I meet many people, including
Catholics, who believe that it is sufficient just to believe in Christ. They think they are in right standing with
God due to the fact that they believe that the Son of God died for
humanity. I meet Catholics who think
they don’t have to go to Mass because they “believe in Jesus,” some believing
they only have to go twice a year. Then,
there are those who think that all they have to do is show up for Mass on the
days of obligation. In essence, many are
those who think that what they believe is
true just because they believe it. This
is no different than what the persons who calls themselves atheists believe. The fallen human being is not the author of truth. Something is not true just from the fact that
a person believes it. If something was
true just as a result of someone believing it, then it would be true that there
is a God and that there is no God.
Therefore, we cannot rely upon
ourselves, but must search for Truth, find him, and then believe (obey)
him. He tells us, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see
death.”[2] We
must keep his words dear to our hearts, so dear that we desire to obey every
facet of his word, not just in a phylactery[3] upon our foreheads, knowing
his word in our minds but not feeling it is necessary to obey them.
We must be careful that we do not
become one of those who changed the truth
of God into a lie.[4] We must be careful that we are not amongst
those that, when they knew God, they have
not glorified him as God or given thanks, but became vain in their thoughts;
and their foolish heart was darkened; for, professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools.[5] St. Leo the Great rightly teaches us: “Let us
toil in thought, fail in insight, falter in utterance. It is good that even our right thoughts about
the Lord’s Majesty should be insufficient.[6]
Seek
the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually! In some versions, the word translated
“continually” is translated as “evermore.”
Therefore, what exactly is being taught here? Merriam-Webster defines “continual:” 1) continuing
indefinitely in time without interruption; 2) recurring in steady, usually
rapid, succession.[7] It lists the synonyms as: continual,
continuous, constant, incessant, perpetual, perennial. Those words, the dictionary indicates, mean “characterized
by continued occurrence or recurrence. Continual often implies a close
prolonged succession or recurrence, e.g. continual
showers the whole weekend. Continuous usually implies an uninterrupted
flow or spatial extension, e.g. football’s oldest continuous rivalry. Constant implies uniform or persistent
occurrence or recurrence, e.g. lived in constant
pain. Incessant implies ceaseless or
uninterrupted activity, e.g. annoyed by the incessant
quarreling. Perpetual suggests unfailing repetition or lasting duration, e.g. a
land of perpetual snowfall. Perennial
implies enduring existence often through constant renewal, e.g. a perennial source of controversy.”[8] Those words adequately describe how we should
seek God. However, is this even remotely
possible for us, who must work, living out normal daily routines?
It is possible when we keep God preeminent
in our mind. He needs to be in our mind
upon our waking; he needs to be on our mind in our work, conversations, play,
etc.; and he needs to be on our mind when we retire for the evening. As St. Augustine explains: “…God Himself,
whom we seek, will … help our labors, that they may not be unfruitful, and that
we may understand how it is said in the holy Psalm, ‘Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord, and be strengthened: seek His
face evermore.’ For that which is always being sought seems as
though it were never found; and how, then, will the heart of them that seek
rejoice and not rather be made sad if they cannot find what they seek? For it is not said [that] the heart shall
rejoice of them that find, but of them that seek, the Lord.”[9] God puts it in us to seek; however, it is possible
for us to reject what he is doing. He
will cause us to think about him; however, we will push that thought aside in
order to think, or do, something more pleasing to us. He makes it easy for us. He says our hearts will rejoice when we seek
him. As Augustine said, God did not say
our hearts would rejoice when we find him, but when we seek him.
