Saint Scholastica, Virgin

Title

Principles of God vs the Realpolitik of Man

Outline

St Scholastica was a principled woman

I say this not only because she was able to run a convent effectively, but because of her final interaction with her brother. She seems to have sensed that it would be their last meeting, so she asks Benedict to prolong the time together. He refuses, wanting to get back to his monastery. She, rather than trying to manipulate him emotionally, simply puts her head down and prays and a storm comes up preventing Benedict’s return trip. Rather than use human means to support her divinely inspired request she appeals to God, to his will, following the principles God taught her.

We see the opposite of this in our first reading

Jeroboam rightly fears a return to the “house of David” - that was where the resources were, where the divine presence was, where the history of Israel pointed. And he realized what happened to rival kings when such a reversion happened.

But rather than trusting in the words of Ahijah and perhaps leading a pilgrimage of the people in person to the temple of the God who had anointed him, he engages in Realpolitik, making “gods” like the calf at Sinai, associated with leaving Egypt, positioning them near the borders to people would not need to leave the land, and creating a priesthood loyal to him, unlike the Levites who were loyal to the Temple.

The result of this clever move was God’s judgment, for Kings makes clear that this sin not only led to the total destruction of Jeroboam’s extended family but also to the exile of Israel in 721/722.

What was wise, even prudential, in human terms was a disaster in God’s terms, for it violated his principles.

Now look at Jesus

The crowds, of course, gathered due to the Spirit of God that anointed Jesus. Now he brings up the practical observation that they are very hungry and some will likely collapse if they have to travel home. The principle is that one feeds the hungry.

The disciples counter with “reality”: we do not have enough bread and there is nowhere around to get more. The prudential implication is, send them away anyway. And part of the reality is that if they tried to feed them they would lose their meagre supply of food.

Jesus responds “How many loaves do you have?” He wants all their food supply. He blesses (for the Father is often presented as the one giving food) and orders the sharing of the bread and also the few fish which they did not mention before.

The result of following the principle of feeding the hungry, trusting in God to provide, is that the people ate to the full and seven baskets of fragments are taken up, one for each small loaf. He followed the principle and it over came the disciples’ “this world” prudence.

Sisters, we are always tempted to compromise with this-world reality

We will often call it “prudence” or “reality-based” or whatever, but if God has led us into the situation, the principle is to trust him to solve the problem. Furthermore, we follow God’s principles whether they seem prudent or not in terms of this world.

Now that is easy to say and easy to see in the text, but the challenge for us is to actually live it.