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THE

RTHOLIC

Series; First IVords and

Lasting Impressions

Talk /fl: Ҥtring Around My Fingei''

REV. JAMES F. FINLEY, C.S.P.

MARCH 1. 1959





"String Around My Finger"

The first Words that pass between two

people can be, often, the most important

words in thier lives. To the persons in-

volved, these words, whether spoken or

heard, whispered or shouted, attended by

trivia or magnificence, will impart a

meaning that is vivid and lasting. The

words may frame on instant or a lifetime;

they can evoke the confidence of love or

the confusion of hate; they might effect

a new way of life or sustain an old one.

Whatever the result, whether the words

bridge continents or divide cultures,

link hearts or separate intimates, the

impact of the words will endure for the

persons involved.

Any words of Christ must loom large

in our life but how important must be the

First Words that Christ spoke to us! If

we select just the seven first statements

of His that are recorded, we find our-

selves with a plan of life that can absorb

all our days. Here are the words that

echoed out of Heaven down to earth;

words mined for men through eternity,

delivered to men in time; words that

point , always , a divine purpose.



Christ's first moment was an answer

to the search all men make for God.

Christ's First Word was an answer to the

question all men ask of God -- "Why?"

Jesus had gone up to Jerusalem with

Mary and Joseph to celebrate the Pasch.

After the feast He remained in the city.

His parents, unaware of His absence,

began the return journey to Nazareth.

At the end of the first day of travel,

they discovered their loss. "And they

returned into Jerusalem seeking Him.

And it come to pass, that, after three

days, they found Him in the temple,

sitting in the midst of the doctors,

hearing them and asking them questions.

And all that heard Him were astonished at

His wisdom and His answers. And His

mother said to Him:

"Son, why have you done this to us?

Thy Father and I have sought You

sorrowing."

Here was the first "Why?" asked of

of Christ. Asked, oddly enough, by the

one person who had the deepest faith in

Him -- Mary, His Mother. Mary's query

was a natural one for a distrought mother

to ask but it con be considered also as

the echo of all mankind's questioning of

God in all ages. Christ's First Word was

the answer to Mary's first "Why?" and

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His reply remains forever the answer to

the whole world that searched into the

motives of God.

Jesus said to Mary: ''How is it that

you sought me? Did you not know that I

must be about My Father's business?''

Only the inspiration of God could

enable the Evangelist to comprehend the

story of human history in this brief in^

cident. In weak faith or growing doubt^

in fear, in pain, in anger, in revolt, the

generations of the children of men have

teen troubled to ask: "Why has Thou

done this to us?" Job and Elias and

David and Solomon; the Prophets, the

Priests, the people of antiquity; the

people of Christ's time, of our time, of

time past, present (and I'm sure, future)

have a burden of complaint, a popular

refrain that never grows old:

"Why have you done this to us?"

In the Old Testament we see that a

very patient God always gave an answer.

In new words and old ways His response

met the questioners to remind them and

their world that God never acts without a

purpose. Deliverance and plague, clouds

by day and fire by night, wonders and

woes gave the Hebrews their answer. It

was fixed in their books but not in their

hearts that "He made the little and the

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great and has equal care of them." This

was the Book of Wisdom to the Jews but

too often they forgot to be wise. So,

they repeated their doubts of God in

idolatries and defections until God could

say to His prophet: "I have spread forth

My hand all the day to on unbelieving

people who walk in a way that is not

good, after their own thoughts." (Is. 65, 2)

Then as if to give one final enduring

answer to all men of the forgetful past

and the possible forgetful future, Christ

comes to speak God's eternal reason as

He speaks His First Word. He appears

not only as a Redeemer but also as a

Reminder that God never acts without a

purpose. To Mary and through Mary the

enduring impression is wrought that

Divine Intelligence has a purpose and

He, Christ, is carrying it out; infinite

Knowledge has a plan and He, Christ, is

working to effect it; unlimited Wisdom

has a Providence and He, Christ, is

striving to teach it. A First Word "that

will not pass away" tells us that the

seeming strangeness of men's loves is

not a blindness on the part of God; not a

stupidity, a loss of perspective, a joke

or an attitude of carelessness. But in

love and consideration, in directness and

definiteness, Christ tells the world:

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"I must be about My Father's business."

Christ has not remained in the temple

to torment Joseph and Mary with His

absence. He had not tried to avoid them

or dupe them or punish them. The work

that He was on was God's. "For this

was I born/' He might have cried to

them. . . "For this I came into the

World." Men need to be saved. Christ

was here for that purpose and He was

impatient until the work could begin: "I

have a baptism wherewith I am to be

baptized and I am straightened until it be

accomplished."

