"Fought-for Faith"

"Fought-for Faith"
God gives us meaning, not answers. The suffering of life is the suffering of every marriage union, every love relationship, like the suffering of Job in his relationship with God. The Book of Job is a dialogue between institutional, respectable and impersonalized faith (Job's friends who come and give him reasonable intellectual answers) and the charismatic, gut-level, fought-for faith of Job. Job searches and struggles and receives his answer only in the tempest. And the answer always has the character of paradox: inconsistent, contradictory, but utterly true. So the answer will be the same for us. The answer will come, out of the tempest, an answer that cannot always be verbalized to your children and husband or wife. But it will be an answer that you know. It is a conviction that is deep and all-pervasive. No one can give it to you, no one can take it away: It is a gift from God. You cannot prove it to anybody, but you no longer need to. Believe me when I say it: The deepest levels of faith will still feel like confusion - but you are not longer confused by your confusion!
from The Great Themes of Scripture

"Jesus Saves"

Once, when Peter and John were going up to the Temple for the prayers at the ninth hour, it happened that there was a man being carried past. He was a cripple from birth; and they used to put him down every day near the Temple entrance called the Beautiful Gate so that he could beg from the people going in. When this man saw Peter and John on their way into the Temple he begged from them. Both Peter and John looked straight at him and said, "Look at us." He turned to them expectantly, hoping to get something from them, but Peter said, "I have neither silver nor gold, but I will give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!" (Acts 3:1-6, JB) The lame of the world still come to the Body of Christ and look at us expectantly, as they looked at Peter and John, hoping to get something form us. What does the Church say to them in many and varied forms? "Silver and gold we have plenty of. Come, join our parish. We have a credit union, very democratic. We have a pastoral council. We have a guitar Mass. We're very avant-garde, hanging banners in our church. We're up to date and well meet your every need. We have a St. Vincent de Paul society." But no one has the courage to say: "May I talk to you about Jesus? Let me pray with you. The Lord will teach you the meaning of forgiveness. The Lord will teach you the meaning of Church, of the Scriptures. Come, follow Jesus!" Are we ashamed of Jesus? Do we share him? It feels naive, old-fashioned, pious, and a bit Protestant, to talk about Jesus. We have Church. We have sacraments, we have priests and bishops! Yet Jesus alone saves. The apostles speak with boldness and with fire. Jesus did it! In the name of Jesus all power is given to me! Every time they return they proclaim the name of Jesus Christ. What has happened to the Church that so many are no longer proud of Jesus?

from Richard Rohr The Great Themes of Scripture