It is not that we seek and find, not
having to seek again, nor is that we seek and never find. It is that we seek and find, in order to seek
again—continuously, not sporadically, e.g. once a week. Our Lord tells us, “Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and
it shall be opened to you. For everyone
that asks, receives; and he that seeks, finds; and to him that knocks, it shall
be opened.”[13]
St. Augustine explains: “The asking
has to do with obtaining that health and strength of soul which will enable us
to fulfill the commandments enjoined on us; the seeking, with finding the
truth. For, since the blessed life is
perfected by action and knowledge, action stands in need of a reserve of
strength, and contemplation looks to the clarification of things. Of these, therefore, the first is to be asked
for; the second, sought for; so that the one may be given, the other found. However, in this life, knowledge marks the way
rather than the possession itself; but, once a person finds the true way, he
will arrive at possession itself which, again, is thrown open to him who
knocks.”[14] In other words, due to our utter dependence
upon God, we must see our need and, therefore, ask for the gift. Upon asking, we must begin to exercise our
faith by utilizing it—otherwise, there would be no faith in our asking. Faith, if it is not exercised, will diminish
and wilt away. For this reason, we must
keep asking, keep seeking, and keep know
Archbishop John MacEvilly, in his
commentary: “[Some commentators say:] our Lord’s precepts were very hard of
accomplishment; the duties He [impose], beyond human strength, beyond the power
of human nature, weakened by sin. He,
therefore, points out both the source whence the necessary strength is to come,
viz., from heaven, whence every good gift descends from the Father of lights,
as also the infallible means of obtaining this necessary strength; and that is,
prayer, offered up with the proper conditions and dispositions. Let them beg it of God, and He will give them
grace and strength. ‘Ask,’ ‘seek,’ ‘knock.’ These words are
differently interpreted; but they, most likely, denote the different leading
qualities of prayer: ‘Ask,’ with confidence; ‘seek,’ with diligence; ‘knock,’ with unceasing perseverance. Of
course, the words of this … verse, being affirmative propositions, imply that
we shall obtain the fruit of our petitions--all the other necessary conditions
being observed; that is to say, provided we pray with the proper dispositions,
both as regards the mode of praying and our own state of soul. For we pray and receive not ‘because we ask amiss’ (Ja 4); and, if we
are determined to persevere in sin or if we entertain feelings of vengeance,
God will not hear us (Pro 28:9; Jn 3:21; Pro 21; Mt 6:15). Also, the object of our petitions should be
good and conducive to our salvation and sought for in a spirit of conformity to
God’s holy will. Indeed, in every good prayer relating to
temporal blessings and immunity from temporal evils and sufferings, the
condition that God sees--that they would serve our eternal salvation--is always
implied.[15]
He goes on to teach: “No one can allege
his own weakness in excuse. To all, without exception, is given the
grace of prayer, the [expedient] means of obtaining the necessary grace and
strength from God. This is not confined
to any particular person or class. ‘Everyone,’
be he saint or sinner, has the assurance of the Son of God Himself—infallible
truth—that, if he pray as he ought, he shall be heard. From these words, it is inferred that prayer
is a necessary means of grace, that grace is given on condition that we pray
for it. … Therefore, [it is implied
that] if we ask not, it shall not be given… This is particularly true of that great gift—that crowning grace—of
final perseverance (Concil. Trid. §§ vi. Can. xvi.), which, if we obtain, we
are saved; if we fail to obtain, we are lost. (Con. Trid. §§ vi. Can. xxii.) This is of faith (Concil. Trid. §§ vi. Can.
xxii;) and, although it is not of faith, it is still quite certain that there
is only one means of securing this all-necessary grace: that one only means is
prayer. It cannot be merited, but it can be infallibly obtained, by persevering
prayer.”[16]
St.
Matthew goes on to record our Lord saying: “…What man is there among you, of
whom if his son shall ask bread, will he reach him a stone? Or if he shall ask him a fish, will he reach
him a serpent? If you then being evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father
who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?” [17] This caused St. Augustine to exclaim: “A marvelous
thing, Brethren! We are evil, yet have
we a good Father.”[18] Oh, how true! All we have to do is keep asking and, then,
keep seeking—which we accomplish through reading and meditating upon Scripture
and by going to Mass, partaking of the Sacraments which our Lord gives us
through his Church. We, then, keep
knocking through our perseverance of good works.
St. Thomas Aquinas exhorts us: “Ask
therefore in prayer, praying day and night; seek with care and toil; for
neither by toiling only in the Scriptures do we gain knowledge without God’s
grace, nor do we attain to grace without study, lest the gift of God should be
bestowed on the careless. But knock with
prayer, and fasting, and alms. For, as
one who knocks at a door not only cries out with his voice but strikes with his
hand, so he who does good works, knocks with his works.”[19] He goes on to say: “[God] so made man [in
order] that He Himself should be man’s only strength, that--forced by reason of
his own weakness--he might always have need of his Lord.”[20] St. John Chrysostom, in his homily, adds: “And
in that He adds seek and knock, He bids us ask with much
importunateness and strength. For one
who seeks casts forth all other things from his mind and is turned to that
thing singly which he seeks, and he that knocks comes with vehemence and warm
soul.”[21] If we are truly seeking God and his strength,
all else pales; our minds will most singly be upon God.
