Recently, a reader wrote for advice for handling a situation where a close Catholic friend was routinely seeking the services of a palm reader. This reader was concerned that the friend was "wasting too much money on a scam", and asked for suggestions on how to intervene.
I bring this subject up in this month's column because the question contains a valuable lesson for us all. In fact, I would propose that even if we don't spend any money on palm readers, there are equivalent "scams" that we may fall prey to as Catholics in the modern world.
First, let's address the immediate question of the danger of the palm reader.
The motivation for seeking out fortune tellers, horoscopes, or even the seemingly fun decision-making tool of youth, the Magic 8 ball is, of course, to predict the future. We all have a desire to "know", and the motivation may be "if I can tell what will happen before it happens then I can act on that knowledge now".
That "acting now" urge may be to gain an advantage (such as predicting the performance of a stock and then buying/selling without risk). Or, perhaps the drive to "act now" may be to avoid pain (if my palm is imprinted with "short life line" then I am in particular danger and need to find an elixir to remedy this fate). Whether to increase the good or to decrease the bad, the root is the same: we want to possess knowledge. In other words, we want to be God. Rather than seeking knowledge of God, we desire God's knowledge.
The reader who poised the question felt that something was not right about this, but unsure about what to do. As with many questions on faith, the Catechism of the Catholic Church provides an excellent starting point. "All forms of divination are to be rejected" (CCC 2116). These include "consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums." Why? Because in the attempt to "unveil" the future, we are saying "no" to our faith in God, and instead clutching at what is not ours to have. This contradicts "the honor, respect and loving fear that we owe to God alone" (CCC 2116). Attempts to know that future point at a base desire to have power over time, history, as well as other people.
Clearly we don't want to swing so far in the opposite direction that we behave with a lack of responsibility. Throwing our hands up and refusing to take any responsibility would be improvidence. But, the key issue here is to recognize and then address any unhealthy curiosity about the future. In Genesis, our first parents fell to this unhealthy curiosity when they chose to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
What then, you may ask, should I do when I find myself beginning to worry about the future? Recall that the disciples only recognized the resurrected Christ when he said: "Peace be with you". In the New Testament, the term for peace, eirene, is used ninety-two times. Its primary significance is not absence of conflict, rather it means "well being". We are urged to enter into spiritual well being by entering into relationship with God. How can we get this peace? Our ultimate aim as Christians is the knowledge of God. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God" are our directions. Love is the essential means of knowing God, for God is love.
So, readers, whether it's our friends (or perhaps even ourselves at times) that we find worrying about the future - perhaps even taking extraordinary measures to "get knowledge" - we counsel "stop and reflect". A sound Christian attitude consists of putting oneself confidently into the hands of God. Ask about what is behind the worry. Are we seeking to grow closer to God, or are we seeking to be God?
Paula Manchester is a member of Corpus Christi parish in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
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