[Homily. Assumption Chapel. 7 March 2023]
We are in the Season of Lent when we are asked to turn away from our sins and return to the Lord.
Our first reading from Isaiah invites us to: "Hear the word of the Lord" (Is. 1:10)
In prayer. In intimate conversation with the Lord. Bring to him the burdens you are now carrying, the ambiguous situations, the situations darkened by sin. And listen to him.
It is the Season of Lent when we are invited to prepare for the celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord.
Hear the Word of the Father being spoken to you in Love from the cross (cf. Jn 1:1, 19:16-27). The incarnated Word of God is crucified, fastened painfully to a cross. It is the Word that needs to be heard. On the Cross, spoken to you. From the heart: heart to heart.
In this context, Isaiah says: "Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good" (Is. 1:16-17). You know the feeling of being dirtied by sin, where sin is not just disfigurement in one's body but a deformity in one's spirit, where from within there is hatred, untruth, dishonesty, loss of integrity, where declarations of love are manipulative, and declarations of busyness are refusals to acknowledge love or to love.
For the Jew, the most important commandments were, "You shall love the Lord you God with you whole heart, your whole soul, your whole strength." And: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (cf. Mt 22:34-40). But how often must we admit to the inverted or perverted imperatives that we follow: "You shall love yourself and your self-interest with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind, your whole strength. You shall manipulate your neighbor for yourself"?
So, wash yourself clean. Put away your misdeeds. From the Decalogue (Ex. 20:2-17, Deut. 5:6-21), stop worshipping false gods like money, power, and pleasure, stop ignoring your parents in their need, stop murdering people, stop harming people, stop committing adultery, stop stealing, stop lying, stop being victimized or victimizing others in untruth, stop coveting your neighbor's wife, stop coveting your neighbor's possessions. On the other hand, from the Lord's teaching on the Last Judgement (Mt. 24:29-51): Learn to do good, to give food to the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to comfort the suffering, to visit the imprisoned, to shelter the homeless, to welcome the stranger, to bury the dead. From the accounts of calamities in the news, of wars, violence, extreme weather occurrences, floods, fires and earthquakes we know the Christian imperative to do good is not farfetched. But we don't really have to look far. Learn to do good to a colleague next to you, a student under you, an administrator above you, a relative so close to you, you don't see her or him in need of your goodness. Learn to speak a word of encouragement, a word of compassion, a word of forgiveness, even if it costs you and unites you more closely to the passion of the Lord on the Cross.
Put your life in order. Turn away from sin. You will experience a forgiving God: "Though you sins be like scarlet," God said, "they may become white as snow. Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool. If you are willing and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land" (Is 1:18-19).
In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus teaches us not to be like the scribes and Pharisees. They teach with the authority of Moses, through whom we receive the Commandments of the Lord. Therefore, Jesus taught, "do and observe whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation, 'Rabbi'.
Rather than be hypocrites, practice what you preach. When you preach prayer, pray yourself. When you preach acts of mercy, perform acts of mercy yourself. When you preach the preservation and protection of the environment, stop your own excessive use of plastics, fossil fuels; stop generating non-biodegradable waste. When you preach social justice, make sure your employees are paid properly. Watch out for the persons in your life who are wounded by the wayside and need your assistance (cf Lk 10:25-37). Do not just walk by them as did the priest. Do not ignore them as did the Levite. Contrary to social expectation and the laws governing the resources at your disposal, stop, stoop down, touch the person in need, and show him or her your care.
Rather than be hypocrites, lighten the burdens of people. All of us are asked to take up our cross daily and follow the Lord. Part of your cross may be to help another person carry his or her cross daily, just as Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry his cross. Sometimes this will cost you much. You will find yourself sharing your fortune to help another person over time carry his or her cross. Where we are so attached to possessions today, it is especially difficult to share one's fortune to help another over many years, so that you become the good fortune of another for life. But you are called to pay the price. At other times, lightening the burdens of others will cost you less: an attentive ear, an encouraging smile, a willingness to recognize goodness, a readiness to embrace another in forgiveness.
Rather than be hypocrites whose works are performed to be seen, who "widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels, who love places of honor in synagogues, greetings in the market places, and being called, "Rabbi," "Teacher," "Father," "Doctor," "Your Honor," "Sir," "Ma'am," the gospel says, "The greatest among you must be your servant." (Mt. 23:11) Remember, this was the lesson the Lord taught us just before he celebrated his Paschal Meal with us as our Messiah. "Fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel around his waist…" (Jn 13:3-5). Explaining his example, Jesus tells us: "If I, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done to you, you should also do" (Jn 13: 14-15).
The conversion to which we are called during the Season of Lent does not happen without looking at the Crucifix and hearing the Word spoken very intimately to us from the Cross. On hearing this Word of the Father's love, St. Ignatius suggests a conversation around three questions, "If you have done this for me in Love, what have I done for you? What am I doing for you? What ought I do for you?" (cf. SpEx, 53).
No comments:
Post a Comment