Witness “Begets” Witnesses

Sermon on the Mount, by Harry Anderson

Introduction¹

Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd who leads us to new pastures;
He said: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10: 10).

It can often seem that it is something “unnatural,” unreasonable or, at the very least, unfamiliar to us to “witness” to our faith in Jesus Christ—Lord and Savior, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity; foundational Being of all that was brought to exist; of all that was created, redeemed and prepared for glorification. Thus, although the work of witness is indeed characteristic of our faith—in that God never passes but that he leaves a trace of his passing, whether in the great and visible splendor of creation, or in the unexpected answer to a prayer for a child—it seems that the times in which we live make it necessary to explore both witness and its validity. For how can a word spoken in one particular culture and time be a word for all times and peoples? “How can there be a continuity between Biblical culture and our own, as far as moral norms and their application are concerned?”² In other words, is there a “truth” that can speak to each one of us, and to all of us; and, if it can, how does it “pass” from the time, place, and person of the writer? In what follows there is a brief attempt to show that teaching and witness belong together. Just as witness is begotten by witness, so is witness also a teacher, instructing us that the same Truth that convicts us of sin (cf. Jn 16: 8-9) is the Truth that convinces us, too, of the human nature that we possess in common, and the mystery of God that transcends time, culture, and place. Thus, a dialogue is possible: a dialogue between Creator and created.

In this brief article, I want to consider three things: the growing realization that “Witness and Teacher” belong together (Part I); that the Scripture, as “Witness,” begets witnesses (Part II); and, that this impels me to share my witness (Part III).

Part I: Witness and Teacher

We are living in the context of The New Evangelization,³ which is an integral part of the renewal of the Church through the Second Vatican Council. In the course of investigating this line of thought, it came to light that it was Karol Wojtyla who was instrumental in the restoration of the catechumenate by having it included in the first Constitution of the Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium (64): “Wojtyla thus saw that at the center of evangelization lay personal witness and the catechumenate.”⁴ The catechumenate, then, is a period dedicated to the process of formation which extends from the initial proclamation of Christ, saving us from our sins, and the systematic teaching which unfolds from it. We are, moreover, living in the context of a renewal in our appreciation of Scripture in the life of the Church, and as a “word” which brings about conversion: “God’s word is unpredictable in its power” (Evangelii Gaudium, 22); and it is “a word which disrupts {and} … which calls to conversion” (Verbum Domini, 93).

On the one hand, as we can already see, our faith is an integral expression of Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium (cf. Dei Verbum, 10); and, as Dei Verbum also says, the Magisterium “is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously, and explaining it faithfully …”(10) The teaching of the Church, expressed so beautifully in the Catechism in a balanced, systematic presentation of the faith, is a part of the testimony of that “cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12: 1) who have lived it.

On the other hand, there is the need for our daily witness, for as Pope Paul VI says: “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”⁵ In answer to the question: “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” Pope Francis said: “I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.” In so doing, the Pope is identifying his own call with the call of Matthew (cf. Mt 9: 9-13).⁶ Additionally, Cardinal Angelo Scola says there is a particular need for the witness of married people.⁷ In general, just as the action of God was often marked by an event, such as a pregnancy,⁸ but also by a whole history of events known as the history of salvation, so are there many aspects to the way that a man, husband and father, can witness to the work of God.

In the parts that follow, there is an exploration of the “natural foundation” of witness, bearing in mind St. Thomas Aquinas’ axiom that “grace builds on nature.” On the other hand, Revelation comes both to assist us with what we can naturally know (cf. Dei Verbum, 6) and, at the same time, to bring about what is beyond the capacity of fallen man but integral to him, namely his redemption and glorification in Jesus Christ and his Church (cf. ibid).

The Natural Foundation of the Call to Witness

Three Dimensions—Psychological, Social, and Spiritual

The psychological dimension. It is here presupposed that there is a psychological account of the human person that is integrated with a metaphysical anthropology that accepts the body-soul unity of the person. We are beings conceived through the act of marriage, and the action of God—both of which bring us to exist through a concrete relationship to others and to God. Therefore, integral to human maturation is the “development-through-communication” of those relationships through which we have come to exist.

