As many of you who are regular readers of ACM know, my wife Elise is Jewish. She is of the sect of Judaism called Reform. They are the most liberal of the three major divisions of Judaism…Reform, Conservative and Orthodox. With the Orthodox sect being the most conservative. The most…well…orthodox. The Reform movement began in Germany in the 1800s in an attempt to integrate more fully into modern society. Changes from Orthodoxy included using less Hebrew in services, mixed gender seating, reduction in service time, especially during the High Holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. There was a de-emphasis on kosher dietary laws since some saw them as a barrier to integration. There also was a greater focus on individualism and social justice reform. Women were allowed full participation in services as well as being admitted to seminary for certification as rabbis. Reform Judaism spread to America in the mid-1800s. In the later part of the twentieth century the movement began shifting back towards more traditional roots with increased Hebrew in services, celebration of more of the minor holidays like Purim, Selichot (penitential service prior to the holidays) and Sukkot (fall harvest festival).
All of this was foreign to me when Elise and I met and began dating. To my parents, all they knew about Jewish people was that they were educated, were often lawyers and accountants. My world certainly opened up when I met Elise. We fell in love before I realized what it would mean to date, and eventually marry, a Jewish person. It was learning new holidays, learning about the Reform tradition and service. Managing how we would celebrate each other’s faiths (neither of us had any intention of conversion). And how to raise the children that we both hoped would come. And also having to face the fact that compromise was in the wind. My faith has certainly grown in the 40 years we have been married (we just celebrated that milestone 2 weeks ago). But I have had to pull back at times. Such as when I considered the deaconate and Elise made it clear that she did not sign up for that degree of involvement in Catholicism.
One of the more difficult aspects to our marriage is the fact that our marriage is not considered to be sacramental in the eyes of the Church. It is valid because we received dispensation to what is called disparity of cult. Marriage between a baptized and non-baptized persons. But when a couple is married, they actually confer the sacrament on each other during the service, with the priest or deacon actually acting as a witness. Since Elise is not baptized, she cannot confer the sacramental nature of marriage on another person. So we are not sacramentally married in the Church.
But by far and away, the toughest aspect of being married to a Jewish person, is the uncertainty as to what happens to her when she dies. Will she be saved? Will she go to heaven? Now we know that Jesus said that no one comes to the Father except through Me. That seems pretty cut and dried. No entry pass for non-Christians. But then we come to today’s first reading from Revelations.
“”Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the children of Israel.”
Now scholars interpret this passage in a couple different ways. Some say this is symbolic and it refers to all persons who will be saved. But others say that this literally means that there will be 144,000 people from the 12 tribes of Israel…Jews…who will be saved. In addition to those who stand before the throne clothed in robes made white by the blood of the Lamb.
“These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes
and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”
And this is where my hope lies. Elise is very truly a faithful person who has also grown in her faith since we have been together. She has a close relationship with God…no doubt in my mind. She is humble in that relationship and she is the most giving person I know in terms of her caring for others. She has always traveled her own path. Not following what some would consider to be the popular route. The narrow way. But, even after 40 years of attending Mass with me, she is not Christian. She believes Christ existed but not that he is God. Not the Way, the Truth and the Life. Hence my consternation. AND my hope in Chapter 7 of Revelation. Clearly John tells us that God’s judgement is withheld until all have had the opportunity to be sealed by God’s Angels. Including the 144,000.
And in the reading from 1st Peter we hear that we have our identities as children of God. All of us, in spite of any divisions we might have. That we are all invited to be His sons and daughters. We just have to accept that invitation.
And the Gospel. What can I say about the Beatitudes that have not been said before. Of course, I do have something to say. Otherwise I wouldn’t be an ACM writer now would I? It is the refrain from the song “Lead Me Lord” by John Becker that summarizes the Beatitudes. :
Lead me, Lord, lead me, Lord
By the light of truth
To seek and to find the narrow way
Be my way, be my truth
Be my life, my Lord
And lead me, Lord, today
To find the NARROW WAY. The road less traveled. I pray it is the same road taken by that 144,000 that John writes about.
