Jewish people’s own Scriptures spoke of a day when Jews and Gentiles together would worship the Lord and be his people.

This introductory note about Jesus’ location is essential to understanding the text that will follow. We must grasp here Jesus’s will to reach out to the Gentiles. We do this in order to appreciate that some of the harsh tone he exhibits later can likely be understood as a rhetorical means of calling the question of racial and national division, rather than as an affirmation of racial and national division. In effect he is tweaking his disciples, and the Church and giving voice to their fears and hostility. In so doing he also calls out the Canaanite woman in order to show forth one who is willing to set aside these racist notions for a greater good.

Lets watch it unfold.

Stage II. TORMENT – The text says, And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.“

It is a sure fact that Canaanites were despised by Jews. And Canaanites returned the favor and despised Jews. What is it that would make a Canaanite woman reach out to a Jewish Messiah? In a word, desperation. In her torment and desperation this woman no longer cares who helps her daughter, as long as some one helps her!

She has likely heard of Jesus power to save and heal. She looks past her likely racial hatred and, risking terrible and personal rebuke, she calls on Jesus. Her sorrow crosses boundaries. The only enemy she cares about is the demon afflicting her daughter.

It is a true, but sad fact that a common enemy can often unite factions. It should not take this, but the Lord will take whatever he can get to unite us.

So, torment has lowered the barriers.

Stage III – TEST – The text says, But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. Jesus’ disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”…. “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”

It is a shocking and daring thing that Jesus does here. He takes up the voice of sin, oppression, racism and nationalism. It is a very strange thing to hear come from the mouth of the Lord who has already journeyed among the Samaritans and Gentiles, healing, and often praising their faith (e.g. Lk 8:26; Mt 8:10; Lk 7:9; Matt 8:11 inter al).

The usual explanation is that he is calling out this woman’s faith and through her is summoning his disciples to repentance. The disciples what the Lord to order her away. In effect he takes up their voice and the voice of all oppression and utters the hateful sayings of the world, going so far as to use the term “dog” to refer to her.

Yes, Jesus is testing her, trying awakening something in her. He is also giving voice to the ugly thoughts of his disciples and likely to others, on both sides, Gentile and Jew, who were standing by and watching with marvel and disdain the interaction of a Gentile, and a woman at that, and a Jew.

There is a saying, Things do, by opposition grow. And thus, in this test, Jesus grows her faith, and possibly that of the bystanders. And just as an athlete grows by tougher opponents and a musician by tougher pieces so does the testing of this woman’s faith cause it to grow.

Remember, God tested Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Esther, Susannah, Judith, Gideon, and countless others. She too is being tested. And like those of old she too with grow by the test.

We too are tested. For God seems a times to be strangely silent and we are made to feel like no child of God at all. Indeed we may often conclude that even the dogs live better than we.

And the question for us remains. Will we give way on the test or hold out until our change comes? Will our faith grow or wither? Will our love grow stronger, or will it change to resentment?

Stage IV.  TENACITY – The text says, But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.“

Note here that the woman is not put off. Whatever anger, grief or discouragement may move through her, she perseveres.

She is even bold and creative. In a sense, she will not take no for an answer.

  1. She is like Mother Mary at Cana who did not pause for a moment when Jesus seemed dubious of her request (Jn 2:5)
  2. She is like the widow before the Judge in Jesus parable who never stopped pestering the judge for a favorable ruling (Lk 18:1-8).
  3. She is like the blind man at the side of the road who, though rebuked by the crowds still kept calling for Jesus (Lk 18:39)
  4. She is like the parents who brought their infants to Jesus for a blessing and who, though rebuked by the disciples, won through to the blessing (Mk 10:13-16)
  5. She is like Zacchaeus, who though hindered by height climbed a tree to see Jesus (Lk 19:1ff).
  6. She is like the widow with the hemorrhage who, though weak and ritually unclean, pressed thorough the crowd and grabbed the hem of Jesus’ garments  (Mk 5:28)
  7. She is like the lepers, who though forbidden by law to enter the town sought the Lord at the Gates and fell down before him (Luke 17).

Yes, she has tenacity. She will hold out until the change, the healing, she desires for her daughter is accomplished. She will not give up or let go of Jesus no matter how unwilling he seems, no matter how politically incorrect her request, no matter how much hostility she encounters from the disciples, the crowds or even Jesus himself. She will hold out.

Here is a woman with tenacity. How about you?

Stage V. TRIUMPH – The text says,  Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.