One outcome of many psychoanalytical and psychological studies is a confirmation of the general wisdom that communication improves the individual’s psychological health⁹. Secondly, then, if good, real and true self-expression improves psychological health, then this implies a psychological norm between psychological health and communication. Furthermore, as communication entails giving and receiving generally, so the good communication that improves psychological health also improves marriage and family life. Whatever that can be understood about how to communicate, and how to enhance communication, is going to apply to different kinds of communication. If “authentic communication”—which is really listening to the intention in what is said—is both essential to good relationships, and to the communication that is prayer,¹⁰ then it follows that what benefits prayer will also benefit psychological health, relationships generally, and spousal communication in particular.¹¹ One particular ingredient of this good communication, as Newman would say, is for heart to speak to heart; indeed, in prayer especially, there is that essential articulation of all our fears, hopes, and sins. Thus, if we are clear that the Lord is the One to whom all can be disclosed, then it is possible for us to turn to another, our spouse or friend, sharing what is actually in us to communicate.

The corollary of this principle of psychological health is that the articulation of our suffering assists with integral human development; and, conversely, the suppression of our suffering, in my experience due to the expression of a pride that is even “unconscious,”¹² leads to both psychological disorder and social problems. Thus, the interior awareness of an individual’s psychological processes is, as it were, an inseparably social vehicle of our personal development. For, it is in the very communication of our “interior” reality that we develop, or obstruct, our relationship to others. In other words, if at the human level we admit the reality of our reactions to each other and to life events, we begin to be in “possession,” as it were, of what to share with others in the normal development of friendship and intimacy. For example, the disappointment over a present, while not flattering to ourselves or to the other, nevertheless helps us to see “our” reality: the disappointment of our expectation being greater than the perception of what the giver is doing in giving the gift.¹³ Or reflecting on Nebuchadnezzar’s extreme anger in front of the three young men who refused to worship a “statue-god,” shows us so many things about the destructiveness of anger, the abuse of power, and the incredibly “visible” help of God; indeed, the biblical account “discovers” us to be people-pleasers, persecutors, or capable of believing in God even if we are wronged (cf. Dn 3:13-30).

The social dimension. There is also the social context of our own life and sufferings; and, at this point, we begin to see that we are “children of our time” and are in fact going through experiences which are also a part of our culture.

While houses and homes are getting smaller, and some places are experiencing large scale disruption in the ages of populations, with an increase in the elderly and a decline in the young; in some places, loneliness and suicide are on the increase. Is this an expression of a profound inability to live the relationships that are a natural part of us: son and daughter, sister and brother, husband and wife, father and mother, grandfather and grandmother, neighbor to the stranger? Are we experiencing a “relational winter?” Therefore, is this a sign of an alienation from God, and from each other? Is loneliness “a dramatic representation of the fallen situation of man”¹⁴? Are we “imprisoned” in loneliness as we are “imprisoned” in disobedience—that God “may have mercy upon all” (Rom 11: 32)?

Divorce, the relationship merry-go-round, and the sexual exploitation of friendship are about “making love” as if it is something to be “manufactured” through human effort and ingenuity. But the reality of love is a gift: the desire “to be married” is, in the end, the desire to experience a “unique love”: to experience a love “like” the Eternal Love: to experience love as a gift given!

More widely, our culture exalts freedom, and is a slave of fashion. We are impressed with internet speed, and overlook the fact that prayer is instantaneous. The supernatural is denied and, yet, there is a rise in superheroes. With the loss of religious faith, there is an increase in the hope that law will right everything. While some question everything, others exalt fragments of truth and meaning, such as tolerance and freedom. With great wealth comes the shadow of appalling poverty. With opportunities come the idolatry of success. And in the end, without the humility of asking God for help comes the pride of inhuman projects that seek to “fix” human suffering, instead of striving for “patience in well-doing” (cf Rom 2: 7). Paradoxically, then, do all our difficulties point, more and more clearly, to our need of salvation?