Due to the fact we fall so often, we
may be tempted to doubt God’s word and give up in our asking. We may think that God is not answering our
prayers. God answers our prayers, which
are in accordance with his will, immediately in eternity—outside of time—and he
then, in time, brings his answer to fruition at the perfect time. Also, he may answer them in a different way
than what we asked because he answers in a way most beneficial to us. As St. Augustine says, “But the Lord is good,
who often gives us not what we [want], that He may give us what we should
rather prefer.”[22] St. Jerome, in his commentary upon the Gospel
of Matthew, teaches: “He who had … forbade asking for carnal things shows what
we ought to seek. If it is given to the
one who asks and the one who seeks finds and it will be opened to the one who
knocks, then to whom it is not given and who does not find and to whom it will
not be opened, it appears that he has not asked well, sought well, and knocked
well. And so, let us knock on the door of Christ (cf. Jn 10:7), concerning
which it is said: ‘This is the gate of the Lord, the just shall enter through
it (Ps 118:20).” When we have
thus entered, may the hidden and secret treasures in Christ Jesus, in whom is
all knowledge (cf. Col 2:3), be opened to us.[23]
St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “It seems
to be false because what is asked [for] is not always received. I say that in four cases a man asks and is not
heard. It is because either he asks for what is not expedient, [cf. ‘You know
not what you ask’ (Mt 20:22)]; therefore, things necessary for salvation ought
to be asked. Or likewise, secondly, it
is because one does not ask well; “You ask and receive not: because you ask
amiss” (James 4, 3); therefore, one ought ask piously, that is, with faith. In like manner, one ought to ask humbly: Hence,
‘He has regarded the humility of his handmaid’ (Lk 1:48). Moreover, one ought to ask piously, that is,
devoutly. Likewise, one is sometimes not heard when one prays for another whose
demerits [oppose] the prayer, [cf.] ‘If Moses and Samuel shall stand before me,
my soul is not towards this people’ (Jer. 15:1). Likewise, it is not heard, because one had not
persevered, [cf.] ‘Because we ought always to pray’ (Lk. 18:1)—and,
perseveringly, because God wants prayers to multiply. Also, it happens that the Lord hears, but it
does not seem so because the Lord gives what is useful, not what is wanted, as
happened to Paul [cf. 2 Co 12:8-9]. Augustine
says: ‘The good Lord often does not grant what we ask so that He may give what
we will prefer; and, because we ourselves call Him Father, He gives to us what
a father gives to his son’.”[24]
Fr. Cornelius Lapide teaches: “Ask …
from God, by prayer, those things about which I have been teaching, such as are
necessary for you but arduous and difficult, and especially the things which I
have laid down to be looked for in the Lord’s Prayer. … Observe, these three words--ask, seek, knock--mean
the same thing, that is, earnest prayer. To ask signifies confidence in prayer as a
prime requisite; to seek signifies zeal and diligence, for he who seeks for
anything applies the whole vigor of his mind to obtain what he seeks. To knock
means perseverance. Christ then
signifies that we must pray faithfully, diligently, ardently, and
perseveringly. …St. Augustine … says
that ask refers to praying for strength by which we may be able to fulfil the
commandments of God; seek, that we may find the truth; knock, that heaven may
be opened unto us. To this we may add
the words of St. Chrysostom: ‘Ask,’ he says, ‘in supplications, praying night
and day; seek by zeal and labors, for heaven is not given to the slothful;
knock in prayers, in fastings, and almsgiving, for he who knocks at a door
knocks with his hand.’ Again, these
three words denote increasing earnestness in prayer. When anything is asked for, it is first spoken
for; by-and-by, if no answer be given, we cry out; if calling out [does] not
suffice, we seek for some other means of gaining attention, [e.g.] we apply our
mouth to some chink in the door by which our voices may be made to reach the
master of the house. If that … [fails],
we beat at the door until we gain a hearing. Hence, Remigius thus expounds, ‘We ask by
praying; we seek by living well; we knock by persevering’.”[25]
In order that we do not attempt to
rush our growth, St. John Chrysostom tells us: “…Seek not to learn all at once,
but gently and by little and little. Why,
it is in the vestibule that you are standing, by the very porch; why then do you
hasten towards the inner shrine?”[26] When we do grow, he warns us about thinking
that it is we who have accomplished this: “Know you not that if you praise yourself,
God will no more praise you? Even … if
thou [lament] yourself, He will not cease proclaiming you before all. For it is not at all His will that your labors
should be disparaged. Why do I say, ‘disparaged’?
