31st Sunday B
Cobh
3 November 2024
My friends,
One of the great practical fruits of technological development is the ‘Search Engine’ – whereby you type in a word or a question and instantly almost you get an answer – so much so Google is really part and parcel of our vocabulary just like Hoover.
In this context the extraordinary asset is surely the Apps for travel purposes. Type in a place or a postcode and there a set of directions pop up to get you to a destination that would otherwise be demanding if not exhausting. Would that it were so simple and easy when it comes to life itself. Would that we could find some simple, clear-cut directions that we could follow, avoid traps and hazards and safely come to our destiny without accident or mishap.
That kind of technical search engine doesn’t exist because the human person is too complex and too much of a mystery to be sorted out by a machine even an artificially intelligent one.
However, that doesn’t mean that we are without help in our searches through life. Todays first Reading from Deuteronomy and the Gospel from Mark both quote the ‘Shema’, that prayer beloved of the Jewish people from their earliest days. It goes,
“Listen, Israel: the Lord our God is the one Lord.
You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul and with
all your strength. Let these words
I urge on you today be written on your heart.”
Deut 2:6
These same words are echoed in Marks account of Jesus’ conversation with one of the Scribes, only the love of neighbour is put with it by Jesus. The Scribe commended Jesus and in turn was commended by Jesus because he had spoken wisely and well – assuring him he was not far from the Kingdom of God.
So, in a sense these insights and instructions are the fruits of search for some answers to life’s most profound questions.
Think of the Scribes question to Jesus – Which is the greatest of the commandments? – his search question was a ‘searching’ a question – a search for the truth, a search for sure direction.
In our current experience individually and as a society while we are richly blessed in so many respects so many are confused and lost. Multiplicity of choice makes it more difficult to sort the good from the bad, the wise from the foolish. Just because we have so much choice at our disposal does not make them equally valid. We need a filter, a moral and personal filter by which to separate the tinsel from the gold.
For most of us this filter, this skill and grace of good judgment has been nurtured in our families – whereby together by word and example we grow in wisdom and grace. Regrettably, so many parents are confused that they lack the confidence and courage to guide their children on a path of wisdom – which begins with appreciation of the love of our Creator God who graces us with minds and hearts to grow strong and sure in our love of one another.
The search of the human heart is a search of an entirely different nature to Google!
