The Catholic Times

Janet is a bi-weekly columnist for The Catholic Times. 

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The following is a sample of Janet's column:

When did we lose Scripture’s basic wisdom?

 

When I was young and learning about the ways of the world, my mother told me the truth about childbirth.  “It can be painful,” she’d say, “but as soon as you see that little baby, you forget about the pain.  It is all worth it.”   

I was utterly amazed this week when I discovered that my Mom’s wisdom about childbirth is straight from scripture! If you read the Gospel of John, Chapter 16, Verse 21, you will find:

“When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.”

 Now in the Gospel of John, the evangelist uses childbirth as a metaphor for the pain the disciples will experience when Jesus departs and the joy they will one day experience when they are reunited with him.  But, for me, I am drawn into a deeper question:  How did Mom—who didn’t study scripture—acquire this Gospel wisdom?

I am intrigued by the likelihood that scriptural wisdom is passed on from generation to generation—often without our awareness of its origin.  It’s interesting to consider that ideas from scripture have become so deeply rooted in us that we have forgotten their God-centered past. 

What really scares, me, though, is when we knowingly reject the wisdom of scripture and Tradition, two great sources of God’s revelation.  We are in danger today because we set off, apart from God’s wisdom, trying to improve that which needs no improvement.

Take families, for instance.  I heard a disc jockey talking on the radio the other day about homosexual couples.  He was going on and on about how wonderful it is that they are adopting children.  When he wrapped up his conversation, he surprised me by saying he wasn’t quite sure, however, about homosexual couples marrying.  Huh? 

It’s lucky I didn’t run my car off the road . . . 

You see, it was the commitment that he felt was most important (think Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt).  He said as long as a couple is committed to each other, that’s what children need.  His colleague only made matters worse when he said:  “Marriage is just an idea.” 

Well, let me tell you, I’ve been married for twenty-five years now and I assure you marriage is not just an idea.  Being a sacramental sign of God’s unifying love and grace, it runs deeper than our secular ideas about commitment.  Naturally, there are plenty of people—like that disc jockey—preaching commitment without unity.  They think commitment is all it takes to raise a family.  What does that teach children about the value of marriage?  

Oh yeah, I forgot, marriage is just an idea that isn’t relevant anymore.  

Perhaps we need a reminder that families are supposed to reflect back to the world an image of Church, where God is the visible head of a sacramental union between one man and one woman.  The disc jockey and several of his callers were absolutely electrified by the thought that one day their idyllic family picture could be the norm.  

I guess that’s what you get when you reject God’s wisdom for your own foolishness.

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