Friday, March 12, 2021

 Friday of the Third Week on Lent

(Hosea 14:2-10; Mark 12:28-34)

The first element of Jesus’ response to the scribe in today’s gospel is unremarkable.  Every Jew of his time would recite the same words daily: “’You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,…’”  It is the first and foremost commandment, not only for Jews but for the whole world.  The second element of Jesus’ answer, however, is worthy of note.  Jesus is making an add-on to the first commandment.  Besides loving God, one must love one’s neighbor. 

A well-known Peanuts cartoon shows Linus yelling to the wind, “I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand.”  This posture would not fulfill Jesus’ concept of love of neighbor.  For Jesus, “neighbor” includes all people – friends, associates, unknown humans, even enemies.  They will be loved in different ways.  Some are helped directly.  Others are considered in a positive light.  Everyone can at least be included in prayer.

As primary as the first commandment is, we still sometimes forget to express our love for God.  In fact, we may allow our love for God to be consumed in love of neighbor.  If this happens, we are likely to lose our love for both God and neighbor.  We love God because He has graced us time after time.  We love our neighbors because God has graced them too, just like us.

Thursday, March 11, 2021

 Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

 (Jeremiah 7:23-28; Luke 11:14-23)

 In today’s first reading Jeremiah accuses the people of Jerusalem of turning their backs on God.  They have not been faithful to the Covenant that they have made with their Lord.  According to Jeremiah, they no longer even care about the promises that they made.  The situation has not improved by Jesus’ time.  In the gospel he sees the same hardness of heart that impedes the coming of God.  The people refuse to accept him as God’s prophet so that they do not have to conform to his teaching.

The same offense may be found in our society although, perhaps, magnified.  Faithfulness to one’s baptismal promises is often considered a betrayal of self.  More important than the baptismal covenant are the values that one recognizes for her or himself.  People will abandon their culture, their family upbringing, even previous choices to do what they think materially advantageous at the moment. 

Faithfulness is an all-encompassing virtue.  It acknowledges one’s readiness to live in the ways that we have professed.  But we are not only faithful to principles; we are also faithful to the people who have imparted those principles.  For us Christians this means faithfulness to the Lord Jesus.  We promise to do as he commands because he died to secure our deep and lasting happiness. 

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

 Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

(Deuteronomy 4:1,5-9; Matthew 5:17-19)

In an important new book on Exodus, humanist Leon Kass lists three essentials for a nation.  A nation must have a founding narrative to give the people an ideal to emulate.  It must have laws to guide the people day by day.  And it must have ritual in which the people can realize at least in a preliminary way their hopes.  Today’s readings focus on the second of these building blocks.

Moses reminds the people of what a truly great gift their law is.  It comes from God who is as close to them as they are to each other.  It proves to be just by keeping together these different families and tribes.  Jesus reasserts the value of the law.  He will not abolish an iota of it although he makes some significant emendations.  They are not only to love their neighbors but their enemies as well.  They are not only prohibited from adultery, but from looking at women with lust.

Christians form a people and a nation but not one that competes with the nation-states of today.  It is as if we can had dual nationalities – one where we live and work and the other to which we aspire when we die.  In fact, the second – our eternal nation – enables us to be better citizens of the first.  Its laws form our moral code.  They form us more completely than the laws of the state because they demand inner compliance.  They put us in touch with our God who makes us honest, noble, and patriotic.

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:25.34-43; Matthew 18:21-35)

In his message for the World Day of Peace in 2002, Pope St. John Paul II reflected on the 9-11 terrorist attacks.  He repeated the proverb that without justice, there is no peace.  He also made the insight that without forgiveness there is no justice.  People have to give up their claims for past injuries if they ever expect to have right relationships with others.  He was not advocating that nations or individuals ignore past grievances.  But he did mean that feeling God’s love, the person or state can express love for the offender. This love may be called mercy.

Both readings today show the need for mercy.  The young man praying in the furnace asks for God’s mercy on his people who calls disobedient.  God will save the youth from the furnace and bring his people back to the land of the ancestors.  The parable of Jesus is stunning in its contrast.  The original debtor is said to owe “a huge amount.”  One should think in terms of ten digits of dollars.  The second debtor owes “a much smaller amount,” perhaps a few hundred dollars.  Yet the first debtor cannot forgive him.  There will never be justice in that first debtor’s life, much less peace.

We can forgive others when we remember how much love God has for us.  We need not assess our sins to see how much we have been forgiven.  Out of love God gives us life, friends, work, and rest.  For these reasons we should be ready to forgive. 

Monday, March 8, 2021

 Monday of the Third Week of Lent

 (II Kings 5:1-15; Luke 4:24-30)

 The matriarch of an aristocratic British family utters a telling quip when she hears that her son has converted to Catholicism.  “You mean,” she says, “that he will go to church with the help.”  At the time most people went to church on Sunday.  In England the aristocracy went to the Anglican church and their Irish servants to the Catholic church.  If one is careful not to allow this story lead to triumphalism, it gives an insight into today’s first reading.

The cure of Naaman, the army general, shows how poor servants often have a much livelier faith than their rich overlords.  An Israeli girl servant tells her mistress to solicit help from God’s prophet in Israel.  In contrast, the king of Israel is lost when asked to relieve the Aramean general’s skin disease.  Later the general’s servants express implicit faith in God when they tell him not to fuss but obey the prophet’s simple directive. 

Today’s gospel, however, shows that even simple people can be wrong about God.  The inhabitants of Nazareth reject Jesus’ prophesizing on the grounds that they know him to be like them.  Many today likewise see Jesus simply as a gifted human while rejecting the claim that he is the Son of God.  Rich or poor, having a doctorate or a high school education, we are wise to accept Jesus as our Lord.  Following his directives, our sins are cleansed.  Trusting in his promises, we follow the way to eternal life.