We all have a hunger to know and be known. We need to name and to have a name.
There is a particularly poignant loneliness for those who are completely anonymous. What a failure of Christian community if there is a member of this assembly whose name nobody knows! We all have a natural shyness about reaching out to one another, but it seems to me that there is a special “Catholic shyness” that keeps us anonymous in our pews.
One act of oppression is to refuse to know the victim. We can do all sorts of injustices to the other when we don’t know their name or their identity.
The experience of the world is that of the absence of God. When we look in the world for the presence of Christ, we are left empty. Often we search the landscape for a sign of the sunrise of human liberation and find only darkness. We can never know or be known by an absent God.
We are in the season of "Mystagogia". These are the weeks after the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ Jesus where the Church reflects with newly initiated on their Easter experience.
Certainly in the days of the disciples between Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension there were strong encounters with the Risen Christ, whose effect animates the Church even to this day. In that time in history the events of the Risen and Liberating Christ’s ongoing presence were real and impactful. These weeks are replete with the presence of the Risen Christ!
It is no accident that the writings of the Evangelist John take center stage in the Easter Season. More than any other of the Sacred Writers, John’s works reflect the presence of the Risen Christ. Today’s readings from John link Christ’s risen presence with knowledge. An important outcome of our encounters with the Risen Christ present among us is “to known and be known” .
The Good News is there can be a relation of mutual knowledge between ourselves and God!
The Biblical use of the word “to know” differs from our culture’s use. When we use the work “to know”, we refer to intellectual knowledge. However, the Biblical use implies intimacy. Sadly, our culture at times limits the use of the word “intimacy” to sexual intimacy. Most of us, however, are aware that the sexual act does not always imply intimacy. Intimacy occurs when two or more hearts “know” one another.
The image of the Risen Christ in the Gospel is that of a Good Shepherd: a shepherd that knows his sheep and is known by the sheep. Just as a mother knows the sighs and expressions of an infant, the shepherd senses when one of the sheep has strayed or is in distress. Just as in a normal relationship, children do not need to doubt the ever-present love of their mother, the sheep do not need to test the shepherd. They know every gesture, every move, every noise. The knowledge between shepherd and sheep is instantaneous and intimate. The knowledge between mother and child is all embracing. And God knows each and every one of us.
We are known by God and have a name: God’s sons and daughters. And, most incredible of all, the day will come where we will know God, not in parable or sacred image, but as God is, face to face!
As a community of liberation, we are a place where we all have a name. And, as a truly liberating community, we seek to know as intimately as we can all that we serve. Than will ignorance be replaced with compassion, and oppression with justice!
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