Imitation of Christ I, 3

One example of bible-talk that we often hear nowadays is to speak of Jesus as “the Word of God.” We are familiar with this expression from saying the Angelus, “And the Word became flesh.” This means that God knows / all-things-that-can-be-known and all that could ever be known; it means that God is Himself the Truth; it means too that, in the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God comes forth from the Father, in a way like my own words issuing from my mouth. There is a great deal more that can be said about this as well. For example, Christianity, like Judaism, is a religion of the word. That means that it is based on God’s revealing his truth to humanity. This divine communication is found preeminently in the bible: a book of words or, rather, the book of the Word (that is, of God). This emphasis on the word has accounted for the great importance of literacy and education in Judaism as well as in the whole history of the Christian world. Jesus as the Word become flesh has been the driving reason behind the Church’s diligent pursuit of philosophy and of science. (Yes! the Catholic Church–contrary to what her detractors say–has been the historical reason for the advancement of learning and of the sciences, even though the modern cliché has it that the Church has been the foe of human progress and has tried to prohibit learning, wanting to keep men in ignorance. Further comment on that theme however would take us off course.)

We do place high importance on Truth. It is good to know and it is good that we educate ourselves and our children as well. But of all the things that are necessary to master, the knowledge of the Catholic faith is the highest. This is not because religion is the hardest thing to grasp (its basics can be taught to little children); it’s not because it’s the most useful thing to know (religion won’t teach you much about manual skills, for example). But religion is the highest truth because it deals with the things of God, who is all Truth. Besides, all the other things that one may learn have some particular good purposes in view, but religion has one’s eternal good for its aim. And so, it’s the wise man who would make religious knowledge the great pursuit of his life. But in saying this, I have to make a clarification, and I hope that you will not miss this point.

When I say that to know our faith is the highest and most necessary object of learning, I do not mean therefore that everyone needs to register himself in a course of theological studies. It is not by taking more religion classes that one comes by this knowledge. Faith is knowing God, a knowing that is acquired not only by study, but also, principally, in fact, by assimilation. We learn about God as we become like God. The goal of religious knowledge is not so that one can discourse on some lofty points of religious belief–that would be merely an exercise in pride, a thing quite contrary to the religion of Christ. We want to know / not a subject-matter, but a Person. To say it in Saint Paul’s way, “I want to know Christ!” We will not be judged some day on how much of the bible we have mastered, how many theological matters we have comprehended, or how many religion books we may have read. But in asserting this, I want to make a clarification: the higher study of religion is certainly good and even necessary, at least by certain men in order to explain the faith better and to keep us from making errors in doctrine. But these studies can also become a source of confusion and of a horrible snobbery that has led many clergy, religious and laity that has led them—by a terrible irony–into doctrinal error and defiant rebellion against the magisterium of the Church. It’s not that studies of themselves are a bad thing, but that the pursuit of knowledge without the practice of religion, and without the virtues of humility, obedience, reverence, piety and–above all–without the kinds of prayer that the Church recommends, all such knowledge would be pure vanity.

The Imitation says, “The more closely a man is united to God the more varied and profound the matters which he understands without effort, for he receives light and understanding from heaven. A good and devout man firstly sets in order in his mind whatever tasks he has in hand, and never allows them to lead him into occasions of sin. This must be our chief concern–to conquer self, and by daily... advancing in holiness.”

Saint Augustine penned a well-known prayer in which he says, “Lord, let me known myself; let me know Thee.” If we know the state of our soul, know our weaknesses and how to advance in sanctifying grace, we surely know our selves. If we know God, not only through mastery of the catechism (however essential and necessary), but through praying to Him daily and frequently, we will surely come to know God. This is the knowing that is the highest and most important. Everything else takes a secondary place, even though we must know many other things as well in order to live in this world.

When you think of all the great people, those about whom books are written, about whom TV special are made, and people most admired in sports or in entertainment, isn’t there only one important question of ultimate significance to be asked about them: are they in a state of grace; or, (if they are dead) are they in heaven? How few there are who care about the service of God and who will perish eternally because of the vanity of the things they have pursued so intensely in this life! Hear this sentence from the Imitation: “Because they choose to be great rather than humble, they perish in their own conceit.” The great man, the great woman is the one who is great in the love of God. And the truly wise man is the one who knows that–however much he may know about the things of the world. All things are vanity (‘dung’, in Saint Paul memorable expression) in view of the surpassing possession, which is Christ. The really learned man is the one who has mastered the art of renouncing his own will for the will of God.

The passage in the Second Letter to Timothy selected for today’s scripture says, “God saved us and called us to a holy life.” In a short time, the Lenten season will have passed. Will there have been any accomplishment for us this Lent? Any changes? Any worthwhile knowledge gained? Will we be the stronger, more virtuous, more devoted to Christ? Maybe. Make your stand! Be committed to a renewal of your life. This is the lesson that we must learn, and its mastery would be a real accomplishment in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.