The spiritual dimension. In the first place, spiritual does not imply that the first two steps are not spiritual (the psychological and the social). Rather, spiritual implies that the intrinsically spiritual activities of the person are becoming explicitly recognized, such that we can “see” that our nature transcends the material order (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 14), and is particularly expressed in the pursuit of the truth, doing good, avoiding evil, living out our family relationships, forming friendships, identifying and pursuing talents and vocations.

We can also say, however, that as we begin to ask questions about reality, about our reality, we can begin to see that those questions take us ever deeper into the truth that “leads” to the Gospel. For example, our understanding of the cause of psychological problems may grow to the point where we begin to wonder where it all began. What began the personality problems which directly, or indirectly, have contributed to the “transmission” of human imperfections in the psychological history of families? Thus a question about the causation of “psychological” problems becomes a kind of “natural” precursor to the “message” of original sin.

Part II: The Scripture as Witness Begets Witnesses

Into man’s situation comes the word of God which, in another sense, has been there from the beginning (cf. (Gn 1: 1). And, bearing in mind that the word of God is the work of both human and divine authors (cf. Dei Verbum, 11), we discover that the action of God is evidenced in events: the first event of creation itself, and then those that “mark” the course of the history of salvation. Thus, on the one hand, it is characteristic of human beings to share their self-understanding with others and, through this whole process, both come to know themselves more clearly and, at the same time, to begin to recognize a common humanity with the other. On the other hand, Scripture itself reveals, in the very way it was written, an incredible array and diversity of human experience. Just as the word of God brought creation to exist and that, therefore, creation is a “witness” to the very action of God, so when God acts in the life of each one of us, his word brings a particular event to pass. In general, we can say that the history of salvation is that multitude of witnesses (cf. Heb 12: 1-2) to the action of God into which the Church constantly draws us. But we can also say that there is a certain “knowledge” of the action of God that proceeds from Scripture as a whole: creation; sin and slavery; great acts of redemption and salvation; the ongoing forming of individuals into the community of the Church; and, finally, the fact that the acts of God open up the possibility of eternal life.

If the Holy Spirit searches the depths of God (1 Cor 2: 10-13), convicts us of sin (Jn 16: 8-9), and convinces us of the love of God for each one of us (Jn 3: 16-21), then the action of the Holy Spirit is indispensable to the development of the real objectification of the subjective experience of the call to conversion—an action of the Holy Spirit in the word of God that continues the Creator’s act of creation.¹⁵ Our witness, then, will bear a resemblance to the work of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 16: 5-15) who is constantly making us into friends of God (cf. Wis 7: 21-8: 1, particularly 7: 27). Our witness will bear out, then, what Christ himself said of the “heart” as being that from which all manner of evils spring: “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery …” (Mt 15: 18-19). Again, however, we can see that there is that impression of what is “within us” coming to consciousness through our action and our reflection on our action; and, therefore, a process type understanding of psychology and how we come to know ourselves.

Finally, then, for an ability to love to become the “love” that, in a sense, constitutes our individual and social reality there needs to be an agent of change. Ultimately, that agent of change is God, and the gifts he gives us. Beginning with the history of salvation, there is the fact that God loved us first” (Deus Caritas Est, 1). Therefore our witness, building as it does on a human process of giving an account of ourselves, is actually about giving an account of what God has done for us.

Part III: A Particular Teaching of the Catechism on Creation and My Response

“Since God could create everything out of nothing, he can also,
through the Holy Spirit, give spiritual life to sinners
by creating a pure heart in them …”(CCC, 298)

My witness to the help of the Catechism, the Scriptures, the Magisterium and, in all, to Christ and His Church

“The Word Became Flesh for me: this poor man called
and the Lord heard him!” (cf. Ps 34: 6)

For about twenty years, my life was full of resentment, a sense of injustice, indecision, unfinished courses, alienation from my family, unhappiness, frustration, involving sickness, sin, and the heart-rending suffering of losing a child to abortion. I began to think that I didn’t have the “faith” to marry; indeed, although I didn’t know what this “faith” was, I definitely saw marriage as an unendurable suffering. In a word, I was what Mother Teresa called a “broken” Christian.

