June 21, 2015

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time - a reflection by Fr. Leo

 In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians we hear him advocating for at-one-ment theology rather than atonement theology.  Atonement theology is negative in its constant proclamation of our sinfulness and unworthiness before God. Our job is to admit our sins and plead for God’s mercy.  Even in the new translation of the Sacramentary we hear the world “merit” used in a way that implies our need to earn God’s grace. 

 At-one-ment theology begins with the premise that we are created in God’s image, that God breathed life into us, and that he has given us a share in his divine life through the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Here Christ died for us, suffered for us, that in him we live by faith in his love for us. Thus we learn to live in awe of God and not fear.  We are not called to hate ourselves and to do penance to gain God’s mercy.  God’s mercy is a given and in his love we become fully human and fully united to his divinity. 

 Atonement theology works on a principle much like the Stockholm Syndrome, where the abused victim sympathies with the victimizer because they need to preserve the authority of the victimizer in their lives.  This happens when children who have been physically abused by their mothers see themselves as bad, so that they can preserve “mom” in their minds as  the ‘loving” parent on whom they obviously depend.  So if God is a vengeful God who suffered, we must see ourselves as bad to preserve the goodness of God.  We must suffer because we deserve it and God didn’t. 

 St. Paul makes it clear that Christ died for us as an act of love, so that we may live in God’s love and grow in God’s spirit.  This is why we call God, Abba, meaning daddy, a familial term implying God’s love for us.  What child may I ask ever has to earn the love of his or her parents?  The notion is absurd.  So is the notion that we must earn God’s love.  God loves us and wants us to be one with him. This is practiced and realized by those who engage in the prayer of centering.  In that experience we are simply being with God in a place where words would get in the way.  It is like a couple who know the profound peace and love of just being together.  When we pray in this way, we don’t ask God for anything, we don’t apologize for anything, we simply “be” with the One who loves us. 

 When we receive the Eucharist we commune with God as the one who loves us, not the God who wants us to pay a debt paid by the love of Christ.  This is why Paul says that Christ died for all and in Christ there is no more death, only life.  So let us embrace God’s love for us and trust in God’s desire to bring us to the fullness of life.  Let us learn to be one with God and live in awe of his love.  Remember, God created us, we are his own!