A Theology of Recital

 A wise priest once told me, "What we do for God is very interesting, but what God does for us -- well, that's the whole story!"  

That shift in focus IS the whole story.  Today is the Feast of Mary's Assumption into heaven, and she would be the very first to tell us the same thing.  Her extraordinary life that brings us all into contemplation is all about "God has done great things for me!" (and for Israel, according to His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.)

After the Israelites had crossed over into a land flowing with milk and honey, as FREE people, able to work for themselves without the lash of Egypt, Joshua gathered together all the tribes for a conference. "Fear the Lord," he told them, "and cast out all the other gods served by all the peoples around you." And here is what the people answered Joshua:

Far be it from us to forsake Yahweh for the service of other gods. For it was Yahweh, our God, who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, out of a state of slavery. He performed those great miracles before our very eyes and protected us along our entire journey and among all the peoples through whom we passed.  At our approach the Lord drove out all the peoples, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. Therefore we also will serve Yahweh, for he is our God."

Two hundred and fifty some-odd years after this recital, Psalm 106 tells us what actually happened:

But they soon forgot what he had done, and did not wait for his counsel....Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe his promise....They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods; they provoked the Lord to anger by their wicked deeds....They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had commanded them, but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They worshiped the idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.

 All of these horrible things happened because "they forgot what he had done."  At the center of Israel's faith lay the great proclamation that the God of the fathers had heard the cry of a weak, oppressed people in Egypt. As slaves for whom the world had made no provision, they were delivered by a most extraordinary demonstration of divine grace.  Israel's belief of God was not derived from systematic or speculative thought, but rather from the attempt to explain the events which led to their establishment as a free people and nation.

The Israelite eye, therefore, was trained to take human events seriously, because in them was to be learned more clearly than anywhere else what God willed and what he was about.

Like the Israelites, it is imperative for us to begin not with doctrine to be believed, but with the history of our own lives as the arena of God's activity.  The ancient polytheist concentrated his attention upon nature when seeking his/her gods.  Israel alone concentrated on history as revelation of what God had done for them; their religious observances even down to the Passover celebrations today, focus on recital of what God has done for them.

As Catholic worshippers, our service centers on what God has done for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, freeing us from the slavery to sin and the fear of death.  If we are not aware of what God has done for us in our individual histories, if we have not experienced this freedom from sin and fear of death, our service is probably obligation rather than worship.  Once we being to reflect upon our own stories and the stories of those around us, we begin to thank and praise God in earnest ---because of what He has done.

He revealed Who He Is in Jesus Christ, washing the feet of his friends, healing the lepers and the social outcasts, accepting the woman at the well in friendship, forgiving Peter for betrayal, and telling the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  But He continues to reveal who He is in our own lives, day by day.  If only we can begin to see and believe what He is doing for us moment by moment, if only we can begin to remember and recite His deeds on our behalf, we can begin to worship in spirit and in truth.