What don't you understand?

Tuesday of the 6th Week in Ordinary Time
May 13, 2008
Today's Readings:James 1:12-18
Ps 94:12-15, 18-19
Mark 8:14-21

"Do you still not understand?" Jesus asks in today's Gospel reading.
Whenever we sin, or whenever we respond to life in unhealthy ways, it's because we really don't understand what Jesus taught with his words and with his life — and why he taught it.
Thus Jesus said on the cross, "Father forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing." They didn't understand!

We sin when we don't understand the goodness of God's commandments.

We reject Church teachings that we don't like, because we don't understand what the Church is really teaching. But if we research them with a humble heart, we discover just how good and loving they really are.

We sabotage our lives with bad decisions or addictions, setting ourselves up for failure, chasing away the friends God has given us, etc., when we don't understand the damage that we're doing.
We don't want to love everyone unconditionally when we don't understand how God loves us. We run from suffering and we reject those who cause us difficulties when we don't realize the value of embracing our crosses.

We live in non-sacramental marriages, because we don't understand what's missing. Or we live in a valid divorce without an annulment, because we don't know the healing and freedom that we'd get in the process.

We're disinterested in ministry when we don't understand what it's like to be God's partner. We go home from Mass unchanged when we don't understand what's happening in the Eucharist.
Understanding is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It's one of the fruits of reading the Word of God. It's the blessing that comes from listening when we pray. It's a harvest yielded from retreats, spiritual seminars, and parish missions. It's a grace shared in good conversation with Christian friends. But true understanding is not achieved unless it's heard in the heart. For that, we have to act upon the truth.

We see the truth and we forget it.
We hear the truth and we remember it.
We DO the truth and finally we understand it.
Are you willing to really understand?

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