When Your Life Is "In The Pit"

"And now, we pray you, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him, and said, "Behold, we are your servants." But Joseph said to them, "Fear not, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones." (Genesis 50:17-21)

Now I don't know of many pits where I live, but I'm pretty sure that if my siblings tossed me in one and left me for thieves to find me and sell me into slavery, I'd probably be inclined to hold a grudge against them and plot ways to get even should I ever be given the opportunity. Yet here we have Joseph, who never considered a negative response to his predicament. He was a slave and a prisoner as a result of actions out of his control, yet as a result of his faith and good will, God used his situation, not just to Joseph's personal success, but to the safety and well being of all of Egypt and Canaan.

In the story of Joseph and Egypt, we see that God can (and often does) take a bad situation and use it to His advantage. But for His plan to work, we have to accept the unfortunate situations that we are given, and remain faithful to God in the midst of our suffering. In that regard, our free will does play a role in God's salvation plan.

Consider if Joseph had taken his brothers into slavery when they came to him for food. Similarly, what if Noah had chosen not to heed God's advice to build an ark? What if Mary had said "No" to God's plan? Would God have failed in His plan to reconcile man to Himself? Unlikely -- He is God and He can do anything. Likely He would have worked with other events in history to bring about salvation, and we would now be honoring a Rebekah or a Therese as our blessed mother.

Our call then is to graciously accept our lot in life, and know that although it may seem pointless that we should have to suffer unnecessarily, perhaps if we handle our grief with humility and faith, a thousand years from now humanity will look back and credit our heroic struggles as part of God's redemptive plan.

Faith of Our Fathers

God will provide Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. (Genesis 22:8)

A man waits faithfully for one hundred years to have his only son by his wife as promised by God. And then God commands him to go out and kill that son as a sacrifice for Him, and he does it without question, even up to the point that he has the son strapped to the altar with a knife raised. THAT is steadfast faith in God. I do not have it, and must admit that it would be a hard thing even to ask for as truthfully I do not want to be put to a similar test of faith.

But is the story of Abraham and Isaac not a fantastic foreshadowing to the redemptive act of God when He offers His only Son as a sacrifice to us? Even more so that we celebrate that act of supreme love each week upon an altar? And that in God's mercy, we celebrate that act not with knives and fire, but with the simple species of bread and wine? Our God certainly likes His paradoxes.

The Truth Is Out There

"The sum of Your word is truth; and every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever." Psalms 119:160 (CCC 215)

Notice the words "sum" and "every one" in the verse above? We must remember that God equals Truth. The corollary is that Truth cannot contradict Truth.

I mention this because I frequently encounter debates about "my faith" versus "your faith" in which both sides argue using Scripture as their defense. One side argues for "saved by faith alone" (Ephesians 2:8-10) while the other argues that "faith without works is dead" (James 2:20). The first claims that the death penalty should be enforced thanks to "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (Exodus 21:23-27) while the second disagrees by way of "turn the other cheek" (Matthew 5:39).

It is important to understand that the Truth is much like the Highlander -- there can be only one! Truth cannot contradict truth which is to say that we cannot have two truths which disagree with each other. As Christians, we generally agree that the Bible contains the fullness of Truth. If so, then we can not argue one point if it appears to be opposed to another verse from the same tome of wisdom. Both verses must be understood in such a way that harmony exists between them.

Ephesians and James must agree with one another if they are to be understood correctly. The fact is that we are saved by faith alone, but that if we truly have faith, works are a natural byproduct. If the works are not present, the faith is not really there. In this instance, I often find that non-Catholics are argumentative about a misconception they have about our faith. In fact, we likely are not in disagreement with this belief, but merely with the way we each word it.

Exodus and Matthew, although from two different eras, must also be in accord by virtue of both containing Truth. In context, the law in Moses' time was applied because the common practice previously was to slaughter an entire family if one bull was taken from the other family's flock. The law was meant as a means to soften the penalty to be more in accord with God's love. Note that at this time also, divorce was admitted, a fact the Pharisees tried to use against Jesus many years later. Jesus' answer was that this law was a human one, and that His response was correct. In this case, Love (capitalized because by "love" we mean "God") outweighs "love" (lowercase L). At worst, man should exact a revenge no worse than the crime, but to be truly Christ-like, we should refrain from rebuke entirely.

It is for this reason that I am glad I have the Magisterium of the Church and 2,000 years of Tradition to aid in my understanding of the interpretation of Scripture. While we are encouraged to immerse ourselves in Scripture, we are meant to do so in such a way that we do not assume that our personal interpretation is the penultimate truth. Among other prerequisites (CCC 109-119), we are called to "read the Scripture within 'the living Tradition of the whole Church'" (CCC 113).

Some wonder why they as a individual should submit to the Catholic Church's interpretation. After all, they reason, "won't the Holy Spirit reveal to me God's correct meaning of His Word if I profess belief in Him?" Perhaps, but God made it clear that the gates of Hell would not prevail against the Church born at the rock of Peter. Does Scripture make any such claim for protection at the birth of your personal faith? Let us not forget that the devil tempted Adam and Eve not with an outright lie, but rather a twisting of the truth. Satan again tried this tactic with Jesus when He was tempted in the desert. Pray that Satan does not allow you to be deceived by a twisted Truth, and that God grants you the grace to find an establishment here on Earth that He has personally guaranteed would be free of lies and deceit.

A Church of One?

"Faith is a personal act -- the free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals Himself. But faith is not an isolated act. No one can believe alone just as no one can live alone. You have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life. The believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others. Our love for Jesus and for our neighbor impels us to speak to others about our faith. Each believer is thus a link in the great chain of believers. I cannot believe without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support others in the faith." CCC 166

I've heard people say they don't believe in organized religion. They prefer instead to have their own personal faith. While faith is certainly a personal choice, one can not (and should not) believe alone. God made woman for man so that man should not live alone (Gen 2:18). From our earliest ancestors it was realized that man could not exist alone. Why should we think that we can have faith alone?

When Christ began His public ministry, He chose twelve men to assist Him. Why did He do this? As God, could He not have performed His ministry without the help of others? Of course. But perhaps He was showing us that we were each formed to be part of a community -- a body of believers -- who were dependent on each other for their spiritual growth. Note how when the disciples went out to preach repentance, drive out demons, and anoint the sick they did so in pairs (Mark 6:7). See how after Jesus' death the believers gathered together for the breaking of the bread (Acts 20:7). Examples abound in Scripture supporting a model of a community of believers working together for a common good.

My hope is that those who believe they can make it on their own hear the voice of God calling them back to communion with Himself in the format He gave us as an example: the Church as a community of believers, breaking bread together and being the body of Christ here on Earth.