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Taken by Violence

Siege

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.


“The Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.” 

The interpretations of this saying of Jesus are many and varied.

One attributed to St. Jerome, original translator of the Bible into Latin, refers to the mortification of our own passions and inclinations. This mortification is “violent” to our fallen nature, and it is necessary for entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus is drawing a distinction between the time of the prophets, and the time from John the Baptist until His present, that is, the Messianic time.

It would seem safe to say that the difference between these two eras was not that there was more violence in one than in the other. The difference was that the violence in Jesus’ time was retaking the Kingdom of Heaven.

We would love if it were otherwise, but the reopening–the retaking–of the Kingdom of Heaven did and does involve violence. To reopen the door to Heaven shut by original sin, as St. Jerome’s interpretation indirectly indicates, Jesus had and has to do violence to the evil tendencies brought to us by original sin. But also, Jesus Himself had to suffer violence to save us–“The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence.”

Without attempting to put fine a point on the interpretation of this passage, let us meditate on the fact that our time in salvation history involves turbulence and even violence associated with the the encounter of the Holy One, in history and in our own lives, with the evil force of original sin. And let’s get ready for constant battle.

But, the prize is worth it, as the first reading tells us. “I will open up rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the broad valleys; I will turn the desert into a marshland, and the dry ground into springs of water.”

When we let Jesus and His Holy Spirit into our lives, this is not an entirely peaceful event. “I have come to bring, not peace, but a sword.” (cf. Mt. 10:34) But the fulfillment He brings if we welcome Him and the battle He brings into our hearts is no less than the effect of life-giving irrigation on earth parched and exhausted by sin.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Tell Jesus you understand that the transformation He brings will not be easy–but that you trust Him to give you the strength to bear it, and that you want Him and all He brings, even if that includes pain and conflict. Your trust is the greatest consolation any creature can bring Him.

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Not Peace but a Sword

Sword

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.


Why did Jesus, per today’s Gospel passage, come to create division and set family members against each other? This doesn’t sound very Christian. At least, not in the Ned Flanders brand of Christianity, the ding-dong-diddly let’s-all-be-friendly kind of way.

If we wish to follow Christ, we have to stomach today’s gospel.

Christianity creates division not just because its moral code is tough to follow, or because of belief in difficult things like the Trinity and the Eucharist. Christianity causes division, often bitter division, because it invites us to a radical transformation of our nature through intimate participation in the divinity. This transformation is difficult and painful, and, Christianity tells us, necessary for our happiness. Many consciously decline to pursue the path of Christianity because it involves radical and difficult transformation, and the awareness–perhaps subconscious–that happiness is not possible without that transformation causes bitterness.

So, it is an empirically observable phenomenon that many who choose not to follow the path of Christ are bitter toward those who do.

It is in this sense that Christ has come to cause division–only in the sense that the exaltation and glory, and associated transformation, that He offers us in association with salvation is so very radical.

But it is in this same glorious transformation that St. Paul exalts in the first reading: “That you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones
what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Meditate on the crucifix, the price your salvation cost Jesus, and consider the how great the glories described in the first reading must be in light of that cost. In full knowledge that the transformation Jesus wishes to perform within you is radical, and that it involves sharing His cross and suffering, tell Him that you choose Him unconditionally, forever, and ask Him for the grace and strength to stay faithful to Him.

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