Here is the victory. She has gone from torment to triumph, by a tenacious and tested faith. Jesus now takes away the veil of his role and shows his true self, as the merciful, wonder-working Messiah and Lord.

Jesus says of her: “Great is your faith.” But how has it become so? In the crucible of testing, that is how. We may wonder at God’s delays, at his seeming disinterest or anger. But in the end, it is our faith that is most important to him.

Our faith is more important to God than our finances, our comfort, or our needed cures. For it is by faith that we are saved. We are not saved by our health, comforts money or good fortune. And God is willing to delay, he is willing to test us and try us, if only for the sake of our stronger faith by which he will save us. God saves us, but he does it through our faith.

Why all this delay, why suffering, why trials? Stronger faith. That is why. God may not come when you want him, but he’s always right on time. For his true goal is not merely to give us what we want, but what we need. And that is stronger faith.

Having done this, the Lord gives her the triumph. We too must accept that God’s truest blessing for us is not improved health or finances, but stronger faith.

Consider well the lesson of this Gospel. Though God often seems uninterested, even cruel, he is working his purposes out and seeking to grow our faith. Hard, you say? What parent among you has not had to do the same for every child? For children untested, untried, who get their every wish, and never have to wait, are spoiled, self centered and headed for ultimate ruin. Consider well that God knows exactly what he does and consider too that most of us are hard cases. God must often work mightily to get our attention and strengthen our faith. Do not give up on God, he is up to something good, very good.

Photo Credit: Goodsalt.com used with permission

I have it on the best of authority that as this woman saw Jesus coming up the road she sang this song:

Pass me not O gentle savior
hear my humble cry
while on others thou art calling
do not pass me by

Savior, savior, hear my humble cry
while on others thou art calling
do not pass me by

Let me at a throne of mercy
find a sweet relief
kneeling there in deep contrition
help my unbelief


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What Are Our Pets Really Saying? A Meditation on the Eager Expectation of All Creation

I am often struck with the mystery of the relationship that dogs and cats set up with their owners. While I realize that we humans do a lot of projecting of what we want their behavior to mean, it still remains to me a deeply mysterious reality of how our pets come to “know” us and set up a kind of communication with us.

Dogs especially are very demonstrative, interactive and able to make knowing responses. Cats are more subtle, but my own cat, Daniel knows my patterns and also knows how to communicate when he wants water or food, or just a back rub. He’s also a big talker, meowing all day long, to great people and draw attention from them.

As I say, this interaction with our animals is a mysterious thing. I do not raise this to suggest they are on par with us intellectually or morally. Scripture is clear enough that animals are given to us by God, and that we are sovereign stewards over them. And while it is never right to abuse animals, it is right that we make use of them in appropriate ways, and even make use of some of them as a food source (cf Gen 9:1-3).

But animals, especially our pets, are also to be appreciated as gifts of God. Scripture is also clear that the animals will be part of the renewed creation that God will bring about when Christ shall come again in glory:

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9)

Hence, when Christ from his judgment seat shall finally say, Behold, I make all things new (Rev 21:5), and with John we see a new heavens and a new earth (Rev 21:1), I have little doubt the animals will share in that recreated and renewed kingdom where death shall be no more (Rev 21:4).

Part of the Kingdom! So even now, without elevating pets (no matter how precious) to the full dignity of a human being, it is not wrong to think that they will be part of the Kingdom of God in all its restored harmony and beauty.

Maybe now, in the mystery of our interaction with them, God is giving us a glimpse of the harmony we will one day enjoy with all creation. Scripture says,

For indeed, creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God (Romans 8:19-21)

Yes, creation itself is eagerly waiting for the day when God says, (in the words of an old spiritual) Oh preacher fold your bible, for the last soul’s converted! And then creation itself will be set free from its bondage to death and decay and be gloriously remade into its original harmony and life-possessing glory that was once paradise.

Perhaps the mystery of our pets is that they are ambassadors for the rest of creation, a kind of early delegation set by God to prepare the way and the connections of the new and restored creation. Perhaps they are urging us on in our task to make the number of the elect complete so that all creation can sooner receive its renewal and be restored to the glory and harmony it once had. Who knows? But I see a kind of urgency in the pets I have had. They are filled with joy, enthusiasm and expectation of something great.

Joyful expectation! Yes, I have powerful memories of the dogs of my youth running circles around me, running to greet me when I arrived home, and jumping for joy when I announced a car ride or a walk. Even my cats of recent years, though more subdued, saunter over to meet me at the door with a meow, arched back, and a rubbing up against my leg. And when I see this joy and expectation in my pets the words of Romans 8 above will sometimes come to mind: creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

All deep mysteries to be sure, but surely pregnant with meaning, for we, humanity and all creation for the birth of a new creation.

