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June 7, 2024When I was a junior in high school, St. Joseph Collegiate changed how they did summer reading for upperclassmen. Rather than simply give each grade a list of books to select from, now upperclassmen had the option to pick from any teachers reading list. I chose the list put out by my math teacher, which had on it, Friday Night Lights, The Right Stuff, and Rocket Boys. I chose this list for three big reasons: (1) I already wanted to read Friday Night Lights, (2) None of the books were too long, and (3) all the books had been made into movies. In September when we returned to school, we began the year as we always did, with the summer reading test. It was at this point that I discovered that my math teacher was playing 4D chess while us students were still playing checkers. What I mean is, every single question on his test involved a detail of the book which the movie changed. Luckily for me I read most of the books and passed the test, but this event made me think about how important details are to a narrative.
As we return to Ordinary Time, we encounter scenes from the public ministry of Jesus which may be easier to recall than sections of the farewell discourses from the Gospel of John. It is good that we are familiar with these Gospels, but we ought to be on guard that we don’t think to ourselves “I know the broad strokes, I don’t need to check the details.” The beauty of the Gospel, and indeed the Church, are found in the details because they reveal to us a God who desires to be made known. There is so much depth to our faith that we may be tempted to simply “get the gist” (i.e. “I’ll just watch the movie”). Instead of seeking the minimum in the midst of our busy lives, our faith invites us to a personal relationship with God who, over the centuries, has revealed His love in numerous ways throughout the world, throughout the lives of His people, and throughout the arts. Maybe this summer we can do what we did back when we were still students, pick up a book, and allow it to broaden our horizons on our relationship with the divine.
Fr. Chris
