The God factor

Today's gospel contains instructions about what to do in times of persecution. Flee if you can, stand fast, don't worry. The Son of Man is coming. The words apply both to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. when the Romans besieged and destroyed the heart of Judaism, and also to the end of the world. In other ways, they might apply to any time in which the disciples of Jesus face into the storms of history. 

What is our place in all that tribulation? Many people become deeply concerned about preparing for the end times. They devour prophecies and adopt devotions of varying hues, backed by solemn promises from seers here and there. There are maps and calendars that offer themselves as clues for the initiated, detailing what to do and how to cope with the coming trials. This, the devout feel, is their duty in such times.

And yet, these are in many ways superficial responses to the tribulations. It is possible for our religiosity to create a lot of effervescent froth on the surface of our lives but not to penetrate to our very heart. It is not that we are above devotions: that was the error of the toe-curling hippies of the 1960s and 1970s. But rather, such devotions only make sense when they are grounded on a deep, inner living in the Divine Will; when they are begun and ended with our prayer to Mary to teach us always to say yes to the Lord every moment of our lives (a yes that might require us to be busy about the duties of our state of life); when they are accompanied by a resolve to remain the teachable disciples of Christ and by a refusal to become gibbering enthusiasts who are pleased with the strength of their own convictions. God save us all from the coarseness of enthusiasm!

This is not so much about conquering ourselves by our own power; it is about letting ourselves be rescued by the God who saves us. It is about welcoming His power into our hearts to relieve us of the palsy and the sclerosis of our vices. And when Jesus tends our wounds - when we let Him do so - then we can turn to Him. Then His energy becomes our elan. We are not the heroes here. God is. We need the God factor.

Yet there is a tendency sometimes to think ourselves the heroes of the scenes of the gospel. At the moment, we hear a lot about being a listening Church. We have to be attentive to what Jesus is telling us. But if we want to be the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we are going to have to accept that at some point Jesus will tell us we are being foolish! Our calculations are all too human; and our way of thinking is not God's way. Can we listen to that? Can we hear about our own fat-headedness? Or will we then hide away under cover of being a listening Church, listening to voices that are not of God?

Here too, we need the God factor. We need not worry that we are on the edge of a battle, or that we might flunk it in our foolishness. We need only keep our eyes on Him who keeps His eyes on us.