Gospel Commentary: Mighty Deeds

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky
Herald Columnist
(From the issue of 6/19/03)

We are impressed by mighty deeds. People line up to see the latest Hollywood action movie in hopes of seeing the mighty deeds of new and improved special effects. Americans love the celebration of Independence Day and hope for ever more exciting firework displays. The hype surrounding sports events draws attention to the mighty deeds of athletes.

When we think of the Old Testament, the mighty deeds of God quickly come to mind: the great armies winning battles with God’s help; the parting of the Red Sea during the Exodus; God’s wrathful destruction of Sodom because of unrighteous men. For pious Jews, these memories are kept alive and handed down over the generations. But there is something incomplete in the experience of extraordinary events.

The central event of the Old Testament is the Exodus. But it didn’t take long for those who witnessed this mighty deed to begin to worship the Golden Calf. Despite their magnificent victories on the battlefield with God’s help, the ancient Jews failed to follow the counsel of the

Prophets and eventually suffered exile at the hands of the Babylonians. God’s mighty deeds became the common experience of the people of ancient Israel, and the memory of the experience was easily compromised by disobedience. Throughout the Bible, the Chosen People were prone to lose the sense of God’s abiding presence and protection despite their experiences of God’s glory and power.

The central saving truth of our Catholic faith is our Redemption in Jesus Christ. Christ suffered and died for us, and He has overcome sin, suffering and death in His Resurrection. But our experiences of God’s interventions into history — even our day-to-day experiences — are meaningless without faith. Without faith, an awesome thunderstorm is not understood as God’s handiwork, but merely the convergence of weather patterns. Faith makes sense of our experiences. This is one of the reasons St. Paul tells us that we are "justified by faith."

Faith complements and internalizes experience. Divine faith accepts God’s truth as revealed through the Church. Did any of us experience the Resurrection? No, we accept the Resurrection as a fact because Christ teaches it through His Church. Faith makes us keenly aware of the events of our Redemption. Without faith, we cannot be justified in Christ. Faith also reveals the extraordinary in the midst of the ordinary. With faith, the events of our lives begin to reveal God’s extraordinary plan for us.

The Eucharist is the most splendid example of the extraordinary wrapped in the ordinary. In the celebration of the Eucharist, the Church makes present the Cross and Resurrection, the mystery of our Redemption. In the Eucharist, we encounter the Risen Christ, body, blood, soul and divinity. He is truly present on our altars. And whether we believe it or not, we receive Him into our hearts when we receive Communion. But we need faith to enter into and truly experience the reality of these saving realities.

Faith draws our attention to the saving power of the Eucharist. And when we receive the Eucharist with faith, we ourselves are empowered to enter into the world and to perform mighty deeds in the name of Jesus.

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