All His life could have been detailed

at that moment but it would not have

added up to a sum. any greater than the

answer He gave Mary. His purpose was

in His name, Jesus, which meant"Saviour

of His people from their sins." The

Father had sent Him and the business of

the Father is the return of souls to the

Kingdom of Heaven -- souls separated

by ignorance or foolishness or sin.

Christ is the Saviour of all and it is in

Christ and through Christ and by Christ

that all must be saved. His moments in

Nazareth and Galilee, along the shores

of the lakes, in the porticoes of the

temple, or on the Cross . . . these were

not isolated minutes in a mission, they

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were motions in a single action . . . the

salvation of mankind!

Significantly, the Christ who gave this

answer was twelve years old, the age at

which a Jewish boy assumed the duties

of manhood. The clear purpose of Christ

to indicate His duty by this First Word is

seen in the repetitions of it throughout

His life. The words and signs that He

used might have phrased it differently,

but each repetition was the some answer

to another "Why?"

"Why hast Thou done this to us?"

"Did you not know that I must beobout

My Father's business?"

To be named "Saviour" was not

enough. He must show it in parable and

prophecy and death. The choice of

Apostles, the separation and sorrow of

His Mother, the rebukes to the Scribes,

the healing of the lepers, the tears over

His city were all activities for His

Father. Christ could boast these things

were so, "that the world may know that I

love the Father and do as the Father

commanded."

He was tireless in His repetitions of

having a single purpose -- Salvation of

Souls. If asked to teach His Apostles

how to pray. He answered: "When you

pray, soy, 'Our Father Thy

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Kingdom come." His constant reminders

of His part in the Will of God to save all

men have become common quotations: "I

have come that you may have life . . . the

Son of Man has come to give His life as

a ransom for many ... I lay down My life

for My sheep."

Christ's answer is the only answer to

"Why?" -- "I must be about My Father's

business." And the business of God is

Salvation and the purpose of Christ is

union. And the business and the purpose

ore not done with. Chrsit was careful to

indicate this because He was certain the

"Whys?" would go on. For no time,

however, would He change His answer to

permit it to be changed. "Other sheep I

have . . .them also must you bring."

"As the Father sent Me, I also send

you." "He who hears you, hears Me. . .'^

Thus, solvation did not stop with the

Cross or Christ's death or glorious

Resurrection. Salvation goes on as long

as there are men to be saved. The work

of Christ goes on -- and through the

Christian, the Worker Christ continues

the Father's business.

Divine Intelligence has a purpose and

Christ carries it out; Infinite Knowledge

has a plan and Christ yet works to effect

it; Unlimited Wisdom has a Providence

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and Christ, yet, strives to teach it.

The things that happen to us . . . the

sorrows, the pains . . .the rebukes . . .

the torture and agony of a world . . . the

cry in our heart at poverty and filth. . .at

frustration and blind folly . . .at human

wreckage and chaos . . . these are not to

be taken as God's plan . . . these ore not

God's ultimate purpose for us.

The plan of God, the purpose of Christ

is our salvation. God's plan and God's

purpose and God's providence are none

of the evils we have detailed. God's

intelligence doesn't cause evil . . .but

God's care provides against it.

Life in a Christian world is thus seen

to be more than a matter of getting and

piling and storing of H-bombs. It is not

a problem of giving or being given in

marriage; not the achieving of fortune or

famousness or constant fun. In a Chris-

tian world, there are no such things as

businesses . . . there is one business . . .

God, the Father's . . .that all men be

saved!

To forget this is to forego everything

because to forget this is to lose the

first lesson of Christianity. To forget

this is to forego the one answer to the

"Whys?" of the world. . .to the towering

"Whys?" of time:

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''Why?. . .Why?. . .Why?"

"Why hast thou done this to us?"

"Did you not know that I must be about

My Father's business?"

We are being saved by what God does

to us. Now, at this moment, whatever

the condition of your life -- joy, sorrow,

discouragement -- whatever the circum-

stances of your present days and past

years, God has meant your salvation.

This may not be simple to grasp or easy

to accept but, nevertheless, you have an

answer to all the why's you may ask --

Christ being about His Father's business

works in you and on you to bring you

closer to heaven, your final and enduring

home.

Learn the habit of recalling this First

Word of Christ whenever you are tempted

to murmur, to complain or rebel, whenever

you tend to forget the will of God working

in your life. Make it a reminder --a

kind of string around your finger --an

owakener to a most important fact: Christ

works always to save you; He is always

in all ways about His Father's business.

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