Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

ASSESSMENT

            At times I see it as so funny when human beings assess God with the power of their reasoning and not the gift of faith. The Age of Enlightenment introduced a lot of wayward things in the life of man and chief among them was the use of reason to assess one’s faith in God and in the Church. Many adherents of the Enlightenment philosophy thought that man had blindly obey the Church and so they should use the power of their reasoning to conduct the affairs of their lives.

            Once you become a Christian, one ought to obey God without questioning because obedience to God does not follow Aristotle’s method of syllogism neither does it need Socrates’ dialectic. Aristotle’s syllogism demands reasoning by deductive logic while Socrates’ dialectic calls for reasoning by dialogue to arrive at a conclusion. The Christian way does not need the “Methodic doubt” of Rene Descartes. The French Catholic philosopher sought to understand the mysteries of life and God through the power of human reasoning and so he made the famous statement “cogito ego sum” (I think therefore, I am).

            I give this philosophical introduction because of the Gospel text given to us for our reflection. It’s been a week since the Lord rose from the dead and not until the second week majority of his disciples had not physical seen him and so they were in a kind “shakiness of faith”. The Lord gifted them with his presence but unfortunately Thomas was not there when he came. What he had gone out to do, he alone can tell us but today is not for such discussion. Now, Thomas tell his friends that unless he sees the Lord himself and touch his wound marks he refuses to believe.

            Thomas wanted to assess the post-resurrection events with the power of his reasoning and bring the resurrection to terms with empiricism (empiricism states that all concepts originate from experience). Dear friends in Christ, Christianity cannot operate on that tangent. Christianity is not deism whereby the mystery of God lies within the assessing powers of man’s reason. Christianity is about ob-audire (a total surrender to the voice of God without questioning). One thing Christians are encouraged to note is that Jesus can chose to speak to us directly without any human intermediaries, while in most cases in our contemporary times he chooses to speak to us through others. One cannot therefore say that if Jesus does not address issues to him/her directly, like Thomas (s)he will not believe. Let me offer one example here. When Jesus met Saul on the way to Damascus, he had some initial exchanges with Saul but majority of the talks were given to a certain Ananias in Damascus. Saul was told to go to Damascus and meet Ananias and he would tell Saul what to do. Have you ever asked yourself why Jesus did not tell Saul everything he needed to hear about his conversion? At times Jesus can chose to speak to us through other people but if we decide that unless we see the Lord himself we fail to believe then our blessing may be delayed. Thomas was lucky to get a second chance to see Jesus when he came the second time but how are you sure that Jesus will address you personally?

            Please give hearing to the Word of God and the good counsels of others for God speaks in diverse ways. Philosophy can be useful in our Christian way of life but philosophy is not the assessor of our faith. Remember faith is not logic neither is it dialectic nor Descartes’ “Methodic Doubt.” At times one need to be a fool or a clown to follow the path of God. Remember the words of St Paul: the mystery of the resurrection is foolishness to the Greeks and an obstacle to the Jews but you what is it? OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP PRAY FOR US.