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Photo Credit Above: This is a picture of I took of my brother’s Alaskan Malamute “Kaila” lying down with the family parakeet in early fulfillment of Isaiah 11 quoted above!

Enjoy this video as a dog looks with eager expectation to its owner. A friend of mine thinks this video was doctored. But I do not think so. Surely the human voice coming from the dog is added. But as for the mannerisms, they are just what I used to see in my dogs. The eyes and ears mean the dog is hearing his owner suggest a treat of some kind. This leads to nervous gestures such as standing, yawning, pacing, and even a moaning which makes the dog’s mouth move as though talking, but he is just making small sighs, yips and moans.  As you view this video, consider the words: creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

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No Deal Breakers

A well-known parenting expert, Dr. William Sears, writes about once having had a pretty big shouting match with his wife Martha in their kitchen. At one point their two young children, unaware of what was going on, walked into the kitchen, and then immediately turned and walked out. However, after playing outside for awhile, the two came back, only to find their mom and dad laughing, the fight long over.

Initially, Dr. Sears admits, he was distressed that his children had witnessed the fight. Later, however, he concluded that maybe they’d learned a valuable lesson, which is this: Two people can fight and wrestle with a difficult issue without their relationship being threatened, because they are truly committed to one another, having pledged to each other their unconditional love.

Such unbreakable commitment is part of the brilliance of God’s design for marriage, affirmed by Jesus in today’s gospel. In marriage, a man and a woman enter into a permanent, life-long bond, so that when the going gets rough, they don’t take the easy way out, packing up their bags and walking away. They’re forced to stay together and, with patience, love, courage, and forgiveness, to work through their difficulties and, with God’s grace, to grow as a couple, and as individuals.

This is God’s way with us, isn’t us? He has invited us into a permanent relationship- a covenant- which the Bible often describes as a marriage. And through it all, through all our ups and downs, God sticks with us, even if and when we walk away. In his unconditional love, God stays committed to us, even when we break our commitment to him- time, and time, and time again. Not for his benefit; not for his growth; but for ours.

Readings for today’s Mass: http://www.usccb.org/nab/081211.shtml

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Dumb Luck or Design? A Meditation on the Existence of Order

What with Stephen Hawking’s show “Curiosity” on full display, I too would like to express my curiosity about something in the Universe. And that something, is “order.” We are told by scientists that the universe seems to have exploded into being almost 14 billion years ago. And this explosion is still flying outward at almost 100 million miles an hour at the edges. The sparks and embers, and gas clouds of this fiery explosion are visible in the universe all about us. Fine, seems plausible enough and the evidence seems substantial.

But explosions do not usually lead to order, they more usually lead to chaos and disorder. Yet, as we observe the created world, we observe extensive order, galaxies, planetary systems, and the like. And, here on earth there is on display an extensive and exquisite amount of order all the way from the macro world of geophysical forces and weather, to micro world of the cell and atom. Order is evident everywhere, and not just within isolated systems, but also among and between them, as they act together in a marvelous harmony and unity of purpose. Consider how every cell and atom of your body, ordered systems in themselves, act together in harmony, forming ever more complex and ordered systems, to ultimately be the complex and ordered system that is you.

How such order? It is a great curiosity to me, if we were to keep God, or at least some controlling intelligence, out of the picture, how such order has come about, not just once by chance, but repeatedly.

Shazam! What if I were to tell you, that a tornado recently went through junk yard. As you can imagine there was a horrible amount of junk whirling around in the air. But here’s where the story really gets interesting. It seems that the tornado swirled that junk together just right because as the wind died down all those banana peals, cans, broken pieces of pottery, stuffing from old mattresses springs, car parts etc all swirled together into a fully functioning 747 jumbo jet airliner with a filled fuel tank and fully equipped cockpit. There was even a logo emblazoned on the tail fin: “Tall Tales Airlines.”

“Ah,” you say, ” The story’s touching but it sounds like a lie!” And sure enough, it is a tall tale. But how different is it really from what some atheists, and also certain evolutionists want us to believe about creation? I say some evolutionists because there are some forms of evolution that a Catholic may accept. For example a mitigated form of evolution that holds that things have evolved but God has guided the process.

But what many atheists and evolutionists want you to accept is that evolution, in fact everything that happened after the big bang is a chance happening, that evolution is “blind,” and that no intelligence guides it. It just happened by a chance coming together of certain forces and processes that has produced everything we see including ourselves. It all just happened on its own. Now if that seems plausible to you, then I have a 747 to sell you.

