{"id":1671,"date":"2024-02-04T14:19:12","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T19:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/frequentlyfaithful\/?p=1671"},"modified":"2024-02-04T14:19:12","modified_gmt":"2024-02-04T19:19:12","slug":"a-formula-for-wholeness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/frequentlyfaithful\/2024\/02\/a-formula-for-wholeness\/","title":{"rendered":"A Formula for Wholeness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Jesus\u2019 healing of Peter\u2019s mother-in-law from today\u2019s Gospel has a lot to say about our innate wholeness.<\/p>\n

Photo by Claudio Schwarz<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My ACT scores suggested not so much genius as dissociative identity disorder.\u00a0 There were two distinct personalities who took the test.\u00a0 One was almost gifted (my word, not the College Board\u2019s) in English and reading.\u00a0 The other was\u2026 less so.\u00a0 Math and, to an even greater degree, science left me frequently confused.\u00a0 And my scores showed it.<\/p>\n

Ironically though, I have gained an appreciation for and genuine interest in science over the last couple decades.\u00a0 I have enjoyed learning about the origins of the universe, the relative nature of spacetime, and the wacked-out, freakish behavior of subatomic particles.\u00a0 Science, it turns out, is a fascinating portal into ultimate meaning.<\/p>\n

A Sacred Singularity<\/strong><\/h2>\n \ Some feel that science and religious faith are incompatible, but I disagree.\u00a0 I believe they are two languages used to talk about the same truths.\u00a0 Take the Big Bang, for example.\u00a0 I am captivated by the theory that the miracle of life today in all its complex diversity began as an initial singularity.\u00a0 The idea that a tiny spec of cosmic potential exploded and expanded into, well, everything is deliciously enchanting to me.\u00a0 And not at all inconsistent with the truth of the creation stories in the Book of Genesis.\u00a0 Each one \u2013 the world in seven days and Adam and Eve are two different stories \u2013 seeks to convey the truth that all life came from God and all of it is \u201cgood.\u201d\u00a0 Two languages, one truth.<\/p>\n \ But we forget this original wholeness and unity though in favor the deceptively alluring belief that we are separate \u2013 from each other, the earth around us, all of life.\u00a0 This collective amnesia about our common lineage becomes the only reality we know.\u00a0 So, how do we find our way back from the pain of division and separation to the sacred oneness from which we came?\u00a0 The gospel readings for the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time point to a pretty good answer.<\/p>\n Mark\u2019s gospel during Cycle B<\/a> tells the story of Jesus visiting Simon\u2019s house where his mother-in-law was sick with a fever.\u00a0 There\u2019s a clean and simple formula Jesus uses to return her to health and make her whole again: \u201cHe approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up\u201d (1:31).\u00a0 Fully restored, she hopped up and started serving the tea and cookies.<\/p>\n He Approached<\/strong><\/h2>\n**** ** ****The word \u201capproach\u201d comes from the Latin appropiare <\/em>which means to \u201cdraw near.\u201d\u00a0 The first step, then, in getting back to our factory setting is to draw near to that which we have previously understood as \u201cother.\u201d\u00a0 Pope Francis is fond of using the word, \u201cencounter,\u201d to describe this desire and responsibility we have to draw near.<\/p>\n As reported in L\u2019Osservatore Romano<\/em>, his homily on September 13, 2016<\/a> was an \u201c\u2019invitation to work for \u2018the culture of encounter,\u2019 in a simple way, \u2018as Jesus did:\u2019 not just seeing, but looking; not just hearing, but listening; not just passing people by, but stopping with them; not just saying \u201cwhat a shame, poor people!\u201d, but allowing yourself to be moved with compassion; \u2018and then to draw near, to touch and to say: \u2018Do not weep\u2019 and to give at least a drop of life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n If wholeness is both our birthright and destiny, then such a \u2018culture of encounter\u2019 is simply enlightened self-interest.\u00a0 If you and I are really one, then it only makes sense for me to be concerned for you.\u00a0 Even if I hate everything you stand for.\u00a0 Even if you are cruel and selfish and have hurt me deeply.\u00a0 Even if you are my enemy.\u00a0 Paradoxically, it\u2019s in caring for you that I take care of myself.<\/p>\n He Grasped Her Hand<\/strong><\/h2>\n****** ** But as hard as it is to feel for those who seem completely \u201cother,\u201d it\u2019s far more challenging to take actually do something.\u00a0 It\u2019s one thing to see the filthy person by the side of the road holding the cardboard sign that reads, \u201cHomeless and Broke.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s quite another to stop and ask him how he is, especially if his own poor choices landed him there. \u00a0It\u2019s quite another still to offer him a blanket or a sandwich, especially when he makes it clear he\u2019d prefer cash.<\/p>\n ** But this \u201cgrasping of the hand,\u201d this skin-on-skin contact with others, seems pretty non-negotiable for Jesus.\u00a0 Is it merely coincidence that that the physical acts of \u201cgrasping\u201d another in kindness \u2013 a shared smile, a warm handshake, a big bear hug \u2013 all feel so good?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0 They feel so good because they get us back to who we really are.\u00a0 It can\u2019t be any accident that sex, the most intense form of physical union, gives us so much pleasure.\u00a0 We are not meant to be separate.<\/p>\n ** He Helped Her Up<\/strong><\/h2>\n ** The thing I love about the way Jesus heals Simon\u2019s mother-in-law is the complete lack of special effects.\u00a0 There\u2019s no booming James Earl Jones voice proclaiming victory over death.\u00a0 There are no fireworks set to music, no neon signs, no rabbits in hats, no burning bushes.\u00a0 The miracle happens when Jesus simply \u201chelped her up.\u201d<\/p>\n ** To me, the message is clear \u2013 do something that\u2019s not nothing.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to cure cancer or eliminate food insecurity.\u00a0 But I can sit with someone during chemo and donate to a food bank.\u00a0 As Saint Theresa of Calcutta famously said, \u201cNot all of us can do great things.\u00a0 But we can do small things with great love.\u201d\u00a0 Those \u201csmall things\u201d are the real miracle because they take us one step closer to the richness of our true selves.<\/p>\n ** A Simple Formula<\/strong><\/h2>\n ** The formula for remembering who we are and where we came from is clean and simple in this week\u2019s Gospel reading.\u00a0 But as anyone who\u2019s lived on earth more than a couple minutes knows, clean doesn\u2019t mean uncomplicated, and simple doesn\u2019t mean easy.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s crazy-hard to approach, grasp her hand, and help her up.\u00a0 It requires a commitment to doing small things with great love that makes us into the salt of the earth and the light of the world that Matthew describes in Cycle A.\u00a0 It takes the deep waters of a \u201cculture of encounter\u201d to be able to reel in the big fish like Luke describes in Cycle C.\u00a0\u00a0 But you end up with tea and cookies.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ** ******Jesus\u2019 healing of Peter\u2019s mother-in-law from today\u2019s Gospel has a lot to say about our innate wholeness. My ACT scores suggested not so much genius as dissociative identity disorder.\u00a0 There were two distinct personalities who took the test.\u00a0 One was almost gifted (my word, not the College Board\u2019s) in English and reading.\u00a0 The other was\u2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4926,"featured_media":1677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[201,228,15],"tags":[24,27,306,465],"class_list":["post-1671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gospel","category-jesus","category-relationships","tag-gospel","tag-jesus","tag-miracle","tag-wholeness"],"yoast_head":"\nA Formula for Wholeness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jesus' healing of Peter's mother-in-law from today's Gospel has a lot to say about our innate wholeness, a trait we share with all humanity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, 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