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Since
many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have
been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the
beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, I too
have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write
it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so
that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.
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“Well,
my heart knows me better than I know myself; so I’m gonna let it
do all the talking. I came across a place in the middle of
nowhere with a big black horse and a cherry tree. I fell in fear,
upon my back. I said 'don’t look back, just keep on
walking,'
when the big black horse that looked this way said 'hey lady, will you
marry me?' But I said 'no, you’re not the one for me.' And
my heart had a problem. So I sent her to a place in the
middle of nowhere. Now, it won’t come back, and now
I’ve got a hole for the world to see. But it said 'no,
you’re not the one for me.'”
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In
KT Tunstall’s song, one can see the story of a love given to
someone, then it did not work out, and now she’s not enjoying
life very much. She had met the man, the big black horse image in
the song, who surprises her and says, "Will you marry
me?" She says "No." But then her heart had a problem,
and she changed her mind. She went back to the man, but he had
gone
on in life, and now, she has "a hole" where her heart
should have been.
"Her heart had a problem" is a statement about the complexities involved in a love relationship. But the phrase can also be used to describe the psychological pains that are part of human living. Human beings have "problems of the heart" that lead us to look for solutions somewhere, hoping to find direction and solace from those problems, the mental problems that make us feel badly. Luke the evangelist was aware of those problems, and was convinced that he knew the solution, namely, the teachings of Jesus Christ. He wanted to write as well as he could about how the experience of Jesus could solve the problems of the heart for Theophilus, one of his readers, and for all of humankind. Luke’s Gospel, indeed all of the Gospels, contains the solutions that the human heart must overcome, the problems that arise because of our human natures. We feel the need for solutions to the pressures that come from living, and the experience of Jesus gives us the solutions. It is a matter of knowing his teachings, as Luke the evangelist says, and then using them as a pattern for our lives. |
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THOUGHT
What solutions do most of the human beings
in our world choose when they experience mental problems?
PRAYER Good
and gracious God, the people who wrote about your Son were totally
convinced that his teachings were the solutions to the problems that
are part of our existence here on earth, solutions that will eventually
lead us to eternal life with you. Help us to accept your
Son’s teachings, and thus merit that eternal reward with
you. Be with us, we pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |
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