An Enemy Has Done This

Julian of Norwich (b. 1342) is considered the first woman to write in English.  She was a mystic who received 12 hours of divine revelation at the point of what she thought was death.  For the next 40 years, she reflected on and wrote about the revelations she had received.  One of the most poignant revelations was that of Divine Mercy.  In Hebrew, the word "mercy" is related to the word for "womb."  And Julian's revelations came at a time of what is known as "Jansenism" in the Church -- a movement that was later condemned by the church.  Jansenism taught that we are all unworthy of the grace of God; the philosophy can be compared to Jonathan Edwards' famous sermon: "Sinners in the hands of an angry God," an often-repeated publication from the literature of Colonia America. 

It often takes a direct revelation from God to someone weak, irrelevant, or ignorant -- such as a young child -- to counteract an evil and prevalent philosophy that has gained a foothold in the church.  Jesus warned us of such an event in the 13th chapter of Matthew's Gospel, with the parable of the wheat and the tares:

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;

but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.

So the servants of the owner came and said to him, "Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?"

He said to them, "An enemy has done this...."

 

How did Jansenism sneak into the message of Jesus Christ, which assumed from its outset that we were all "unworthy sinners?"  In fact, the whole reason for Christ's coming was to pull us out of the pit we had dug for ourselves.  His message of loving compassion and help for those who could not help themselves was in direct contrast to the message of the Pharisees: "We are holier than thou!"

 

Julian wrote with great eloquence about the tender "homeliness" of God's love, which in her medieval English meant "hospitality" toward the weakness of His children.  Just as a mother bends with tender mercy and love toward the child who is weak or sick, so God bends with infinite and tender "womb love" over those who have lost their moorings, those who are addicted, those who are injured with incurable wounds.  He carries us, grieving and moaning and struggling with all of His Holy-Spirit energy to redeem us from the curse of the enemy, the one who "lays heavy burdens on men's backs and lifts not a finger to help them." 

 

How have we come to condemn the sinner when Jesus directly said, "I have come not to condemn, but to seek and save that which is lost?"  Many Catholics tell me they grew up in fear of God's condemnation -- although that was never my experience.  In fact, I had to ask the Lord some years ago to teach me what the expression "Fear of the Lord" actually meant, because I had never experienced anything other than love and compassion from God.  All I can say is that "an enemy has done this," has sown the seeds of tares, which has taken such strong roots in the church of the 50's.

 

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  On this day in 1531, a young Indian maiden appeared to Juan Diego  -- and changed forever the status of the Mexican people, a fusion of the Spanish and Indian races and cultures.  "With her dark skin and Indian features, the Lady offered an image of divine compassion for a demoralized people.  At the same time, she called the Church to heed the voice of the poor, to serve as a vehicle for their cultural and spiritual survival.  Her image, enshrined in Mexico city, attracts millions of pilgrims each year."  (Reading from Give Us This Day, Dec. 9)

 

From the time of Abraham (1950 BC), from the time of the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt (1250 BC), from the time of the Babylonian captivity (897 BC), until our very day, God's compassion on the outcast, the neglected, the lonely, the lost, the sinner had aroused His action on their behalf.  He has never stopped reminding the sleek, the rich, and the strong of His Divine Mercy and Care.  If we condemn the weak, the lost, and the suffering, we can know for sure that "an enemy has done this," has sown the weed-seeds in our hearts.