Tuesday, March 14, 2023

 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 must 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 or forget past grievances.  But he did mean that aware of God’s love for them, the person or state can act with 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 whom he calls disobedient.  Responding to the prayer, God saves the youth from the furnace and sends 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 seven digits.  His 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 God loves us.  But we need not measure our sins to the extent to which we have been forgiven.  Out of love God gives us life, friends, work, and rest.  For these reasons we should be ready to forgive our debtors.

Monday, March 13, 2023

 Monday of the Third Week of Lent

(II Kings 5:1-15a; Luke 4:24-30)

The man had grown up in the Church of Christ.  Studying for the ministry with that denomination, he was impressed by his history professor’s presentation of the Church Fathers.  He came to realize that he could not serve as a Protestant minister.  He withdrew from the ministry track and became a Catholic. Both readings today touch on the need for such a gentle conversion.

In the first, Naaman, the leper-general, is outraged by the simplicity of the prophet Elisha’s order.  Urged to comply anyway, he is healed of the disease.  Rather than acknowledge the prophet for the cure, Naaman recognizes the source of the prophet’s ability, the Lord of Israel.  In the gospel the people rebel when Jesus presents himself as the Lord’s anointed.  They refuse conversion by which they would no longer see Jesus as a kid who grew up among them.  They would acknowledge him as God’s messenger. 

Lent calls us to a change of heart and mind.  We are to recognize the Lord in simple things like Naaman.  More critically, we are to beyond the challenge of Jesus’ townsfolk to accept him as our Lord and God.

Sunday, March 12, 2023

 THE THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

(Exodus 17:3-7; Romans 5:1-2.5-8; John 4:5-42)

According to an ancient hymn, “We all have secret fears to face; our minds and motives to amend…” However, we don't always want to let go of our sins. We may view them as unimportant, or perhaps we hide them so other people don't think ill of us. In the gospel today we find a person carrying a heavy load of sin. Fortunately, Jesus is there to ease it.

The Samaritan woman doesn't seem stressed when she arrives at Jacob's well at noon. But one may wonder why she comes alone at the hottest part of the day. Why doesn't she come with the other women at a more comfortable hour? Jesus is going to reveal the reason in the conversation that is about to begin. She has had five husbands and now she lives with a man to whom she is not married. She is excluded from the company of other women because of her disordered life. In addition, the hard work of carrying water and her conscience overburdened with guilt increase the difficulty of her life.

Yet Jesus does not judge her. Rather, he initiates a conversation with her. They talk about something they have in common, water. He asks the woman for water from the well. When she responds with surprise, Jesus offers her "living water." Supposedly "living water" is the fresh water that flows from a spring. But Jesus has something else in mind. When saying “living water”, he means the revivifying grace of the Holy Spirit. It is like a charge to a discharged battery. He affords her the opportunity to move from her sinful condition to the freedom of a daughter of God.

Jesus extends to all of us the same opportunity. By the gospel calling us from without and the Holy Spirit moving us from within, Jesus offers us deliverance from our sins. His words awaken us from complacency. In the gospel his words remind the Samaritan of the mess in her marriage situation. In a famous cinema, Jesus' warning that the loss of one's soul is not worth the whole world shakes the conscience of a betrayer. With equal insistence the Spirit urges us to go to confession where our sins are removed like darkness with the first rays of light.

But many times our vices stick to us like bloodsuckers. We know we should make changes, but something within us resists them. We may tell ourselves that the merciful God will forgive our sins. Or possibly we are convinced that our sins are so encrusted that it is not possible to remove them. In the first reading the Israelites resist putting trust in the Lord. They say they were doing better in Egypt with plenty of water than wandering thirsty in the desert. The Samaritan woman tries to change the subject when Jesus mentions her sordid past. She would rather discuss theological differences between Jews and Samaritans than examine her life with the best of counselors.

Jesus does not allow her to avoid the need to repent. He tells her, "...salvation comes from the Jews." That is, he comes from the Jews, and both we and she must face the truth of our lives before him. But he has not come to punish us for our faults. Rather, he has come to save us from them. He is like a doctor who does not blame his cancer patient for smoking but does everything possible to cure him.

Wisely the woman submits to the mercy of the Lord. She leaves her pitcher, the symbol of her sins, behind as she goes to tell others about him. Let us do the same. After confessing our sins, let us tell others of the goodness of the Lord. Let us tell others about Jesus.

Friday, March 10, 2023

 Friday of the Second Week of Lent

(Genesis 37:3-4.12-13a.17b-28a; Matthew 21:33-43.45-46)

Yesterday’s reading from Jeremiah expressed the hopelessness of the human condition.  “More tortuous than all else is the human heart,” it read, “beyond remedy…”  Today’s readings provide examples of this viciousness.  Joseph’s brothers conspire to kill him out of jealousy for their father’s affection.  Equally brutal, the resentment of Jesus’ prophesying moves the chief priests and elders of Jerusalem to do him in.

Jesus’ parable of the vineyard points to the execution of his enemies.  But Jesus’ own teaching suggests another end.  With the assurance of mercy, his executioners would repent of their crime and be forgiven.  Such a reversal may not be likely, but it is not beyond Christian hope.

We may recognize severe evil tendencies in our own thoughts.  We can thank God that we are not likely to act them out.  We should also pray for and, perhaps, advise those who do so.

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

(Jeremiah 17:5-10; Luke 16:9-31)

A dozen or so years ago sociologist Charles Murray published a book that received national attention. Coming Apart marshaled massive evidence demonstrating that the United States was becoming increasingly stratified economically and socially.  Although the liberal rich are criticized as having an elitist disregard for religion and for wanton living, Murray showed the opposite.  His evidence revealed that the rich were much more likely to go to church and have intact families than the poor.  So do the rich in the United States act like the rich man in the gospel parable today, or do they follow Christ?

Of course, the answer is, “that depends.” In the parable the rich man's sin is not that he is wealthy but that he overlooks poor Lazarus lying at his door.  He probably is well-known in the community, but interestingly in the hereafter he goes unnamed.  Meanwhile, Lazarus dies in misery but is remembered by name in eternal bliss. 

Some rich, no doubt, faithfully follow the Lord.  However, there is a striking parallel between the rich in America and the rich man who ignores Lazarus.  With gated communities, first-class accommodations, and high-cost private schools, the rich are not likely to see the poor struggling close by. They much make extra effort to be remembered in eternal life.