Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Tuesday of the fourth Week of Lent

(Ezekiel 47:1-9.12; John 5:1-16)

Laetare Sunday marked more than the midpoint of Lent.  It changed the theme of the season from penance to renewal.  No more will the mass readings emphasize our fasting, praying, and service to the poor.  From now until Holy Week we will hear of being recreated for eternal life.  Today’s readings provide good examples.

Ezekiel shows how water, a universal symbol of life, flows from God’s Temple.  It becomes a torrent providing a storehouse of food and a treasury of medicines.  The gospel replaces the Temple with Jesus.  He is the source of healing grace that restores strength to the lame of body and spirit. 

Both repentance and renewal are God’s initiatives.  And both require human assent.  We often close ourselves to God’s grace by adopting the false ideals that our egos and our culture propose.  We need to forsake images of being too cool to care or too hot to handle.  In doing so, we will find God enabling us to flourish forever. 

Monday, March 7, 2016

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

(Isaiah 65:17-21; John 4:43-54)

The “Age of Aquarius” portends the dawn of an age of peace based on astrological signs.  Some believed it arrived in the 1960s and 1970s with the hippie culture.  But that peace has proved delusional perhaps because hippies did not ground their hope in righteous living.  The readings today proclaim a more credible age of fulfillment with Jesus.

In the first reading the prophet Isaiah announces that God is about to create something wonderful.  There will be no more fleeing one’s land because of war or famine.  Rather people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of the gardens they plant.  They will survive well beyond a hundred years because of their righteousness.

We find the completion of this prophecy in Jesus.  As the gospel indicates, he restores health to those who believe in him.  Of course, we need to ask, “Why do not people live forever?”  But don’t we share that hope in Jesus?  Just as he rose from the dead to live in glory, we -- his followers – expect to enjoy eternal life without discomfort or distress.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Friday of the Third Week of Lent

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

Jesus’ first commandment sounds daunting.  We might ask whether we could love anyone else if we direct all our affection toward God.  Even more discouraging, it may further seem that only the strictest of contemplatives can fulfill this mandate.  The rest of us – priests in ministry as well as laity – will have to be judged as falling short.

But these kinds of conclusions are based on the premise that love is a material quantity with finite proportions.  To the contrary, love is a spiritual entity that is multiplied by use.  When we attempt to love God, we develop greater not lesser affection for God’s creation.  It is true that sometimes desire for created goods conflicts with God’s will and must be rejected.  But pursing the desire would actually be loving the created good more than the Creator. 

In today’s reading from Hosea we hear God calling us back to him.  Like dogs on an adventure we sometimes go searching for fulfillment away from our true home.  In God, however, our desires are ordered so that we might enjoy everything that is truly good. 

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

(Jeremiah 7:23-28; Luke 11:14-23)

Humans have a natural inclination to communicate with God but often reject God’s message.  Both readings today witness this failure.  Jeremiah testifies that the people of Israel have ignored the words of the prophets speaking on God’s behalf.  In the gospel Jesus’ critics accuse him of being in league with the diabolical powers that he expels.  Of course, Jesus points out their illogic.

The word of God is often demanding.  It can call people away from their greatest comforts.  “How could something so wrong feel so right?” an old country ballad asked obviously referring to an adulterous affair.  Yet God only intends that people live up to their potential.  He wants them to be honest and truly loving.

As God’s people, we do not want to reject his message.  Nor do we want to block out other people and sneer at creation.  It is important then that we consult wise people to set limits on our actions.  It is also helpful that we share with God our needs and desires.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

(Deuteronomy 4:1.5-9; Matthew 5:17-19)

Citizens rightly give prominence to its legislative bodies.  These institutions -- whether national, regional or local – enshrine the wisdom of their nation.  They should see in the laws which the legislatures produce their values promoted and their hazards limited. In today’s readings the worth of good laws is underscored.

Moses reminds Israel of the greatness of God’s law.  He tells the nation that its wisdom will distinguish those who heed it from others peoples.  Indeed, he says, if duly followed, Israel’s Law will make the nation the envy of all others.  Jesus seconds this recommendation.  As groundbreaking as the Kingdom of God which he is inaugurating is, it is based on the Mosaic Law.  The Ten Commandments, he implies, should be followed to the letter.

We should likewise see the Ten Commandments as the basis of our law.  They are not specifically religious but ground the esteem for individuals, cultures, and relationships that a strong society requires.  Of course, at the same time we have to recognize that building from the Commandments necessitates just and prudent legislators.  We pray that we may choose the best of people as our law-makers.