Parish Missions

That Man Is You

The Gospels are a mirror

where each of us may see himself,

not merely reflected.

but exposed and denounced.

The trouble is

we generally use it to look at the other fellow

and turn away incensed that he can be so stupid,

so malicious,

so blind.

Louis Evely, in his beautiful reflection on the Gospels, That Man Is You, offers this concise summary of his thesis. The Gospels are about us. No other single work had a more profound impact on me and my preaching than this spiritual classic.

His thesis flows from that ancient story of King David and the prophet Nathan in the Second Book of Samuel. (2 Samuel 12:1-7a) Like David we are invited to see ourselves in the stories of Sacred Scripture.

We are the leper

Contaminated by

our own frail humanity

and by the enticing addictions of our culture:

Rampant materialism

Blatant consumerism in the face of radical poverty,

Subtle but incessant racism,

Gratuitous violence accepted as a solution to conflict.

We live in a world so conflicted that it isolates and alienates:

one Nation under God is divided into red states and blue states,

and the Body of Christ repeatedly broken by "liberal vs conservative"

We are the leper --

We seek wholeness to be made clean – to be sent free from

Our personal compulsions,

From society’s hypnotic control,

From the Church’s rupturing divisions.

And we come to Jesus:

Like the leper we are asked to be made whole – to be cleansed.

“Lord, if you will it…”

“Of course I will it!”

In this Eucharist we come with all our brokenness, our frailty.

We are offered not just healing –

But to become what we receive – the healing presence of Christ;

Not just healed, but transformed into healers.

Paul offers a blueprint for the fulfillment of this transformation:

"Give no one offense – be imitators of Christ."

The Psalmist offers the process: acknowledge our frail humanity

And rejoice in God’s mercy and compassion.

Embracing this blueprint and this process

we see ourselves as the leper

Who seeks healing,

Who spreads the Good News of his transformation,

Who becomes, in fact, a DISCIPLE.

That Man Is You. Louis Evely. New York: Newman Press, 1964. A classic that sees the stories of the Bible as stories about us. He shows us how to attune our minds with God's on such issues as Scripture reading, love of neighbor, forgiveness, the life of faith, lay spirituality and heaven. Out of print, but may be available over the Internet.