Hide not your face from us, O Lord!

In today's first reading, Numbers 21: 4-9, we meet the Israelites on the Red Sea road, a road taken to bypass the land of Edom.  "...[W]ith their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, 'Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in his desert, where there is no food or water? we are disgusted with this wretched food!"   God's anger is aroused, so to speak and in "punishment sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died."  Acknowledging their sin against God, the people repent and ask God to take the serpents away from them.  Moses prays on their behalf and God instructs Moses to "make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live."

We are being "bitten" by the coronavirus throughout the world. And, no doubt, some people are complaining bitterly against God and praying: "Remove this "saraph serpent" from our midst.  Let us look to Jesus upon the cross as the Israelites who looked up at the mounted serpent after being bitten and lived.With the psalmist in today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 102, we pray:

O Lord, hear my prayer,
and let my cry come to you. 
Hide not your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
in the day when I call, answer me speedily....
Let this be written for the generation to come, 
and let his future creatures praise the Lord: 
'The Lord looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
to hear the groaning of [those affected by the coronavirus]
to release those doomed to die.'"

The Eternal Wedding Feast

In today's Gospel, Matthew 22: 1-14, Jesus speaks to us through the parable of a king who gives a wedding feast for his son.  Twice the king sent out servants to invite in wedding guests. The invitation was ignored by some. Others beat and even killed the servants. The king, enraged, sent out troops to destroy the murderers.  When the feast was ready, the king sent other servants out to invite "whomever you find."  Both the good and the bad were invited and the "wedding hall was filled with guests".  One person entered "without a wedding garment" and was thrown out "into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth," as "many are invited, but few are chosen."   

Obviously, Jesus is speaking about the banquet in heaven to which we are all invited. Will you and I 1) ignore the invitation, 2) beat the messengers physically and/or verbally with rebellious words and/or with words that ridicule, 3) kill the messengers, 4) attend the banquet without "a wedding garment" with which we are clothed by good needs, by love and forgiveness of others, by generosity and helpfulness to the poor and needy, by repentance, honest admission of wrong-doing and acceptance of God's mercy, by justice in relating to others?

What choices are you and I making by the way we live our lives?

The Lamp Stand: Will it Stay or Be Removed

In today’s first reading, Revelation 1: 1-4,; 2: 1-5, John commends the church of Ephesus for its good works, its labor, its endurance, its intolerance of wickedness, and  its testing of self-proclaimed apostles. “You have endurance and have suffered for my name, and you have not grown weary.”  But, then, the people of the church of Ephesus are confronted for having lost their first love, their initial commitment to Christ. “Repent,” the Lord says to them through John, “and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent;” in other words, you will live in darkness.

What is happening in the U.S. may be that our lamp stands are being taken away from us and given to others who adhere to truth and justice, to what is right for everyone, that is, for the rich and the poor, immigrants and natives, Blacks and Whites, Mexicans and Hispanics, Asians and Africans—all cultures—as well as  heterosexuals and homosexuals, men and women—all who make up the fabric of the U.S. and of the world.

Repent,” the Lord says  to the church of Ephesus and to us, “and do the works you did at first. He says to the American people, repent and do the works you did at first when you, as members of your civic, ecclesial, familial and religious communities, worked together for the common good, to accomplish agreed-upon goals that made your world a better place for everyone; when you as a nation, as a government crossed party lines and enacted legislation that benefited all peoples.  Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” In other words, you will live in darkness. Is it possible that we are moving into a very dark period of our history as Americans, a darkness that will effect the whole world?

Personally, are you, am I, ready to repent and turn away from our idols—from anything that blinds us to God’s Holy Will? Am I, are you, ready to turn away from anything that blocks us from doing that which needs to be done to promote justice and peace, that deepens our love for God, self and others and that leads us to repentance of the wrongs we have done? Like Bartimaeus in today's Gospel, Luke 18: 35-43, am I, are you, asking Jesus to remove our blindness that we are able to see Jesus in all that is happening and follow His ways?

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?

Jesus visits Zacchaeus' House and Brings Salvation

“Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house,” (See today’s Gospel, Luke 19: 1-10).  Zacchaeus was a wealthy man, a tax collector, hated/despised by the people for his extortionary activities among them.  He cheated them on taxes and pocketed the money. Zacchaeus had heard that Jesus intended to pass through the town so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree so he would see him. No way, in the crowd, would he have gotten a glimpse of him, because Zacchaeus was too short of a man. Did Zacchaeus expect that Jesus would even notice him, much less, say: “[C]ome down quickly, for today I must stay at your house”?  Zacchaeus is a public sinner. Everyone knew that his deeds were despicable. What is Jesus doing? Some of the people were outraged.  Jesus dining with a tax collector!  He clearly says to the crowd: “…the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

Jesus says those same words to you and me, to anyone seeking the Lord. God notices!  God reads hearts!  In the first reading of today’s liturgy, John heard the Lord saying to him that the people of the Church in Sardis and in Laodicea both needed to repent.  To one of the Churches the Lord said: “I know your works, that you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead…I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God…repent.” To the other Church, the Lord says:  “I know your works;  I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot…[but] you are lukewarm……….I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,’ and yet do you realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed….Be earnest, therefore, and repent.”

