God and Contract Law: The Invitation to a Promise, the Promise, Accord & Satisfaction vs. A Gift

The Most Blessed Sacrament

Warning: Do not read this series of postings unless you are prepared to see The Sacrament in a whole new Light.  Start slow, and chew on the meditation.  More prayer than thoughtfulness is in order here to absorb the themes Good Thomas is revealing to us.

As we move into Pentecost and Corpus Christi, I'm going to go a bit out of order, skipping to Book 4, on The Blessed Sacrament.  Here goes!   (For those going in order, Book 1, Ch 3,  is here).

Book 4, Chapter 1: On How Great Reverence is to be Shown When Christ is to be Received

Book 4 opens with five New Testament quotes.  While the other books have many Scriptural references in the opening, only Book 4 opens with Christ, as part of a prayerful conversation, directly quoting from the New Testament. 

Thomas always gets it right in that he sees The Word, The Eternal Word (Jesus) and The Blessed Sacrament as intimately intertwined.  You cannot have one without the other and have a complete meal.  Without one, you will always leave the banquet hungry.

Therefore, Thomas opens the book on The Eucharist with a meditation on the Words of Christ, offering an invitation from Jesus to believe and then rely upon His True Presence in The Blessed Sacrament.  The result of that reliance? Spirit and Life. So, first the quotes:

The Voice of Christ:
"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." Matt 11:28
"[T]he bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." John 6:51
"This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 1 Cor 11:24
"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him." John 6:56
"The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life." John 6:63

Thomas will now make his case with a question and a comparison: How can we dare to approach the Altar of God and receive Holy Communion when we don’t measure up to the likes and efforts of Noah, Moses, David, Solomon, The Angels, and The Saints? His conclusion will be that we can never be worthy or measure up. But as Thomas will repeat throughout this chapter, God keeps inviting and reminding us: “Of course you don’t qualify to be here, but come anyway! Come because My Son has opened the gates of Heaven and Grace for you.”

Disciple:

The Breaking of the Bread by Ariel Agemian



These are your words, O Christ, the Eternal Truth, though not all delivered at one time, nor written in one place.

Since, therefore, these are Your words, and true, all are to be received by me with thanks and with faith.


These are Your words and You have spoken them; and these words are also mine because you have delivered these for my salvation.


I willingly receive Your words from Your mouth that these may be more integrated, yes even grafted into my heart forever.

Such great and tender words! Full of sweetness and love - this encourages me; but my sins terrify me and my unclean conscience keeps me back from approaching such great mysteries. The sweetness of your words invites me, but the multitude of my sins weighs me down.

I find these words of Thomas particularly personal from Thomas.  He is truly edified by Christ's words and yet fully aware of his unworthiness created by his sins. Still, he believes upon the Promises and joyfully approaches the Altar, aware of his fear, his shortcomings and The Lord's Grace.



Professor Kingsfield from "The Paper Chase"
portrayed by John Houseman

This whole first line of quotes and discussion reminds me of the first year of law school, Contracts class, where we discuss the foundation of Contract law, which is the notions of Offer, Acceptance and Consideration:  An offer is supported by a promise, and has to have consideration (a giving up of something of value).  For the contract to be complete, there must be acceptance by the person the offer is being made to - that's us.



In the opening quotes, we have Jesus' invitation to a promise, the promise, the fulfillment of the promise.  His 'consideration' was his death on the cross.  Our consideration is the 'giving up' of our selfish lives for following Him. In imitating Him, we find out how much more He gives us and how we can never give back enough. 

So God binds Himself to an eternal contract - a covenant, really, which is essentially unilateral (He must do it even if we do not perfectly perform our end of the bargain!).  So, it is an enforceable Gift. Wow!  Who said studying the law wasn't profitable?

Next time, we will look at God's invitation to us....

Thank you for reading and praying along with me. 'Til next time, be Imitators of Christ!

tim

Haughty, and Knotty, and Proud of it! Where are You Among the Billions and Billions?

Thomas opens Chapter two: On Having an Humble Opinion of One’s Self with the notion that we first have a natural desire to know things about our world, our selves, and He Who made us. Thomas’ caution goes back to the Garden of Eden, when Adam & Eve looked to the tree of knowledge and decided that they, too, should avail themselves of its fruit even though God told them not to pursue its fruits. While Thomas does not cite to Gn 2, the notion is the same:

Everyman naturally desires to know (or have knowledge), but what does knowledge profit you without the fear and respect of God?

Indeed a simple peasant that serves God is better than a proud scholar who watches the stars but neglects knowledge of himself. (see Sirach 19:20-21)

He who truly knows himself well is vile in his own eyes and is not delighted with being praised by others. If I should know all things that are in the world and should not be in charity (Rm 8:8, 1 Cor 13:2) how would it help me in the sight of God who will judge me by my deeds?

Thomas brings us to a comparison of a simple peasant who serves the Lord, compared with a haughty scholar who knows where the stars are in the night sky, but not of the One who made the stars. This reminded me of Carl Sagan.  God tells us that he will repay the haughty (see ps 31 below) in opposition to the protection of the loyal.  So snap out of it, you naughty haughty!

