Found Difficult And Not Tried

Tuesday of 7th Week in Easter Time

May 26, 2009

The gift of prophecy is a lot like spiritual dynamite. It can be used to build up or to tear down. False prophets abound–think of the damage that has been done by charlatans like Joseph Smith or Jim Jones. St. Paul himself in his earliest writings warned the churches to test everything–that is to seek corroboration of any spiritual utterance.

So it had to be unnerving, as he left Ephesus for his last pastoral visit to the neighboring churches, to hear prophet after prophet tell him that 1) he must go to Jerusalem to witness the Gospel and 2) his reward would be imprisonment and affliction. “Gee, Lord,” he might have asked, “if that’s your rewards, what are your punishments like?” Theresa of Avila said something like that when she conversed with Christ. She complained about all the gossip about her as she reformed her convent, and Jesus said “that’s how I treat my friends.” Theresa replied, “No wonder you have so few!”

Chesterton said “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and not tried.” If anything is good and important, it is also difficult. Thus it is with turning this school around. It’s taken nine years and we are still not in a golden age. Much is left to do, and it’s time for new leadership to do it. We have, however, come a long way. Nine years ago, none of the students knew the Marianist doxology because none had interiorized the Marianist life. Now they all recite it daily as part of the three-o’clock prayer, and some leave here with a true devotion to Mary and things Marianist. That’s what Fr. Joe and I intended in 2000, and that’s a good foundation to build on. Let’s pray for the new builders and the new living stones who will fill our corridors in August. And if you have a moment, please pray for those of us whom God is calling to new battles, new campaigns.