Weeping, Repenting, Acknowledging our Need for Mercy

In today's second reading, James 5: 1-6, St. James challenges those who have become wealthy by corrupt, deceitful ways:  "Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvest your fields....[you who] have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure [at the expense of the poor]...[who] have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter. You have condemned; you have  murdered the righteous one; he offers you no resistance."

This passage brings to my mind those who, to this very day, have accumulated wealth unjustly or illegally: in the sex trade industry, in dealing in illegal drugs, or who have coerced young boys and girls into forced labor; those who, in fact, have withheld wages from their employees, filed bankruptcy and left those to whom money was owned without being paid for their labors and who have engaged in other corrupt practises.

James goes on to invite those who have gained wealth by engaging in unjust practises to grieve:  "Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. Your wealth has rotted away,  your clothes have become moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire."

We know from the Gospels that God does not rejoice in those who choose evil over good and who, for that reason, risk eternal damnation. No, God rejoices more over the one sinner who repents than over 99 persons who are in right relations with their God.  Let us pray for that one person whom we know is making millions and billions of dollars in unjust, illegal, deceptive ways. Because of your prayers and mine, my this one person weep and wail over the miseries he/she has caused and return to the Lord repentant of their sins. And may you and I recognize that for which we, too, need to weep and wail in repentance! God knows that for which we need to repent. May we be open to knowing what God knows about us!

"What You See is Not What You Think"

In today's first reading, Jeremiah 23: 5-8, the prophet prophesies that The Lord will "raise up a righteous  shoot to David."   The royal dynasty has deteriorated.  Israel's king sunk into a cycle of corruption, murdering Uriah and committing adultery with his widow.  The royal dynasty also included apostates like King Ahaz (2 Kgs 15) and weaklings like King Zedekiah (Jer 38: 5, 19, 24-26).  The royal house itself had become corrupt.  God promises, however, that out of the stump of Jesse a righteous King shall be be born.  The prophets held on to their belief in God's promises in the most wretched of times, in times of upheaval and darkness.

In the Gospel of today, Mt 1: 18-35, Joseph, who is betrothed to Mary, discovers that she is pregnant and not with his child.  From human appearances it looks as though she has also become corrupt and committed adultery, as did King David.  Joseph agonizes over what he sees and decides to divorce Mary quietly when God intervenes. In a dream an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph and says to him: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will  bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins"

The prophets, Mary and Joseph, are righteous people living in a world that is corrupt, that is immersed in sin. They cling to God's promises and listen to the Spirit's Voice, directing them to make right choices, even if those choices could be misinterpreted, misunderstood, and/or ridiculed or even could lead to death. Their faith and trust in God was unshakable. Their "house" was built on Rock, the Rock of the Scriptures, the Word of God!

We might ask ourselves:  Upon what is my "house" built? Whose voice do I follow? When I face dilemmas similar to or as baffling as Joseph's, how do I handle them? In what ways does God confront my ways of thinking when they are contrary to what God is asking of me?

God of Compassion and Full of Mercy

Today's readings, Daniel 9: 4b-10 and Luke 6: 36-38, both speak of God's mercy and compassion, reminding us that our God is a "great and awesome God, ...who keep[s His] covenant toward those who love...[Him] and observe...[His] commandments" (Daniel 9: 4b-10) .  We are also reminded by Daniel that "compassion and forgiveness" belong to our God.  In the responsorial psalm, Psalm 79, we ask God to dispatch his mercy and compassion quickly, "for we are brought very low" by our wickedness.  We live in a world wrought with such crimes as human trafficking, forced slave labor, drug trafficking and myriad other forms of corruption.  Every day, children, adolescents, young adults, male and female, are sold or seduced into the sex trade, into labor camps, into the use of illegal drugs.  Persons are kidnapped and/or outrightly sold and sacrificed for their organ parts.   Every day families flee from the violence of war and the ravages of poverty to protect themselves and their loved ones. Every day, somewhere, adults, in all walks of life,  sink further and further into patterns of corruption, worshipping the idols of materialism, consumerism, hedonism and the likes!

In the responsorial psalm of today's liturgy we pray: 

Help us, O God, our savior, because of the glory of your name.
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name's sake.
Let the prisoner's sighing come before you;
with your great power free those doomed to death--
the death of all those criminal acts named above.
Then we, your people and the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
through all generations we will declare your praise.

At every Mass, Jesus comes down upon our altars as Savior and Lord, as the One who purifies us, strengthens us and claims us as His own. At every Eucharist, Jesus renews His covenant with us--yes, God empowers us every day to be "merciful, just as..[our] Father is merciful" (Luke 6: 36). Every day we are empowered to say "no" to Satan and the evil spirits that roam this earth for the destruction of souls. That is why millions also resist Satan's evil ways and follow Christ. 

What a "great and awesome God" walks beside us, dwells within us, beckoning us to resist evil and empowering us to do so!