MARCH 6/7, 2021
The Encyclopedia Britannica was published in its first edition between the years 1768 and 1771. It consisted of three volumes. By the second edition, it was 10 volumes. Its fourth edition, published between 1801 and 1810 it was up to 20 volumes.
The last printed edition was the fifteenth, printed in 2010 – 244 years after the first edition. It consisted of 32 volumes containing 32,640 pages and weighing 130 pounds. From a data processing perspective, it contained approximately 1 gigabyte of information.
Compare that to the human brain, which at the most recent analysis, contains about one petabyte – or one quadrillion, or a one followed by 15 zeroes.
Since we’re in church, I should mention that the Bible contains only 4.13 megabytes of data.
And finally, according to Google, the entire Internet contains 1.2 exabytes – that is, 1.2 followed by 18 zeroes – or a quintillion bytes of data.
For what it’s worth, that’s only 1,200 human brains. So, I think we’re still safe … for now.
Today is the third Sunday of Lent.
And in the First Reading, we hear the 10 Commandments proclaimed to the assembly. Ten sayings, which many of us can remember … or if we can’t remember all of them, we’re pretty sure a lot of them start with “Thou shalt not.”
St. Paul, in the first chapter of the First Letter to the Corinthians, is taking them to task for breaking up into factions. He tries to corral them back into focusing not the wisdom and knowledge of the various teachers who have arisen, but rather on,
Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
The Gospel reading gives us the scene of Jesus’s cleansing of the Temple, where He
made a whip out of cords / and drove them all out.
This story from Chapter 2 of St. John’s Gospel is the second of three parts.
In the first, Jesus shows His glory in the Wedding Feast of Cana – where the miracle is a foretaste of the Eternal Banquet to which we are all called.
The second is the cleansing of the temple, where Jesus shows His zeal – that is, His enthusiasm and dedication … His energy and motivation – for the Gospel.
And the last line of the Gospel, the third part, reminds us that
Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, / and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. / He himself understood it well.
Now that doesn’t sound very nice at first hearing. But we know that that is not the end of the story.
Rather, Jesus – being God – does know us all … and understands us well.
And He provides us with supernatural helps – that is, the “power of God” – through grace … in the form of the Sacraments.
He knows and understands us … but doesn’t leave us floundering without assistance.
Which, however, begs the question: Do we know and understand Him?
Knowledge can be something as flat and sterile as data … facts and information. Knowledge can be practical … a skill or practical understanding. And knowledge can be abstract … an awareness or familiarity.
But God wants us to go beyond the mere superficial knowledge.
Our Baptism has incorporated us in Christ … as members of Christ … and we should have direct experience of Christ.
This, then, through God’s revelation – in the Person of Jesus Christ, “the Word made flesh,” and through the Word proclaimed in Sacred Scripture – provides us with
the power of God and the wisdom of God
to live out the Gospel according to the Will of God and within the Plan of God.
And this power, wisdom, will, and plan are shown in the power of Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us pray that in our Lenten practices, we may deepen our knowledge of the Gospel and grow in holiness and virtue.
And through the power of that Cross, may we know the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord … above anything and everything else (cf. Phil. 3:8).
