{"id":1564,"date":"2017-04-23T07:16:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-23T11:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sjcmetheology.wpengine.com\/?p=1564"},"modified":"2017-04-23T07:16:25","modified_gmt":"2017-04-23T11:16:25","slug":"1564-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/1564-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Betting There\u2019ll Be a Big Safety Net"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost fifty years ago, movie cop \u201cDirty Harry\u201d Callahan asked \u201cWell, punk, do you feel lucky today?\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes Harry\u2019s crooks chose wisely not to resist arrest, but others tried their luck and lost.\u00a0 A lesson lurks there about avoiding mindless violence.\u00a0 Harry possesses superior (fire)power\u2014why fight back? Make a better decision because the only alternative is swift, violent retribution.\u00a0 This line, shorn of the violent scenes, came to me reflecting on today\u2019s readings<\/a>.\u00a0 The Second Sunday of Easter features readings from Acts, Psalm 118, I Peter, and the striking post-Resurrection scene with \u201cdoubting Thomas\u201d in John 20.\u00a0 Every Scripture offers a rich banquet, but this day particularly so. Even before we reach the Gospel we encounter \u201cthe stone the builders have rejected\u201d which becomes the cornerstone and an account of the Church featuring the works of mercy.\u00a0 It is this passage in Acts 2 from which Cardinal Ratzinger\/Benedict XVI launches his discussion of communion ecclesiology in Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith<\/u><\/em> (2005). The Church\u2019s communitarianism\u2014spiritual and material\u2014constitutes, Benedict states, the true freedom found only in the Trinity (p. 58).<\/p>\n

Thus \u201cDo you feel lucky today?\u201d\u2014because God\u2019s mercy comes only through the Church, why gamble on it being any wider?\u00a0 Every reading today instructs us to make wise choices. I Peter makes this particularly clear: through mercy, God in Christ bequeaths us \u201can inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time<\/em>\u201d. Thus the communion of the Church is far more than mere material assistance, but a foretaste of the Trinity\u2019s communion.\u00a0 Don\u2019t bet on finding this anywhere else (and, for any Schleiermacherian readers out there, this applies especially to our idiosyncratic experiences).\u00a0 There\u2019s no need to gamble on God\u2019s mercy\u2014we know where to find it. Better than Dirty Harry\u2019s offer, too, because why issue a threat when God\u2019s offer far surpasses anything we know?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Perhaps that rosy vision might seem too Pelagian.\u00a0 \u201cCome on, all you need to do is stay within the Church and presto! Mercy!\u201d\u00a0 No, the Gospel promises that God helps those who cannot<\/u><\/em> help themselves.\u00a0 This, of course, includes all of us. It becomes all the more important to remember that today is also Divine Mercy Sunday, a fitting celebration of God\u2019s mercy following the Triduum.\u00a0 While the novelty has not yet worn off, Divine Mercy Sunday likewise has gained a popular following in parishes and online<\/a>.\u00a0 Beyond the devotional practices\u2014venerating the image, praying the Chaplet\u2014the Divine Mercy tradition contributes an astonishing reminder.\u00a0 St. Faustina records Jesus stating His mercy extends to all, especially those souls apparently furthest from Him.\u00a0 \u201cLet the greatest sinners place their trust in My mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the abyss of My Mercy\u201d (Divine Mercy in My Soul<\/u><\/em>, #1146). And \u201cthe greater the misery of a soul, the greater its right to My mercy\u201d (#1182).\u00a0 At one level this is not new\u2014the Gospel like today\u2019s reading teaches us the very same point about salvation in Christ through faith.\u00a0 It is, though, a refreshing jolt to have this universal message conveyed through such a particular channel like St. Faustina. Her experiences are not merely spiritualized escapism. Like the early Church in today\u2019s readings, actual corporal works of mercy must accompany prayer (#742).\u00a0 Obviously we are a far distance away from \u201cDo you feel lucky today?\u201d, but also obviously the breadth of Christ\u2019s mercy extends more widely than we know or admit.<\/p>\n

An indication of my inner Augustianism is my stubborn refusal to recognize that I, the trained theologian, might have construed God\u2019s mercy much more narrowly than St. Faustina, \u201cmerely\u201d a nun in interwar Poland.\u00a0 On the surface, the Divine Mercy seems like yet another expression of Catholic devotionalism.\u00a0 One more image, one more set of prayers, etc.\u00a0 Our elitism, though, should not blind us to Divine Mercy\u2019s lesson:\u00a0 that through the very particular, God conveys the very gift of His all-encompassing mercy.\u00a0 Again, the Gospel already proclaims this.\u00a0 Jesus does not merely offer salvation in some general fashion; He accomplishes it by being a Jewish carpenter from Nazareth who dies in a particular (and particularly awful) way and then rises on the third day. Thus “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?<\/em> Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” <\/em><\/p>\n

Next month the Church will recognize the centenary anniversary of another devotional expression of this same lesson.\u00a0 The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three young children shepherding near Fatima, Portugal, in May, 1917.\u00a0 Pope Francis will canonize them next month as part of the one hundredth anniversary celebration<\/a>.\u00a0 The Fatima apparition, appearing during the First World War and requesting spiritual resistance to Bolshevik aggression, resembles the Divine Mercy in its devotional popularity and scholarly skepticism.\u00a0 On the other hand, St. John Paul II, clearly a scholar, expressed firm devotion to both<\/a>!\u00a0 The \u201cFatima Prayer\u201d, requested by the blessed Mother to be added to the end of each Rosary decade<\/a>, expresses the same sort of radical inclusivism we find in Divine Mercy.\u00a0 \u201cOh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 This is one of those instances where the literal interpretation is also the scariest:\u00a0 that could mean anybody<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 It is our fallen nature that pulls back, that hesitates.\u00a0 We all know people\u2014public figures<\/a> as well as personal friends<\/a> and acquaintances\u2014who fit the bill \u201cthose in most need of Thy mercy\u201d.\u00a0 When we are honest with ourselves, we realize this include us, too.\u00a0 This also dismisses utterly any lingering \u201cDo you feel lucky today?\u201d resentments.\u00a0 We remain called through today\u2019s readings into the Church and thus God\u2019s great, unmerited Gift. Fatima and Divine Mercy remind us of another Scriptural reminder:\u00a0 that God\u2019s mercy through Christ extends far beyond our comprehension to those who appear much farther astray<\/a>.\u00a0 Yet we should not presume, betting on God\u2019s mercy (Romans 6:1).<\/p>\n

Guest blogger Jeffrey Marlett<\/strong> blogs at Spiritual Diabetes<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost fifty years ago, movie cop \u201cDirty Harry\u201d Callahan asked \u201cWell, punk, do you feel lucky today?\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes Harry\u2019s crooks chose wisely not to resist arrest, but others tried their luck and lost.\u00a0 A lesson lurks there about avoiding mindless … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,21,23,1],"tags":[93,94],"class_list":["post-1564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastoral-theology","category-saints","category-spirituality","category-uncategorized","tag-divine-mercy","tag-divine-mercy-sunday"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}