Familiarity with the cross of Jesus is key

March 4, 2007 -- Second Sunday of Lent

By Bishop Robert Morneau

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. What is your experience of familiarity? 2. Does that experience breed contempt or new life? 3. Why is getting close to others so frightening?

Whoever coined the expression "Familiarity breeds contempt" probably got up on the wrong side of the bed. Granted, some people might be overly free and unrestrained toward others of small acquaintance, yet familiarity in itself, that affable, sociable, informal relating to others, is a precious grace.

L e n t
• Everyday People, Everyday Faith articles
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Were not Abram and God familiar with each other? There they are under the night sky looking up at the stars. That in itself is an intimate moment. But more is to follow. Abram believes in the promises that God makes regarding descendants and a homeland. And when familiarity leads to a covenant, and not contempt, we have a form of friendship that can only be described in terms of grace. Here the Creator and His creature bond now by a mutual agreement.

Familiarity characterizes St. Paul's relationship with the Philippians. Unabashedly, Paul tells the people of Philippi that he loves and longs for them. More, they are his joy and crown. The source of that intimate familiarity is the person of Jesus. The key to the Christian community is a familiarity with the cross of Jesus, a cross that involves no shame but only glory. The result of this familiarity and close relationship with Christ is a transformation, a conforming of one's mind and heart with Jesus.

A third example of familiarity is the transfiguration experience. Joined together in prayer, Jesus reveals His glory to Peter, James and John. Then an even deeper example of familiarity is given as the voice from the cloud says: "This is my chosen Son; listen to Him." The familiarity of Jesus and the Father become the paradigm for all discipleship. The Father calls all of us into the intimacy of love.

So what about this contempt? Is too much casualness cause for irritation and distancing? Probably. But this suffocating and unrestrained relating is not what the scriptures portray. Rather, graced relationships flow out of mutual respect and esteem, an honoring of each individual and a sense of propriety.

Lent provides a challenging opportunity to look at and assess our relationship with God. Is it one of familiarity or fear? Do we spend night walks with the Lord looking at the stars and reviewing the baptismal covenant that we made so many years ago? Are we familiar with the cross of Christ, embracing our sufferings and trials with nobility as we attempt to conform our will to that of Jesus? Is prayer truly a moment of familiarity, a time of affable presence in which all pretenses can be dropped and our true self emerges?

Our responsorial psalm refrain is at once formal and familiar: "The Lord is my light and my salvation." God was for Abram a light and saving grace. Jesus was for St. Paul both light and salvation. And for Peter, James and John, Christ scattered their darkness with His transfigured glory. Light and salvation are the products of love and love is at the heart of graced familiarity.

"Familiarity breeds contempt." It's time we challenge the old saws and, with the spin of grace, see everything from the viewpoint of eternity.

(Bp. Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.)