Chaplain’s Column

A writer at Benedictine College in Kansas, Tom Hoopes, said “we have all seen the scene in romantic comedies when one or the other member of the cute leading pair realizes what the audience long ago saw coming: they are meant for each other.”

“At that point, the lover throws caution to the wind: he shouts his love in an embarrassingly public way. She dances for joy in the rain, hardly noticing that she is getting wet. Suddenly, all of the reserve that held them back from each other is gone.”

In the Gospel of St. Mark, there is a story of a blind beggar named Bartimaeus that shows us what it is like to be shamelessly in love.

Bartimaeus was sitting by the side of the road when he heard that Jesus was about to pass by.

Bartimaeus began calling out, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. It did not work as Bartimaeus kept calling out all the more. Tom Hoopes said, “Imagine being Bartimaeus.”

“What would you do if Jesus was passing by and others tried to silence you? Would you be polite and quiet or would you make a scene, in your desire to see the Lord? This depends on what we know of Jesus and of ourselves. Bartimaeus tried life without Jesus. He hated it.”

“Without Jesus, he was a blind beggar on the street. When he had a chance to change that, he made a scene, he couldn’t keep silent.”

In a wonderful way, when we turn to God shamelessly all shame disappears. As heartfelt as the best romantic movie or comedy is, nothing can compare to the true love God has for each of us.

We only need to be aware of it and let go of all our reserve.

There was a cartoon many years ago about a girl named Lucy who was trying to reform her classmate Charlie Brown.

One day she looked at him and said, “Do you know what is wrong with you Charlie Brown?”

“What,” he asked. “What is wrong with you is that you do not know what is wrong with you,” Lucy replied.

Bartimaeus knew what was wrong with him and he knew the person who could help him. Bartimaeus was blind but he could see Jesus with the eyes of faith. He was determined to get Jesus’ attention, trusting that the Lord could help him.

There are days when we may battle with a spiritual sickness that takes our energy and steals our excitement. St. Augustine provided the cure as he spoke of a new romance.

He said, “To fall in love with God is the greatest of romances, to seek him the greatest of adventures, to find him the greatest human achievement.” We have every reason to be captivated, because God has made the greatest gesture of love the world has ever known, to each of us. We are not simply liked, but passionately loved by God.

St. John wrote, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (Jn 3:16).

Loved by God, we can know his presence in all the ordinary activities of our day. We know that we will always have his love. God is not ashamed to show us his love and calls us his ‘beloved’ in the Scriptures.

With a shameless love, we can make our faith a living thing.

We have a wonderful example from Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity. She was a Carmelite nun in Dijon, France, when she died of Addison’s disease in 1906 at the early age of 26.

Sister Elizabeth said, “Let us live with God as with a friend. Let us make our faith a living thing. We carry our heaven within us. It seems to me I have found my heaven on earth, since heaven is God and God is in my soul.”

“The day I understood that, everything became clear to me, and I wish I could whisper this secret to those I love in order that they also might cling closely to God through everything.”