Zacchaeus realized that he was “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” before God. He repented. What about you and me? Do we know ourselves as God knows us? Are we aware of how much we need God’s mercy and love? At the right moment, as we are seeking the Lord, the Lord will say to us: “Come down from your prideful position, “for today I must come to your house.”

Listening to God's Messengers in our Lives

In today’s first reading, Jer 26: 1-9, Jeremiah is asked to deliver a message to the house of Judah, warning them that they are to become a city of ruin like Shiloh, remembered as a disgrace and referred to in future curses.  Not a pretty picture, by any stretch of the imagination. The people of the city of Judah can change that if they repent of their wrongdoing and return to the Lord.  “Perhaps,” God says through Jeremiah, “they will listen and turn back, each from his [or her] evil way, so that I may repent of the evil I have planned to inflict upon them for their evil deeds.”  Empowered by God, eager to do God’s bidding and, no doubt, hoping that the people do repent, Jeremiah delivers the Lord’s message. The result? The people attack him and demand that he be put to death.

In the Gospel, Mt 13: 54-58,  Jesus enters his home village and he, too, excited to return home, to bring Good News to the people, is met with disappointment.  “Who is this man? Is he not the son of a carpenter? Where did he get this wisdom?” And “they took offense at him.” In fact, they attempted to throw him over the cliff, to kill him. They’d have nothing to do with him, much less listen to him.

You and I have similar experiences throughout our lifetime. We enter our marriages all excited about building a great life together. Or we join a  religious community all excited about a complete commitment to the disciplines of religious life, the demands of community life, willing to make whatever sacrifices marriage or religious life  demand of us. Then things begin to fall apart! We become lax. We drift into acting independently, non-collaboratively, less and less willing to sacrifice for  one another. “Me first” creeps into our lives. “My way” becomes my preferred way of doing things. We are faced with the need to repent, reform, make sacrifices, look at how we are moving further and further away from our first fervor, our initial willingness to work at our marriages, our commitment to the ascetical practices that enhance community living and whereby we live for each other’s well-being and the common good of the family, of the community.  Am I willing to change, to be converted, to be called to greater faithfulness, to renew my commitment to the other, to something greater than myself? Or, like the people of Judah and the people of Nazareth do I attack the person who hints at the need that I make changes in my way of acting, that I become more family centered/community centered?

Look upon Him Whom You have Pierced

In today’s first reading, Numbers 21: 4-9, the Chosen People complain bitterly against God and Moses for bringing them out  into the desert.  “Why,” they ask, “have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food.”  Sound familiar? Every day, no doubt, there is something /someone about whom to grumble  and to bitterly proclaim our disgust.  Winter hangs on. Spring holds back!  Another tornado hits. A mudslide buries homes in a nearby State. Another shooting occurs. War breaks out. Another individual goes astray.  Another crime is exposed to the light.  The list goes on and on and on. Or we may be complaining of less weightier things that are part of daily life: the computer bulks when I am in a hurry to get to something done. The printer breaks down in the middle of an important print job. The battery goes dead on the car when I am rushing to get home, the brakes give out. The kids are screaming for attention when I’m busy. The TV blocks a Packer game, etc. etc., etc.

God was not oblivious of the people’s grumbling, discontent, rebelliousness.  He understood their anger but He also held them accountable.   “In punishment the Lord sent among the people seraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died.”   When the people cried out for mercy and acknowledged their sin, the Lord instructed Moses to [m]ake a seraph and mount it on a pole, and whoever look[ed] on it after being bitten….[lived]. The punishment for our sinfulness was the death of Jesus. He became sin for us.  All who look upon the cross of Christ and ask for mercy are saved  both here on earth and in eternity from everlasting death, from being separated from the Lord forever.  Truly the “Lord looked down from his holy height, from heaven he beheld the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoners [all of us enslaved to sinful patterns of behavior and to destructive attitudes that precede our acts of rebellion against God and others].” He offers His only Begotten Son, allowing Him to become sin  for us in order “to release those doomed to die” (today’s responsorial psalm, Psalm 102), to bring us to a new way of living and thinking, a way that transforms misery into happiness, frustration into joy, rebellion into cooperation, death into life.
Oh, the goodness of our God. What an awesome God! What a merciful God! What a compassionate God!