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WEB 4 - ARCHIVE
Commentary 15 - Page 1 |
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NECESSITY OF CHRISTIANITYSome people claim that Christianity does not work, because few Christians possess the qualities described in the Beatitudes. However, this is not always true today, and it was much less often true in the early history of the church. But what is necessary in Christianity is that one should be a true Christian, not a 'pretend' Christian. Christianity is itself a necessity for human beings, for the early teachings of the church describe, quite exactly, certain human qualities, lacking which, we cannot even claim to be fully human. When Christ told Martha that Mary, in her prayers, had found the 'better part,' he was referring to an understanding of the faith which was based on a tradition of persistent inner prayer. After the crucifixion, but long ago in our terms, Christianity had shaped this impulse into a powerful therapeutic tradition, but this began to be lost a thousand years ago, so that today it is sometimes treated as if it were a jealously guarded secret. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth, this ancient therapeutic teaching is essentially Christian: impelled by love, not exclusivity. Not only does it say that the way to be healed is to turn to God; to put the Lord in first place in our lives, it takes this further by saying that the only way in which a Christian psyche can be healed is if we see this healing process as the primary aim of our lives.
The one thing needful
The Story of Martha and Mary in the Gospel gave rise to the idea of the 'one thing needful (or necessary)' - which has become one of the keystones of the inner tradition, so that this phrase in itself is used repeatedly. In the past few centuries, it has been used by both Caussade, author of Abandonment to Divine Providence, and Saint Theophan the Recluse, in their teachings. This is the story in which Martha is working in the house and complains that Mary is doing nothing, but simply praying - but Jesus says that: "But one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Discovering this necessity, it seems to me, is a threshold in the interior life. We discover it properly only when it becomes necessary to us. For those of us who discover that grace is not increasing in our lives, we first come face to face with this threshold when we discover for ourselves that to open the gateway to grace a little wider, we need to understand things that the gospel says, which have until then been 'just words' to us. |
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