Nay, He is doing and contriving all
things, so that even for little He may crown you; and He goes about seeking
excuses whereby you may be delivered from hell. For this cause, though you should work but the
eleventh hour of the day, He gives you wages entire; and though you afford no
ground of salvation, He says, ‘I do it for mine own sake, that my name be not
profaned.’ Though you should sigh only,
though thou should only weep, all these things He quickly catches hold of for
an occasion of saving you. Let us not,
therefore, lift up ourselves, but let us declare ourselves unprofitable that we
may become profitable. For, if you call yourself
approved, you [have] become unprofitable, though you were [beforehand] approved;
but, if useless, you [have] become profitable, even though you were reprobate.”[27] “Thus, we are not ourselves, says He, to
strive alone, but also to invoke the help from above; and it will surely come
and be present with us and will aid us in our struggles and make all easy. Therefore, He both commanded us to ask and
pledged Himself to the giving. However,
not simply to ask did He command us, but with much [diligence] and earnestness.
For this is the meaning of ‘seek’."[28] And, if you do not receive straightway, do
not even thus despair, for to this end He said, ‘knock,’ to signify that, even
if He should not straightway open the door, we are to continue there. And, if you doubt my affirmation, at any rate
believe His example: ‘For what man is there of you," says He, "whom,
if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone (Mt 7:9-11)?’ Because, as among men, if you keep on doing,
so, [that] you are even accounted troublesome and disgusting, so with God, when
you do not so, then you do more entirely provoke Him. And, if you continue asking, though you
receive not at once, you surely will receive. For to this end was the door shut: that He may
induce you to knock. To this end He does
not straightway assent: that you may ask. Continue then to do these things, and you will
surely receive.”[29]
We are the tied colt in Mark 11, the
colt upon which no one has sat. We are
untamed. The two disciples are the
Church, signifying faith and works.
Their cloaks have been washed in the Blood of our Lord, upon which he
sits. It is he who tames us and is
glorified. However, the “colt” is
blessed also because the Lord sits upon him.
When we seek the Lord and his
strength, [seeking] his presence continually through our asking, seeking,
and knocking, it is Christ who is glorified.
As an untamed colt, we can resist our Lord, trying to buck him off, not
willing to be controlled; or we can become docile, allowing our Lord to “ride”
upon us, through allowing him to transform us into his image by way of his
word, the Mass, the Sacraments, and living the life exemplified by our Lord,
submitting to the dictates of his Body, the Church.
It is Holy Week, our Lord’s Passion
being upon us. St. Leo the Great tells
us: “…[Amidst] all the works of God which weary out man’s wondering
contemplation, what so delights and so baffles our mind’s gaze as the Savior’s
Passion? Ponder as we may upon His
omnipotence, which is of one and equal substance with the Father, the humility
in God is more stupendous than the power, and it is harder to grasp the
complete emptying of the Divine Majesty than the infinite uplifting of the
“slave’s form” in Him. But we are much aided in our understanding of it by the
remembrance that though the Creator and the creature, the Inviolable God and
the passible flesh, are absolutely different, yet the properties of both
substances meet together in Christ’s one Person in such a way that alike in His
acts of weakness and of power the degradation belongs to the same Person as the
glory.”[30]
What baffles our minds is the fact
that GOD, the CREATOR, becomes CREATURE in order to submit to CREATURE, to
allow CREATURE to abuse CREATOR, to kill him.
We are not God; we are creature.
However, we do not like to submit to him who is equal to us; we
definitely will not willfully allow him to abuse us in little ways, let alone
to submit ourselves willingly, in love, to the degree that the Son of God did,
to the degree that the Father offered the Son for our lives. We hold ourselves in higher esteem than God
the Son did. This is not humility. Humility is what our Lord has done and is
doing. Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his
presence continually. He is the
only one who can grant us the humility that he desires us to have. Therefore, let us pray with St. Augustine:
“…So far as you have made me to be able, I have sought you and have desired to
see with my understanding what I believed, and I have argued and labored much. O Lord, my God, my one hope, hearken to me,
lest through weariness I be unwilling to seek you; ‘but that I may always
ardently seek Thy face, [give me] strength to seek, [you] who have made me find
you and have given [me] the hope of finding you more and more. My strength and my infirmity are in your sight. Preserve the one and heal the other. My knowledge and my ignorance are in your
sight. Where you have opened to me,
receive me as I enter; where you have closed, open to me as I knock. May I remember you, understand you, love you. Increase these things in me until you renew me
wholly.”[31] Let us constantly keep the saint’s
admonishment in mind: “‘Seek God,’ [the psalmist] says, ‘and your heart shall
live (Ps 69:32);’ and lest anyone should rashly rejoice that he has, as it
were, apprehended it, ‘Seek,’ he says, ‘His face evermore.’ And the apostle: ‘If any man,’ he says, ‘think
that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know (1 Cor 8:2))’.”[32] We have “found” God totally when we sin no
more. That will not be in this lifetime.
