Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

The photgraph to the right is of John Wesley's statue which stands outside of Wesley Church in the Central Business District of Melbourne. He was a founder of "Methodism". The title of the post reflects the coming season and refers to a hymn that was written by John's brother, Charles. Both Wesleys were in Georgia as missionaries in the mid-1730s. Serendipitously, today's Gospel reading for the Mass is Mark 10:46-52. What does this all have to do with the question of the relationship of Jeremiah Bulmore and Jeremiah Delos Bulman, you ask?

A great deal, as we shall see, in this and the following posts. By way of important background, a quick comment on the gospel pericope now .

It was, perhaps, my most favourite Sunday School text when I was a child. This was especially true as my eyesight grew worse. It has been a favourite in the Church as well. One of its most persistent prayers is based on the events of this passage, "Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." However, it does take time to see the various layers of the story. It is possible to forget, or overlook, its full significance.

In any case, blind Bartimaeus sitting by the side of the road hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. He shouts out, "Son of David, have mercy on me." And, this is what I like, the realistic portrayal of the crowd: they want him to stop raining on their parade. So, they rebuke him and tell him to be quiet. He cries out, even louder, "Son of David, have mercy on me." Jesus stops and says to the croud, "Call him." Really, how fickle are the fans. Now they do everything they can to get Bartimeaus up to the front. I am sure that they expect some sort of entertainment from Jesus, of one kind or another.

Throwing off his mantle, the man rises up from the dust and approaches Jesus who asks him, "What do you want me to do for you?" Bartimeaus responds, "Master, let me receive my sight." Our modern translations are quite polite. The have Jesus saying something like, "Be on your way, or go your way, your faith has made you well." In the Greek, it is the same word that Jesus used when he told Peter to depart after Peter had suggested that the Cross was not the Father's will for Jesus. It is, hupage, in the imperative. Instead, having been healed, Bartimeaus "followed Jesus in the way." The phrase will have resonances in the book of Acts where the Christians were first described as "Followers of the Way."

The Greek word for "way" here is, hodos. We get our word odometer from this Greek root. We also obtain our word, method, from its combination with meta. A method is a means of being on the way towards something; perhaps, our destiny. Methodism was a means of following Jesus personally by attending to the manner of one's living which included a consideration of the consequences of the Cross. As a result of these reflections, Charles Wesley wrote a number of deeply moving hymns such as "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling", "Oh For a Thousand Tongues to Sing", and "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" which we Catholics are pleased to sing as well.

Of course, the passage also calls to mind the hymn of a contemporary of the Wesleys, John Henry Newton, who wrote "Amazing Grace". He began to seriously reflect on the life of faith after reading The Imitation of Christ, which was written by the Augustinian monk, Thomas a Kempis, who also wrote about the sufferings of Saint Lydwine. The song was a favourite of soldiers on both sides during the Civil War. It is still cherished by Christians and non-Christians as an anthem for freedom and human rights. Here is the Kelly Family's version (Paddy Kelly became, perhaps, one of the most popular rock perfomers in Europe before walking away from all the glitz and glamour to become a monk, Brother John Paul Mary.) The issue of forced slavery is still very much alive today. Wilberforce found a way to abolish it in England without resorting to war.

The early Methodists, like so many Catholics both before and after them, sought ways to order themselves socially, or in societies, towards charity and sanctity in everyday life. What can be forgotten is the freedom of that moment between faith healing and faith calling us to the Holy Slavery of Love. Jesus said to Bartimaeus, "Depart in freedom." Instead, Bartimaeus, in freedom, became a servant of Christ. This is the mercy of the God who heals and would leave us free to depart, if we would not follow Him with our whole lives, for the sake of love. The Apostle Paul would say, "It is the love of Christ, his for us and ours for him, that compels us." As Dom Liuigi Giusanni suggested, "God loves our freedom more than our salvation." For, if we are not free to follow in the Way of Christ, the way of the Cross, we cannot be truly saved.

It would seem that Patrick's nephew, William, the son of Jeremiah Bulman was of this belief, at least ostensibly. William's connection with the Methodist Episcopal Church may give us a connection between Jeremiah Bulmore and Jeremiah Delos Bulman. But, elaborating that point is the task of a post or two more.