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Stephen,
That is a great question. I will
give you my take, although there
is no official word from the Church
on these (and most) Bible passages.
When Jesus said, the Father and
I are one (John 10:30), He was speaking
of Being. As the Nicene Creed spells
out, they are one in Being, in their
divine Essence, as God. All three
Persons of God share the One Being
of God, and all three Persons of
God are One, in that respect.
When Jesus says, the Father is greater
than I (John 14:28) He speaks of
subjection. Notice how Jesus is called the beloved Son, who always does
the will of the Father. One could
see this dynamic of (Lover/Beloved),
as well the (active/passive) order
of authority involved with it, as
relating to Christ, in His Human
Nature, being obedient to God as
well as Christ, in His Divine Nature,
as following the Father of whom He
is eternally Begotten.
As a Word is begotten of the Mind,
and Truth begotten of Being, one
could perhaps see the eternal Source
of God as the Father, who eternally
begets the Son with the Holy Spirit
as being the personified Love between
both. As being always ready to rightly
submit to the Father in all things,
one could say the Son is co-equal
to the Father in being but is the
Second Person in order of authority
within the eternal divine relationship.
Of course this is a mystery, but
I think it cuts to the heart of the
problem and confusion we seem to
have in contemporary times with our
understanding of the relationship
and dynamic between the sexes.
The
radical feminist movement, deeply
permeated within our culture, seems
to want to promote the idea that
equality means sameness. Equality
of being does not mean sameness in
the way we perceive the world and
live as human beings; for like the
mystery of the Trinity, there is
a complementary difference that creates
a unified whole in human persons.
This is why the family as an image
of God has been so emphasized today
in Catholic theology. Scripture and
Tradition fill out what is lacking
in this idea. As St. Paul says, the
man is head and the woman is body,
as is the relationship between Christ
and His (bride, the) Church (Ephesians 5:23-24), as is
the Father and the Son.
Pope Pius XI in Casti Connubii [Vatican][Papal Encyclicals Online] mentioned that the
man is the head, the woman the
heart; for he has primacy in the
order of authority while she has
primacy in the order of love.
Both equal, but living that equality
differently in a complementary
fashion that works according to
our nature as reflecting the Trinitarian
image of God.
All of this is very politically incorrect
today, but that, in my opinion, is
an indication of how much of this
kind of feminist thought, a staple
of the post-Christian secular humanist
movement of today, has infiltrated
our thinking — to the serious
detriment of the family and society.
You said:
Also, there are many verses in the Bible where
Jesus essentially says:
Ask and ye shall receive. (Matthew 21:22, Mark 11:24, John 16:23)
In other words, by praying and asking God
for anything, we should receive it. There
are no further stipulations; just that one
ask In His Name and believe in Him. This
obviously doesn't work.
Another great question.
We need to read Scripture in context
to understand its true message. What
is assumed here is that the Father
would give us all that we ask of
Him if it is for our good. Seeing
our ultimate good is Eternal Life,
we could probably speculate that
the Father would give us those things
we ask of Him only if they bring
us closer to Him and Eternal Life
and would not give us those things
if it would bring us further apart.
Only God has the perfect knowledge
and love to truly know the difference.
As a child should trust his Father
on this, so too should we trust God.
If we read Luke 11:10-13 we see this
a little clearer:
10 For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the
door will be opened. 11 What father
among you would hand his son a
snake when he asks for a fish? 12 Or hand him a scorpion when he
asks for an egg? 13 If you then,
who are wicked, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how
much more will the Father in heaven
give the holy Spirit to those
who ask him?"
(Luke 11:10-13) |
Notice it is the Holy Spirit that
the Father wants to give us. It is
the Holy Spirit and His grace that
will enable us to be truly happy
in this world, and if we cooperate
with Him, be eternally happy in the
next. All other temporal earthly
gifts are secondary and should be
seen as a means to this end of being
in union with God.
Only in this union
can we attain perfect happiness and
fulfillment.
Peace,
Paul
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