Pascal & the decision for Christ

Today the church commemorates Blaise Pascal, born in France in 1623, and who died there in 1662. He was home-schooled by his father, but with connections to Mersenne, Fermat, and Descrates, it wasn’t fluff. He was a physicist, a mathematician, a Christian apologist, and a defender of the idea that salvation is a free gift from God, which was something only Protestants believed. Much of Pascal’s life was spent writing in defense of this idea, engaging it so mightily that scholars estimate that over a million people read his underground letters which not only defended the theological premise that salvation is a free gift, but also attacked the Jesuits, who were utterly opposed to what they believed was heresy. In one of his letters Pascal wrote that oft-quoted line, “this letter is longer than usual, because I lack the time to make it short.” 

In his later writings Pascal underscored two things: first, was the hopelessness of humanity without God (the need for a savior), and the second was the statement that to receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, all we need do is ask.

A few weeks ago I was at the Monastery in Cambridge for their Tuesday evening Eucharist. The brother who preached (about Mary Magdalene, the resurrection, and being a follower of Jesus) made an explicit invitation to his congregation, a bold invitation. Bear in mind that Brother Robert knew some of us well, including of course his brothers and the many people who make the Monastery their primary faith community, while others of us he knew not at all, having never met the visitors there that night, or the person on retreat for whom he might have only been able to recognize a face, without so much knowledge of her or his name. So in that context Brother Robert said (and I paraphrase), “if you have not invited Jesus into your heart do so this evening. The truth of the resurrection is yours for the asking.”

Maybe Brother Robert had been reading Pascal. Or, maybe he himself once asked Jesus to be the center of his life.

I wonder how many followers Jesu can have? Can he have me? Can he have you? The decision is ours.

Almighty God, who gave your servant Blaise Pascal a great intellect, that he might explore the mysteries of your creation, and who kindled in his heart a love for you and a devotion to your service: Mercifully give us grace to see in you, and in your Son, Jesus Christ, the truth of how we might live. Give us courage to never fail to reach out to him, for he is the one who reaches out to us always. All this we pray in his name, and to his glory. Amen.

Sources:

Lesser Feasts & Fasts, 2006 (Church Publishing); www.missionstclare.org (a daily office resource), and Longer than usual: a biography of Blaise Pascal (Alfred Knopf, 1979).