The word “conspiracy” is being conjured up a lot lately. It is being pulled out of a lot of different hats in an attempt to come to grips with what is going on within our society.
Where does the word conspiracy come from? It is a compound of “con” and “spirited” which in its old Latin form meant to “breathe together” or to share the same spirit. We run into this formulation in the Nicene Creed where it says of Jesus that he was “con-substantial with the Father”, meaning that he was of the same substance as the Father. In John 20:22 it says that that Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. As Christians then, we become con-spirited with Christ. At St. Benedict’s, after our Holy Spirit weekend away, we return as bona fide co-conspirators, with Christ, in the salvation of the world!
In normal usage “conspiracy” suggests something sinister or fraudulent but that would be a function of whose breath is the animating force of a particular conspiratorial endeavour. St. Paul, in Ephesians 2:2 says that Satan is, “the prince of the power of the air”, stalking us while singing, ‘Every breath you take, and every move you make, I’ll be watching you’. He entices us to conspire with him against the Kingdom of Heaven. To counter this, Jesus asks us to pray daily that we do not fall prey to this temptation, and subsequently be lead down the garden path of iniquity, but that we be delivered from the clutches of this conspiratorial evil.
Conspiracies, whether meant for good or for ill, don’t play out on the main stage, they are ‘Off Broadway’ productions. Obscurity is in their DNA. For example, Jesus was not born in a palace in Rome but in a stable in an out of the way village in Judea and he tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field or like a tiny mustard seed. God works his providential will by temporarily allowing it to be camouflaged by all the razzmatazz of the world. Jesus tells us to be sure and keep awake to the hidden reality of things, for in the fullness of time all truth will be revealed.
In the public arena, our faith can be mocked and belittled as being just some religious conspiracy theory. We are in good company though, for Jesus was also mocked. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” John 1:46 and look at the mocking by the Roman soldiers during his passion. But a word to the wise, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked”, Galatians 6:7. In reality, we are not actually conspiracy theorists but conspiracy actualists, for Jesus actually rose from the dead and the Eucharistic gifts actually become his body, blood, soul and divinity. That tiny mustard seed has grown into the mighty tree of the Church and the hidden treasure is revealed on her altars at each Mass.
Photo by Sergiu Nista on Unsplash
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