Fr. Francis Therese Krautter csj
CHROMATIUS:
What need is there for us to swear when we are not allowed to lie at all and our words must always be true and trustworthy, so much so that they may be taken as an oath? On this, the Lord not only forbids us to swear falsely but even to swear, lest we appear to tell the truth only when we swear and lest (while we should be truthful in our every word) we think it is all right to lie when we do not take an oath.
A creative exegetical commentary by an anonymous early Church father can help us this Christmas with a true spirit of admiration. When we read that Joseph did not “know” Mary until she gave birth, it is commonly taken as a statement about Mary’s virginity. It is true that the word used for physical intimacy in the Old Testament is frequently the verb “to know.” Intimacy is most often met with the loss of innocence – just as eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge was disobedience and cause of shame, self-consciousness, awareness of nakedness, disordered flames of passion and death. The mystery of Christmas restores the fruit and the joy of intimacy while preserving the veil of innocence. At the birth of Jesus, Joseph truly comes to know his wife Mary – who she is for God, who she is for him, who she is for the human race. Jesus, the fruit of Mary’s intimacy with the Holy Spirit, is also an intimate fruit reserved for Joseph’s fatherhood – from the angel’s message we know that no other man can claim fatherhood of Mary’s son, no other man knew or will know intimacy with Mary his wife.
Jesus teaches us deep evangelical poverty and humility in today’s Gospel. Having understood something of the faith, these two blind men are led to cry out – not about what they understand – but that they need mercy for their blindness. It is important, no matter what we have learned from God’s revelation, to continue to cry out to God to heal our blindness. Faith provides certainty, but one that we hold fast to without evidence. Faith is certainly rich with light – but it is a light we can never keep for ourselves or possess fully. Faith makes us beggars while pride puffs us up with what we already know or think we know about God. Faith invites us to realize again that we are blind. It isn’t that we’ve never understood anything at all, but rather that what we’ve understood is always inadequate – always less than what and who God is.