Friday, February 12, 2016

God's Request of Us this Lent and Always

“Be merciful to me for I have sinned,” (Luke 18:13) are the words of the tax collector!  These words come to me as I reflect on today’s first reading, Isaiah 58: 1-9a. The people are complaining that God does not notice their fasting and the ways in which they afflict themselves. God responds by reminding them that “on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits and drive all your laborers. Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw….Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?  The Lord then tells us what kind of fast He wants of us, what is acceptable to Him and gets His attention. “This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.”


Who have I bound or imprisoned "in a cold cell”  by  attitudes of jealousy, by anger and resentment, by withholding love, by a lack of gratitude, by distancing myself from them, by setting myself above them, by acting superior and unworthy of them?  Have I placed yokes upon others, expecting them to reach perfectionistic standards and, in pride, to be perfect as I am perfect, and thus refuse to serve them in any way? Who will experience freedom today because of my generosity, my forgiveness, my gratitude, my genuine service? Who will experience relief from their oppression and hunger because of my nonjudgmental  actions and thoughts today? Whose nakedness and shame will decrease or be covered today because I took time to listen to their heartbreak without criticism or without giving advice but showing empathy?

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