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| Credit: Maria Christini |
A Reflection on God’s
Plan and Arrest of St. John the Baptist (Matthew 4:12-17)
In my early days of
ministry (back in the early 80’s and 90’s) I was very outspoken about the
injustice of secular societies attacks on the Christianity in general but the
Catholic Church most specifically. I lamented ad nauseum about the bias of the
government and the media and how they never tried to understand the great
travesty of truth that poured out of every orifice of those institutions.
I guess God gave me a
little wake-up call back in 2005. I was
diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and told by some of the best doctors at the
University of Michigan Hospital that I had six months to live. That, my brothers and sisters, puts serious
pressure on one to assess how they expend their energies. It was then that I
made, what in my wife’s Hispanic culture, is called a promesa, a promise
to God. In paraphrase I said, “God, if you give me life beyond what the doctors
have told me, I promise I will dedicate the first two or three hours each day
to the study and reflection on the Word of God.
Shortly after I made the promesa,
I received my first Anointing of the Sick and began my journey of treatment
which ended up lasting about a month because after a biopsy and a lobectomy
(removing the middle lobe of my right lung), I was told by UM Pathology
(apparently not known for their absolute pronouncement of findings) that what
was there was an “Inflammatory Pseudotumor.” In other words, it walked like a
duck and talked like a duck, but it wasn’t a duck. In short, God answered my prayer and was
holding me to my promesa!
The result was what many
of you know to be my daily scripture blog (https://servantofthewordii.blogspot.com/)
which is now in its 15th year of publication. It has resulted in 6 e-books and has
consistently had over 200 subscribers, mostly priests and deacons. I have now written commentary on every piece
of scripture used in all the readings provided in the 4 Volume Lectionary for
Mass and the Volume of Special Masses for the Blessed Virgin Mary on top of
writing reflections on every Mass setting provided in Cycles A, B, and C as
well Years I & II and the Propers of Saints of the Roman Calendar. I continue praying reflecting and writing
each morning (in spite of the fact that, as a trained biochemist, I do not
generally write or spell well). It is noteworthy to say about ten years ago a
very learned subscriber, David Faulkner and after he passed on to the Father,
his wife the equally gifted Joanne Faulkner from Connecticut joined me as proof
readers.)
All the above is simply
some background for the why and how I came to the decision to write this short
reflection of the mystery of God’s Plan and why we, as servants of God, should
not despair if we feel the world hates our Lord and Savior and seeks to
disparage his Glorious Name.
I am not going to
characterize this short piece as comprehensive Scripture scholarship but rather
a summary reflection. It started with an
image in my mind of a Roman sword slapping water and spray flying off in all
directions. Along with the image came the quote from Zachariah 13:7
"Strike the shepherd that the sheep may be scattered.” Which was
also quoted in Matthew
26:31. The image and the words came and I once again marvel
at God’s (I hesitate to use the word genius, because that would
anthropomorphize something divine) incredible plan for our salvation.
I will leave it to the
reader to fill in the blanks but each time the enemy strikes at his faithful,
the unintended consequence of the Glorification of God comes about, and the
Word of God flies in all directions, taking root wherever it lands and finds
fertile soil. One example is our brother
Deacon Phillip (see Acts:
8:36-39). He was
fleeing Jerusalem because of the persecution (the flat of blade hits the water,
sending spray everywhere) and encounters the Ethiopian eunuch. The seed is planted, and baptism follows.
We can go even grander,
see what happens to the disciples following Christ’s crucifixion! Rome has
conquered Palestine and implemented Roman order, roads, infrastructure,
communication systems. They made it easy
for the disciples to scatter, (the sword slaps the water) and the disciples,
following Pentecost, scatter. This would
not have been an intended plan of men! What further need of proof so we need
that that of the Apostolate of St. Thomas the Apostle? He did not go to India because he wanted to:
“The story itself runs
briefly as follows: At the division of the Apostles, India fell
to the lot of Thomas, but he declared his inability to go, whereupon his
Master Jesus appeared
in a supernatural way
to Abban, the envoy of Gundafor, an Indian king, and sold Thomas to him to be
his slave and serve Gundafor as a carpenter. Then Abban and Thomas sailed away
until they came to Andrapolis, where they landed and attended the marriage
feast of the ruler's daughter.” I would not argue that it
was perhaps the other apostles who sold Thomas into indulgence, but the sword
hit the water and Thomas found roots in India where he was martyred to the
glory of God.
Sacred Scripture is full
of such stories, and they continue to this day.
In 2005 in the Rogal Cancer center the sword hit the water and I write glorifying
God’s name. In the Gospel St. John the Baptist who proceeded our Lord in all
things in his life, is arrested and Jesus, fresh from his contest with the evil
one in the desert (Matthew
4:1-11) goes North and all of Galilee trembles, and the
mighty works of the Messiah whose birth was just heralded by choirs of angels
begins.
Thurston,
H. (1912). St. Thomas the Apostle. In
The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14658b.htm
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