And this world, even our own bodies, are far more complex than a 747 Jumbo liner. And just as a mindless tornado can’t likely whip out a fully functioning 747 neither would a mindless explosion produce a fully functioning and orderly universe or even a fully functioning human person.

The existence of these orderly and complex systems surely bespeaks an intelligent designer. If you landed on a planet in some distant galaxy and found in the sand a functioning watch it is not “unreasonable” to conclude that some one with intelligence designed and made this for a purpose. You may not see any life on the planet now, but at some point there was intelligent life either living here or that visited here. But the point is that you would be on good grounds to conclude that the watch pointed to an intelligent designer.

Now I know that Science can’t formally call this designer “God.” We who believe do that. But it does not seem unreasonable to me that, within its own discipline, science can at least theorize an intelligence, a designer, is indicated by the evidence. At least scientists could allow the theory to coexist with other proposed explanations of the order and design we obviously encounter. The stubborn refusal by many in the scientific world to do this seems more ideological than scientific. And they hold it with the kind of “religious” zeal they claim to be above. They call us the fanatics but I wonder who really is more fanatical. Who really is ignoring the evidence here? To a large extent I think that it takes more “faith” to “believe” that all this happened by chance or due to blind evolution than simply to believe that an intelligent designer set all this forth.

I’d like to give two examples from creation to illustrate just how intricate and multi-layered creation is and then pose the ask the question “Dumb Luck or Design?”

MAGNIFICENCE OF LIFE– Consider the awesomeness of the human body. Its chemistry is just as extraordinarily well tuned as is the physics of the cosmos. Our world on both sides of the divide that separates life from lifelessness is filled with wonder. Each human cell has a double helix library of three billion base pairs providing fifty thousand genes. These three billion base pairs and fifty thousand genes somehow engineer 100 trillion neural connections in the brain—-enough points of information to store all the data and information contained in a fifty-million-volume encyclopedia. And then after that, these fifty thousand genes set forth a million fibers in the optic nerves, retinae having ten million pixels per centimeter, some ten billion in all, ten thousand taste buds, ten million nerve endings for smell, cells that exude a chemical come-on to lure an embryo’s lengthening neurons from spinal cord to target cell, each one of the millions of target cells attracting the proper nerve from the particular needed function. And all this three-dimensional structure arises somehow from the linear, one-dimensional information contained along the DNA helix. Dumb Luck or Design?

RARE EARTH ! The earth on which we live and which, by God’s grace sustains our life is surely miraculous. Consider the following facts. The life support system we call the solar system has just the correct distribution of large and medium sized planets to have swept clean most of the space through which Earth must travel. There are thus few asteroids anywhere near our path! Further, large gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, “catch” comets in their gravitational fields and keep these comets from targeting earth. Our star, the Sun, is just the right size to consume its supply of hydrogen and produce energy at a rate that provided the time and conditions for life to form. Our orbit through space, at 93 million miles from the Sun, departs from a true circle by only 3 percent. Were it as elliptical as is the orbit of Mars, the next planet out, we would alternate between baking when closer to the Sun and freezing when distant. Earth contains just enough internal radioactivity to maintain its iron core in a molten state. This produces the magnetic umbrella that deflects an otherwise lethal dose of solar radiation. The volcanic activity driven by this internal heating is just adequate to have released previously stored subterranean waters into our biosphere, making them available for life processes, but not so much volcanism as to shroud our planet in dust. Earth’s gravity is strong enough to hold the needed gases of our atmosphere but weak enough to allow lighter noxious gases to escape into space. All this is balanced at just the correct distance from our star so that our biosphere is warm enough to maintain water in its liquid, life-supporting, state, but not so warm that it evaporates away into space. A just-right Earth with just the needed gravity, radioactivity, magnetic field, and volcanic activity to support life is located at just the correct distance from the Sun to nurture the inception and development of life…all the ingredients come together in just the way. Dumb Luck or Design?

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Facebook and a Franciscan (St. Clare of Assisi)

Earlier this year, many people gave up using Facebook during Lent. They’d concluded that they were spending way too much time posting, sharing, tagging, poking, and whatever else is done on Facebook!

Facebook is one of the many new vehicles of social communication that have emerged in the past few years. All in all, they’re a good thing! They bring people together and can be effective tools in spreading the gospel. Just visit the website of the Archdiocese of Washington: we’re on Twitter, You Tube, Facebook, and we have podcasts and a daily blog.

