Zechariah 9:9-10; Psalm 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14; Romans 8:9, 11-13; Matthew 11:25-30

A couple of different points about the human relationship with God occur to me from the Gospel for this Sunday. First, Jesus prays "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones." This is an interesting insight into the attitude human persons should have if we want to be able to receive fruitfully revelation from God, above all of course God's ultimate self-revelation in Jesus Christ. God reveals these things to "little ones" (some other translations give "children" or even "infants"). We are reminded here then, as can be seen in other passages from Scripture, that we are to have a childlike disposition towards God.

At the same time, Jesus is not condemning wisdom and learning here, or claiming that they are unimportant or unworthy of being pursued. The Catholic Church historically has attached great importance to the intellectual pursuit of ever deeper understanding and insights into divine revelation. This is as one would expect, because of course God gave us our intellects to seek truth, and of all things surely it is right to apply our intellects to the revelation of God, who is Truth Himself. In some cases, in fact, the application of human reason to divine revelation has led to the development of doctrines in the Church, truths which were always present in divine revelation but which were only recognized as the Church continued to reflect on revelation over the centuries. However, the key here is that the truths God has given us should be accepted as truths, and then the human intellect can properly work from there in understanding, defending and explaining these truths. Human persons must not begin to believe that the truth is something for us to determine or create for ourselves, rather than something for us to receive in gratitude and wonder. The prayer of Jesus in this Gospel follows a passage in which Jesus condemns those towns which rejected Jesus' call to repentance, despite the fact that He performed many miracles among them. In this prayer, then, the "little ones," who have received revelation from God, are being contrasted to those who are supposedly "the wise and the learned," who did not believe that they needed Jesus and His teaching, and thus showed themselves to be anything but wise and learned. Divinely revealed truth--in Jesus Christ Himself, in Scripture, and in the teachings of Christ's Church--must be approached with an attitude of childlike receptivity.

Unfortunately, the opposite attitude towards the truth can be seen among many of "the wise and the learned" in the modern world, and most unfortunately among some contemporary theologians. Albino Cardinal Luciani, later Pope John Paul I, described some symptoms of this attitude, and compared it to that of the early Gnostics:

'New theology?' And welcome! At times, however, it's not a matter of a new theology, but of old Gnosis. The presumptuous mentality of the old gnostics often re-surfaces: 'We give explanations at the highest level of science; we eat up the poor, obsolete and bygone explanations of the Magisterium!'. The method of Gnosis is also coming back, that of taking the arguments and terms of the Catholic faith, but only partially, usurping the right to sift them and select them, to understand them in one's own way, to mix them with extraneous ideologies and to base adherence to the faith no longer on divine authority but on human motives; on this or that philosophical opinion, for example, on the match between a particular argument and determined political choices adopted earlier.

This approach to truth, or to be more accurate this refusal of truth, is precisely what must be avoided in all intellectual pursuits, particularly in anything related to theology. The only right path to real wisdom and learning begins with approaching God as "little ones," and accepting His gifts with open and grateful receptivity.

Another point emphasized in this Gospel is the Trinitarian relationship between God the Father and Jesus, who is God the Son. The words of Jesus here are a reminder of an important principle of spirituality. People can sometimes get caught up in various forms of spirituality, and there are of course many different legitimate spiritual approaches which can be helpful to different people in their relationships with God. Some forms of spirituality are better than others, of course. The important thing to keep in mind, however, is that every form of legitimate Christian spirituality should ultimately center on the relationship with Jesus Christ. We cannot ignore Jesus, nor do we ever reach some form of spirituality where we can have a relationship with God that is not through Jesus Christ. Jesus is very clear in this Gospel: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him." Only by being part of that "anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him" can we "know the Father" and receive salvation. Thus, every approach to spirituality should be Christocentric first, last, and always.