Homily

When we think of the life of the mind, I believe, most of us think of our conscious, deliberate thoughts — the mental thoughts, images, ideas that are in our minds which we could easily talk about or describe to other people. And we're also able to tap into a huge amount of knowledge that we possess just by deliberately calling it up. For example, if someone asks for directions to your house, you take a second to think and then tell him how to get there. We're most familiar with this sort of mental activity, the kind of thinking we directly describe or use. But, of course, our minds are much more than that.

For example, if I ask you how much is 2 + 2, 90% of you will answer, "four." But if I ask you to explain how you tie your shoe laces, what happens? Think about it. Not quite so easy, is it? Most of us just bend over and tie our shoes without giving it a thought of any kind, but if we have to describe it mentally it's not so easy to do. If you're trying to get through a large crowd of people at the mall or the airport, you go faster, slower, this way, that way, turn a bit here and there, never bumping anyone but not consciously thinking of every movement you make. Scientists call this "procedural memory" and we use it all the time.

And then there is "implicit memory," which consists of memories or experiences that are hidden, or separate from our conscious thoughts, and yet they are very real and very helpful to us even if we cannot explain them or understand how they work. For example in WWII in Britain, it was extremely important to be able to know if the planes that could be heard coming in were British planes or enemy bombers. Obviously that's kind of important information. And after a while they found a few civilians who could always tell accurately, whether the planes coming back were friends or foes. So they asked these people to teach other people how to do this. To the surprise of the spotters and also the Royal Air Force, they could not teach other people how to distinguish between the sounds of the airplanes because they did not understand how they did it themselves. But finally they came on a solution. The trainees would guess at which planes were coming in, and the spotters would tell them if they were right or wrong. Eventually, by this trial and error method, most of the trainees learned how to tell the difference, even if they could not explain how they did it either. They imitated their teachers, and they gained the skill of their teachers.

In today's epistle St. Paul urges the Corinthians to imitate him, because he imitates Christ. And his imitation of Christ is not, of course, a superficial kind of copying or mimicking. St. Paul said that in baptism, he had put on Christ, and so imitating Him is to be like Him, think like Him, act like Him and love like Him. How does this happen? Well, for certain it involves our active conscious minds and wills. The more we choose to talk with Christ, listen to Christ, learn about Christ, obey His teaching, worship Him, follow in His path as disciples and accept Him as the first guide for our lives, the more we consciously do these things, the more Christ-like we become in our conscious minds, and in the rest of our mind as well.

We are called to be Christ-like not just in our conscious minds, but with our whole heart and whole soul as well. And so habits come into play also, that we develop good habits and drop bad ones. e.g. Jesus had 12 apostles and many disciples, and yet He still could keep His patience. Most of us could use some more patience, and we can get it by asking for that grace in prayer, and by actually working on being patient so that through practice, it becomes more of a habit, like tying my shoes, and I don't have to consciously struggle with it so much.

The great commandment for the Jew was to love God and neighbor with the whole heart, mind, and soul. And this was done primarily by observing the law of Moses. Christians are also called to love God and neighbor with our whole heart, mind, and soul, but we do this by imitating Christ, by putting on Christ, by transforming our lives into His own divine life. Like the trainees in Britain, we cannot exactly say how this happens, but if we imitate those who have been great followers of our Lord, like the Mother of God, or St. Paul, or any of the saints, this is also a way to imitate Christ. And we then develop an implicit memory of Christ, as we come to hear Him, see Him, love Him, and take on His life more deeply in a way that we cannot consciously explain or understand, and yet it becomes more and more a vital part of who we are. And like those trainees in England, in addition to the saints, we also have a guide and teacher which is the Church. The Church also helps us to conform our minds to the mind of Christ in similar ways as parents do when they are trying to shape and nurture the minds of their children.

Our Savior did not become a man simply to appeal to our thoughts as a teacher, nor to stir up our emotions, or show us how to gratify our cravings for what is only natural. He became man so that we could receive and grow into His own divine life. So as St. Paul urges, let us devote ourselves to imitating Him that we may become more than we can even understand or explain. That we take on the whole mind of Christ.