At the same time, these things have their downside too. They can become an obsession, keeping us from work and family. And they certainly spread a lot of material this is, at the very least least, at odds with our faith.

I say all this because today is the feast day of St. Clare of Assisi. We know her as a friend and disciple of St. Francis, and she cared for him in his final days.  She was so inspired by his witness that she founded a religious order for women, known today as the Poor Clares, who lived a life of work and prayer within their monasteries.

When Clare was elderly and no longer able to attend Mass with her sisters, they posted a picture of the Mass on the wall of her room, so when they were gathered in chapel, she could gaze at her picture and be with them in Spirit. It was because of this that in 1958 she was named the patron saint of television, which at that time was the “cutting edge” new media.

As we use the new media available to us in our day, we can be challenged by St. Clare to use them only in ways that are consistent with our faith: in moderation, bringing friends and family together, spreading good news, and building up the kingdom of God.

Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons

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Orthodoxy Is In the Balance

As you may be aware heresy is not usually or simply the teaching of error or falsehood. What heresy more often involves is the teaching of one (or several) truths out of balance or proportion to other truths.

The Greek word from which heresy derives is haireisthai meaning “to choose or pick.” So the heretic usually chooses one truth but rejects other truths that might balance or nuance it. Some early heretics so emphasized the humanity of Christ that there was no room left for the divinity of Christ. Others so emphasized his divinity there was no room for his humanity. Heresy is frequently a struggle with extreme or exclusive thinking, a lack of balance.

Take an example from a parable in the Gospel that illustrates a delicate balance and how we often get this balance wrong today:

And Jesus told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’” (Luke 13:5-9)

Now this parable very carefully and delicately balances two concepts: God’s patience and, also, our ultimate judgment. God is patient and merciful, that is true, but that does not exclude the fact that we will and must one day face judgment before him. Plain and simple, both truths are taught and we must hold them both. Here are those truths:

  1. Truth # 1 – For those of us who still live here, it is a time of God’s patience, grace and mercy. Not only is God exhibiting patience with us he is, as the parable states “cultivating the ground around us and fertilizing.” In other words he is sending every necessary grace to help us grow in holiness, bear the fruits of righteousness and to be ready for the day of judgement. Praise the Lord for his mercy his patience and his grace.
  2. Truth # 2 – But there comes a day of reckoning, a day of judgement. There comes a moment when we must show forth the fruits of righteousness or be “cut down.” Elsewhere Jesus elaborates on this teaching: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful….If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. (John 15:1-6). The point here is that we must all face judgement and our life must be assessed.

Now one of the heresies of our time is that we are all for truth Number 1 but many simply reject truth number 2, or downplay it so much, that it no longer has any substance. Many in our time “choose” 1 and reject 2. Or they so emphasize 1, that 2 gets lost. It is easy for us to love mercy and celebrate it. And well we should. But judgment is also essential for our consideration and must balance truth 1.

And here is the key point: balance. Orthodoxy is about balance. And, what is at stake here in this parable is the theological virtue of hope. Without balance hope is lost and becomes either presumption or despair.

What is hope? Hope is the confident expectation of God’s help in attaining eternal life. Presumption and despair are both sins against hope.

Despair rejects the confident expectation that we can have of God’s help and grace. The one who despairs either doubts God’s grace, love and mercy, or does not consider them powerful enough to help him.

Presumption sins against hope by rejecting any real need for God’s help. As St. Paul says, “Who hopes for what one [already] has?” (Rom 8:24) For example, let’s say I have misplaced my Bible. Now I search for it in hopes that I will find it. But once I find it what happens to hope? It is fulfilled but it is also gone, no longer necessary. Many people today simply presume that they will have heaven. They don’t really need to hope for heaven, they already have it! Judgement and hell simply are not likely or even “possible.” Thus they sin against hope. How? In effect they simply choose (haireisthai) truth # 1 (mercy and aptience) and reject truth # 2 (judgement).

Again,  orthodoxy is about balance. Heresy is about picking and choosing. Some heretics pick one Bible verse or concept and make it the whole thing. But orthodoxy is about the whole range of truths held in proper balance and proportion. God is merciful but he also truthful. God is patient but there does come a day of reckoning: reward for some, exclusion for others. We find balance in all of Scripture not just favorite scriptures. All of Catholic dogma not just what we like.

This song speaks of God’s patience now, but also of an ultimate day when we die (are cut down) and face judgment. It says, “You can run on for a long time” (God’s patience), “But sooner or later God will cut you down (There is death, judgement and final reckoning). Enjoy a little Johnny Cash:

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