Certainty

I like the solid ground of certainty as much as the next guy. It’s nice to know that what you know is true. It’s true because I learned it from a reliable source. If your reliable source doesn’t agree with my reliable source, mine’s right. Obviously.

Here is the brief homily given by the character Cardinal Lawrence in the movie Conclave. The Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church are in Conclave upon the death of the current Pope and they are charged with electing the next Pope. In the midst of debate and heated dialogue, Cardinal Lawrence says:

“Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand-in-hand with doubt. If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery. And therefore no need for faith. There is one sin which I have come to fear above all else…certainty. Certainty is the great enemy of unity…the deadly enemy of tolerance.”

Fear is often the parent of absolute certainty, the companion of violence, the friend of power seekers. Absolute certainty demanded in the name of flag or faith sounds very much like foundations cracking and walls crumbling. We will never find unity within ourselves or tolerance toward inevitable diversity if we are not willing to wonder.

May the Beautiful Mystery challenge us today in the comforts of our certainties, replacing absolutes with awe. May this be true for both of us. Amen.