Thomas then calls us to bring our conscience into focus. If we are honest with ourselves, and know our own thoughts and our own history, we know that what Thomas is saying here is as true as St. Paul’s letter to Timothy (1 Tim 1: 13-15*) where Paul delineates his sins and calls himself chief among sinners. So that makes me at least second…Where are you on the list?

Next time, we’ll look see what Thomas has to say about heuristic algorithims….huh?

Thank you for reading and praying along with me. 'Til next time, be Imitators of Christ!

tim

See also:  Psalm 31: 23-24


23 Once I said in my anguish, "I am shut out from your sight." Yet you heard my plea, when I cried out to you.

24 Love the LORD, all you faithful. The LORD protects the loyal, but repays the haughty in full.

25 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

"Well said, teacher." Chapter 3 Book 1, cont'd - Looking for Loopholes like W.C. Fields

Chapter 3, Book 1.....continued.Seeking profitable Truth over the obscure.

Thomas then takes us to a short teaching on what's worth discussing:

"What availeth (what use is)  a great dispute about abstruse and obscure matters for not knowing which we shall not be questioned on the day of judgment.

It is a great folly for us to neglect things profitable and necessary, and willingly to busy ourselves about those which are curious and hurtful.  We have eyes and see not Ps 115:5."

The passage from Mark immediately came to mind:  In Mk 12:18-27 the Sadduccees were questioning Jesus about the Resurrection.  They babbled on, setting a trap for Jesus, about 7 brothers, the first of which married, then died.  Each subsequent brother having to then marry the bride of the first brother.  Who's wife will she be at the Resurrection. 

Jesus (who I imagine must have been smirking) having listened to them, then answers swiftly.  "Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?"  He goes on to teach them. He quotes Ex 3:6, about Moses and the burning bush and says: "He is not the God of the dead but of the living.  You are greatly misled."

Sometimes we are like Sadduccees, debating details of arguments, trying to figure it all out, while missing the Truth. Like W.C. Fields, were reading Scripture looking for loopholes!

Right after correcting the Sadducees, Jesus quotes Dt 6:4-5.  This is the Truth He is getting to for all of us -

"'Hear, O Israel!  The Lord our God is Lord alone!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is not other commandment greater than these.  The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher."Mk 12:28-32.

 Every time I pick up this profound book, I feel like I'm there with Jesus at this moment of teaching.  When Jesus says something, it is always true.  I find myself guilty of entering into the quibbling.  Then I go back to the basics.  I go back to where He teaches me the Truth.  And all I can say afterward is "Well said, teacher."  I can only pray that He will say back to me:

"You are not far from the kingdom of God.Mk 12:34"

Until next time.
tim

Everyone wants to belong - listening is the hard part

The next few reflections will cover a single chapter - Chapter 3, Book I: The Doctrine of Truth.

In reading chapters like this (and there are many!) it is difficult to isolate a single verse without commentary.  And so breaking it up and praying on each seems the better way.

It is profitable, therefore, to look at one of several places in Scripture where our Lord discusses Truth.  This one with Pilate.  I note that Jesus never wastes His time, not even on pagans.  He's always sharing the Truth:

John 18:37-38

"So Pilate said to Him 'Then you are a king?'  Jesus answered, 'You say I am a king.  For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."  Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"

Good Thomas opens this chapter with the following:

"Happy is he whom Truth teaches by itself, not by figures and words that pass, but as Truth is in itself.  Ps 18:36, Is 28:26"

Sometimes, we get wrapped up in ideas and experiences which supposedly show us who God is.  We think we know the Him because someone told us how it is supposed to feel.....or we bowed our head and said the magic words.  But instead of investigating the matter, we quickly form an opinion or try to replicate the feeling through our eyes or other senses...even our ears, without listening for the God's still, small Voice (1 Kings 19:12-13).

Thomas refers to two Scriptures from which he makes this claim.  In Psalm 18, David personifies truth as a protecting shield, or even God's right Hand.  A protecting shield in ancient times covered the soldier's vital parts from his neck to his thigh.  Other shields were even larger, requiring a shield bearer who held the shield for the fighter.  These shields were heavy and durable and could withstand any weapon of the time.  It is thought that the Star of David comes from this verse, as does the rabbinic phrase "Shield of Abraham" which was a direct reference to God.

When God teaches us directly (like Jeseus did Pilate), the teaching is clear and reliable.  We can boldly stand behind the Truth, just as a soldier can rely on his shield to protect him against the onslaught of the enemy. A reckless disregard for the dangers of the battlefield will quickly expose the soldier to pain or death: even from small weapons. 

And so Thomas continues:

"Our opinion and our senses often deceive us and discover but little."

Confused, we may become indifferent or drop into old habits....  We step out from behind the Shield and get nicked by a piece of debris that infects us.  An infected wound can kill just as well as a spear - only slower.

We don't even know we are infected until the wound's poison has reached other aspects of our health.  At that point, we need major surgery.  Our soul needs The Great Physician.

The Lord will reach out to us, not with weak slivers of a conceptual framework, but with Truth that we can easily stand behind to defend our families, our lives... our very souls.  That is our prescription for being healed.

Until next time.
tim

Ps 18:36 reads:  You have given me your protecting shield; Your right Hand has upheld me; You stooped to make me great.

Is 28:26 reads: He has learned this rule, instructed by his God.