“For we shall not there”—heaven—“…seek
the face of God, when ‘we shall see face to face’ (1 Cor 13:12)’.” [33] Although he abides in us through his word and
the Sacraments; nevertheless, he commands us, Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually. Let us not allow ourselves become slothful
and become one of the five foolish virgins.[34] Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually. Every time we seek and find, we are given a foretaste of what is to come. The more we seek and find, the more fuller that revelation becomes.
[1]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible:
Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Ps 105:4.
[2]
Ibid., Jn 8:51.
[3]
Ibid., Mt 23:5–7.
[4] The Holy Bible,
Translated from the Latin Vulgate, (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible
Software, 2009), Ro 1:25.
[5]
Ibid., Ro 1:21–22.
[6] Leo
the Great, Leo the Great, Gregory the
Great, 1895, 12a, 173.
[7] Inc
Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster’s
collegiate dictionary., 2003.
[8]
Ibid.
[9]
Augustine of Hippo, St. Augustin: On the
Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises, 1887, 3, 199.
[10]
Ibid., 199-200.
[11]
Ibid., 199.
[12]
Augustine of Hippo, St. Augustin:
Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John,
Soliloquies, 1888, 7, 314.
[13] The Holy Bible,
Translated from the Latin Vulgate, (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible
Software, 2009), Mt 7:7–8.
[14] St.
Augustine, St. Augustine: The
Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, eds. Johannes Quasten and Joseph C.
Plumpe, Ancient Christian Writers, (New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1948),
5:159.
[15]
John MacEvilly, An Exposition of
the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, (Dublin; New York: M. H. Gill
& Son; Benziger Brothers, 1898), 135-136.
[16]
John MacEvilly, An Exposition of
the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, (Dublin; New York: M. H. Gill &
Son; Benziger Brothers, 1898), 136.
[17] The Holy Bible,
Translated from the Latin Vulgate, (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible
Software, 2009), Mt 7:9–11.
[18]
Augustine of Hippo, Saint Augustin:
Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels, 1888,
6, 294–295.
[19]
Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea:
Commentary on the Four Gospels, Collected out of the Works of the Fathers: St.
Matthew, ed. John Henry Newman, (Oxford: John Henry Parker,
1841), 1:272.
[20]
Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea:
Commentary on the Four Gospels, Collected out of the Works of the Fathers: St.
Matthew, ed. John Henry Newman, (Oxford: John Henry Parker,
1841), 1:272–273.
Chrysostom
S. John Chrysostom, Abp. of Constantinople, A.D. 398.
[21]
Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea:
Commentary on the Four Gospels, Collected out of the Works of the Fathers: St.
Matthew, ed. John Henry Newman, (Oxford: John Henry Parker,
1841), 1:273.
[22]
Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea:
Commentary on the Four Gospels, Collected out of the Works of the Fathers: St.
Matthew, ed. John Henry Newman, (Oxford: John Henry Parker,
1841), 1:273.
[23]
Jerome, Commentary on
Matthew, ed. Thomas P. Halton, The Fathers of the Church,
(Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2008), 117:93–94.
[24] Aquinas, St. Thomas . Commentary on the Gospel of St.
Matthew (pp. 301-302). Dolorosa Press. Kindle Edition
[25] Lapide SJ, Cornelius A. The Great Commentary of
Cornelius A Lapide: Three Volumes Contaning General Preface and the Gospel of
Matthew (Kindle Locations 8289-8304). Veritatis Splendor Publications. Kindle
Edition
[26] Chrysostom,
St. St. Chrysostom: Homilies on the Gospel of Saint Matthew (Kindle Locations
480-481). public domain. Kindle Edition
[27] Chrysostom, St. St. Chrysostom: Homilies on the
Gospel of Saint Matthew (Kindle Locations 759-766). public domain. Kindle
Edition
[28] Chrysostom, St. St. Chrysostom: Homilies on the
Gospel of Saint Matthew (Kindle Locations 5505-5508). public domain. Kindle
Edition
[29] Chrysostom, St. St. Chrysostom: Homilies on the
Gospel of Saint Matthew (Kindle Locations 5513-5519). public domain. Kindle
Edition
[30] Leo
the Great, Leo the Great, Gregory the
Great, 1895, 12a, 174.
[31]
Augustine of Hippo, St. Augustin: On the
Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises, 1887, 3, 227–228.
[32]
Augustine of Hippo, St. Augustin: On the
Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises, 1887, 3, 125.
[33]
Augustine of Hippo, Saint Augustin:
Expositions on the Book of Psalms, 1888, 8, 565.
[34] New American Bible,
Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops, 2011), Mt 25:1-13.
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