Having been invited to a Catechesis of The Neocatechumenal Way, I was called to a pilgrimage to Denver to meet the Pope with the multitudes who, like me, were looking for a word of life. Into this “situation,” Pope John Paul II spoke the following words of Christ: “I came that they might have life, and have it to the full”(Jn 10:10).

The Neocatechumenal Way, however, appeared to me like an answer to the needs of the Church today. It offered collaborative ministry between a married couple and a priest, a return to the Scriptures, and the possibility of a kind of community life for lay people. But one can listen and not hear (cf. Mt 13: 14). After a few years, I found myself in the words of the Gospel where Christ tells of a man appearing at a wedding feast without a proper change of garments, who was then thrown out for his mistake (cf. Mt 22: 11, and cf. 13). In other words, without intending to leave the Way, I left it after this Gospel: “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool that repeats his folly” (Prov 26: 11). I was that fool!

Then, reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church in the midst of an existential crisis about whether to live or die, to abandon myself to sin, or go mad with angst, it was clear to me that if God can create all that exists out of nothing, he can create a new beginning in my life (cf. CCC, 298).

I returned to the Way and went on a second pilgrimage. This time, when Christ spoke to the woman caught in adultery, he spoke to me: “…go, and do not sin again” (Jn.8:11). It was almost as if I could hear these words being addressed to me: Go and sin no more—as if Christ had the power to command what I could not do! I then met the woman who was to become my wife, namely Catherine. The sign acceptable to her that I was ready to marry was that I took a job as a laundry laborer!

Prayer is a daily dialogue with God. However, there are luminous events which signify the Lord is listening. For example, while studying the article of the Our Father, “Give us this day our daily bread,” I was led to pray for work in a different way: to take my frequent prayers to the Church in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Initially, however, I replied to this prompting that I am too busy to go to pray in church. But then, the bus taking our children to school was cancelled, so I started taking them myself, afterwards going into the church to pray for work. For about half an hour each weekday, between September and December of 2007, I talked to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament about my search for work, my health, the number of our children, the impact on family life, my experience, qualifications, and time of life. Then, on January 3, 2008, I began work in a family-friendly position at the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham.

Now that I am married with eight children, plus three more in heaven, I can see how the call to faith, the praise of God, and the help of the Church, lie at the heart of marriage—its difficulties, the dialogue of being open to life, having help in times of illness, threatened homelessness, unemployment, the impossibility of managing the demands of the day, and the Christian life. For myself, as I began to listen to the Word of God, I began to see that if the Lord does not build the house (Ps 127: 1), then there is only ruin and devastation; and, in reality, this expressed my life for many years. In other words, it was a mercy of the Lord to frustrate my many plans to the point where I began, finally, to see that there was a problem in my life that I could not solve. Thus, the frustration I experienced was a kind of existential opening to the question of what life is about.

Adapting the words of a Father of the Church, St. Irenaeus: The glory of God is man, male and female, fully alive; and, therefore, each marriage is a celebration of the triumph of Christ, who “by his incarnation … has united himself in some fashion with every man” (Gaudium et Spes, 22). Thus, Christ, the Son of God, seeks our baptism into his Church as a completion of the work which he began again at the Incarnation, and completes in his Paschal Mystery; and, according to our vocation, goes on to make possible the marriage and family life to which I am called.

I am sure, too, that those children who are already in heaven are praising God, praying for us, and pleading with Christ for us to be with them. Indeed, however imperfect and in need of conversion we are (cf. Lumen Gentium, 8), whatever good we do in the Church and society, is sure to be a fruit of that wonderful mystery of mysteries: the communion of saints in the presence of the Blessed Trinity.