Did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation... by signs and wonders...?" (Deuteronomy 4:34)
Brother,
In today's readings, Sacred Scripture is calling our attention to two things as we navigate through the 18th week of Ordinary Time. 1.) The purpose of wonder and 2.) The paradox of freedom and the paradoxes of the Lord.
The paradox of freedom
The essence of freedom is FROM something FOR something else. From the beginning of it's creation humanity has been deceived into thinking that "freedom" means the right to "do whatever I want."
This philosophy leads the soul to abuse it's freedom (CCC 397-398, 1733) and, therefore, commit acts which is below it's nature. And as a result, slavery.
How many times, brother, do the very things we think will make us free, end up enslaving us? On the other hand, how many times do the things we believe will enslave us, actually make us free? This is the paradox of freedom.
True freedom is possessing the ability to do what we ought to do. And what we ought to do should be centered on what is right and just. Because justice is the foundation of charity. And this is what God is trying to get Israel to understand.
The purpose of wonder
What "god" has ever dared take a nation FOR itself FROM the midst of another nation by wonder?
In other words, what god has ever attempted save a people from slavery for the freedom to love it's Creator; and doing so by the power of its own wonder and glory?
The gods of ancient Rome and Greece enslaved their people for their own selfishness. The God of the universe freed Israel by WONDER; by glory. In this context, God’s Glory is salvific in a REAL –– literal –– way.
Fulton sheen, in his telecast on Fear & Anxieties, said:
The effect of magnitude is to create in one, wonder. Wonder is the beginning of all philosophy.
In Aristotle's Metaphysics he stated that wonder leads us to realize we lack knowledge about something. Leading us to a desire to understand, wonder motivates the soul to seek answers.
For Aristotle wonder serves as an ignition, sparking curiosity. Compelling the soul to seek answers in order to eliminate ignorance. And as a result, the soul possess a deeper understanding of the world around it.
There is zero value in knowing evil
But the soul ought to be prudent with curiosity. Wonder and curiosity ought to be ordered to God. When it becomes ordered to serve our own end, our own base passions, it becomes a perversion of wonder. For example, the philosophy of "I need to know what that is like; I need to experience it first." This is the sin of Eve.
Curiosity ordered to ourselves becomes an obsession and an addiction to please one's ego. There is zero value in knowing evil. Is the soul better off witnessing the murder of innocence? Is a soul better off after living through the hell of war?
Will these experiences not bring remorse to his conscience?
I can tell you as a former Captain of the Imperial Guard... there is zero value in knowing evil.
One does not need to experience evil to understand it. No less than a physician needs to experience cancer in order to understand how it works in order to eradicate it from the body.
The faculty of the memory
(12) I will recall the deeds of the Lord; yes, recall your wonders of old. (13) I will ponder all your works; on your exploits I will meditate. (Ps 77:12-13)
One of the three faculties of the soul is the memory. It is given to the soul by God as a gift. Not only to recall our sin in order to seek penance and be reconciled to Him. But to also recall His "wonders of old." And through His wonder –– through beauty –– the intellect orders itself to the contemplation of God.
And as a result, the soul may enter into communion with his Creator –– which is man's ultimate end.
The wonder of creation is one of two ways the soul can deduce, through reason, and reach a logical conclusion the existent of God.
Starting from movement, becoming, contingency, and the world order and beauty, one can come to a knowledge of God, as the origin and the end of the universe. CCC 32
This is what we know as "natural revelation." Coming to know the existence of God through creation.
What is beauty?
Take a look at the world around you.
The universe had order.
All creation has beauty.
Everything has purpose.
St. Augustine issues this challenge...
Question the beauty of the Earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air, distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky… Question all these realities. They’ll respond: 'see, we are beautiful.' Their beauty is a profession. These beauties are subject to change. Who made them is not, the Beautiful One who is not subject to change? ~ St. Augustine, Sermo 241, 2:PL 38,1134.
(Emphasis mine.)
Beauty has meaning; it is a means to access the higher reality of God. The Psalms, for example, are a form of beauty because they are a means to access the high reality of God. To contemplate on the reality that is God.
Wonder and beauty are that which draw us to the contemplation of God. St. Ignatius of Loyola tells us that "all creatures were given to man to lead him to his proper end." And this end is that man was created as a result of love, so man could in return love his Creator. If we can't believe in God... believing in anything else means nothing.
Why?
Because without God nothing has meaning.
Everything is an accident.
Most importantly, there are 3 objective truths/consequences if God does not exist.
- There is no free will (because everything is "fixed" and absolute).
- There is no such thing as right or wrong.
- There is no meaning to the universe.
The second way we can come to the knowledge of God
The human person.
Yes.
Literally look yourself in the mirror.
Your life has order.
You are beautiful.
Your life has meaning.
400 Trillion to 1
These are the current odds of you being born and here reading my words. 400 TRILLION TO 1 brother. Of all the people and combinations throughout history which had to first, come into existence and secondly, come together to give birth to... YOU is a miracle in itself.
God WILLED for YOU to be born.
He knew every hair on your head and called you by name (Jeremiah 1:5). You are not an accident and you're certainly NOT an animal.
Every aspect of your being has order. You possess a rational soul and are the only creature on earth God has willed for your own sake (CCC 356).
Being in the image of God, the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self knowledge, of possession, and a freely, giving himself and entering into communion with other persons, and he is called by grace to a covenant with his creator, to offer Him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give him his steed. ~ CCC 357
The sole purpose of your existence is to share in God's life.
The Paradoxes of the Lord
And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the time of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at anytime time to bring forth fruit." Jeremiah (17:8)
- Fruitfulness in dryness.
- Life in Death.
- Success during hardship.
This is what the prophet Jeremiah is telling us. In the Gospel, Jesus reveals, arguably, the greatest paradox of God:
(24) Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me (25) For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (26) What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? (Matthew 16:24-26)
To die is to LIVE; to live for self is to die.
Jesus is teaching (and showing) us the ORDER and hierarch of values; choosing God's will over ours. But you get to choose.
Two things are certain: 1.) Whoever chooses to remain the same, shall LOSE and 2.) Whoever chooses adventure, shall win; shall LIVE!
Thanks for reading.
Your brother in Christ,
St. Sebastian "The Dauntless Christian"
References:
- Scripture Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080825.cfm
- CCC 397, on the abuse of freedom: https://www.catholiccrossreference.online/catechism/#!/search/397-398
- CCC 1733, on the abuse of freedom: https://www.catholiccrossreference.online/catechism/#!/search/1733
- CCC 31-33, on the two ways to come to know God's existence: https://www.catholiccrossreference.online/catechism/#!/search/31-33
- St. Augustine's Easter sermon, The beauty of the unchangeable creator is to be inferred from the beauty of the changeable creation: https://www.vatican.va/spirit/documents/spirit_20000721_agostino_en.html
- The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, p.31
- CCC 356-357, on being willed for one's own sake: https://www.catholiccrossreference.online/catechism/#!/search/356-357