Vulnerabilities of Human Nature

In today's first reading, 2 Sam 24: 2, 9-17, David orders a census taken of all the tribes in Israel that he may know their number.  He learns that there are 800,000 men fit for military service in  Israel and, in Judah, 500,000, a total of 1,300,000 men that he can employ in wars against Israel's enemies.  His pride and engaging in a task apart from God is an insult and an offense against God.  A prophet is sent to David with the instructions to offer David three alternatives to David, one of which God will inflict upon David:  three years of famine, a three-day pestilence upon the land, or that David himself flee from his enemies for three months. David chose the pestilence. Seventy thousand Israelites lose their lives as a result of this scourge upon the land.  David begs the Lord to spare the people, saying: Lord, punish me, not these people; I am the one who sinned against you.

How easy it is for us to play God, to engage in activities without consulting God, to go against God's wishes. By doing so we are saying to God: I don't need you! We may be surprised at King David, as he was the one who took on Goliath, saying that God would be on his side, as He was in sparing David's life from the lion when thrown into the lion's den by his enemies!  David, as God's chosen one had done both great things and things that revealed significant weaknesses and vulnerabilities to sin. And each time, confronted, David listens and repents of his wrongdoing.

None of us is exempt from the weaknesses of human nature, neither the rich nor the poor, neither those in privileged positions or those in positions considered lowly.  All of us need God and, at times in our lives, need God desperately as did St. Dismis, who, during his crucifixion, turned to Jesus and begged for mercy. 

May you and I, like King David and St. Dismis, acknowledge our sinfulness and turn to the Lord for His mercy and assistance.

God's Call: "Whom Shall I Send"?

In today's first reading, Isaiah 6: 1-2a, 3-9, Isaiah shares a vision he was given of "the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the  temple. Seraphim were stationed above. they cried out one to the other, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hours! All the earth is filled with his glory!'"  Isaiah tells us that at the sound of the angels praising the Lord, the  "frame of the door shook and rage  house was filled with smoke."  Isaiah is fearful that he is doomed, for, he says: I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yearly eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" An  angel flew to him and touched his lips with an ember, saying: "See, now that this has touched your lips,  your wickedness is removed, your sin purged."  A voice then says ask Isaiah: "'Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?' 'Here I am,' Isaiah said, 'send me!'"

That Scripture passage is about us. We may not, with out naked eyes, see the Lord of hosts, but we do with eyes of faith.  We know by faith that God is a holy God and we are men and women inclined to sin. Our lips are unclean when we engage in acts of selfishness, greed and, yes, sometimes wickedness against one another!  Yes, too, to the fact that we have been purged of our wickedness, our sins, by the Blood of Jesus poured out for us on the cross and given to us in Holy Communion and in our repentance of our sins on a daily basis when we acknowledge our sinfulness in prayer, in regular  confession and at every liturgy!  Like with Isaiah, we, too, hear God's voice, asking "Whom shall I send? wobble will for us [the Blessed Trinity]? In word and deed, how do we answer?

Jesus, "the expiation for our sins"

We continue to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, who, in the words of the second reading, 1 John 2:1-5a, "is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world."  In the first reading, Acts 3: 13-15, 17-19, Peter gives witness to the people that God "has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in Pilate's presence when he had decided to release him. You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead, of this we are witnesses."

Jesus, the Risen One, sits at the right hand of His Father, and ours, in heaven, making intercession for us.  He is the one about whom Peter reminds us "is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world." Jesus became sin itself upon the cross for us! In the shedding of His blood, Jesus destroyed sin and death for all. In every Eucharist, we drink the blood of Jesus and eat of His Body, as the bread and wine are transformed into Jesus through the words of consecration by the priest. In coming to us as food and drink, Jesus destroys sin and death in us as well!

Oh, the greatness of our God.  Jesus, the Son of God, held nothing back in reconciling us to the Father and showing us how much God loves each one of us: unto death!  And just as Peter said to the crowd to whom He was giving witness,  I know you acted out ignorance, just as your leaders did"  in killing Jesus on the cross, so, too, Jesus says to us in our sinfulness that we act out of ignorance. If we truly knew what we were doing, for instance, when we act violently toward one another,  in to the point of using weapons of mass destruction, we truly would have a change of heart, as did Paul on the road to Damascus when Jesus asked him: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

Oh, the goodness and the greatness of God's love for us!

Delivered from the Power of Darkness

In today's first reading, Colossians 1: 9-14, St.Paul prays for his disciples, asking God that they be "filled with the knowledge of God's will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with every power, in accord with his glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light." That is why Jesus has come to this earth and why, to this very day, lives among us and within us.  The prayer of St. Paul is fulfilled in each one of us because God has "delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved 
Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."  When did and does God do this? at our baptisms, our confirmations, when we receive the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion,  and every time we carry out the good God inspires us to do. God also does this for us every time, like Peter in today's Gospel, Luke 5: 1-11, we listen to God's instructions when everything within us says: "That is not going to work, Lord," and we do it anyway for a "large, miraculous catch!"

Redeemed, Restored, Resurrected to Glory

In today’s first reading,  Ezra 9: 5-9, the prophet is bowed down in grief as he considers the ways in which the Chosen People have sinned against the Lord, our God.  “From the time of our fathers even to this day great has been our guilt, and for our wicked deeds we have been delivered up, we and our kings and our priests, to the will of the kings of foreign lands, to the sword, to captivity, to pillage, and to disgrace, as is the case today.”   How true all of this is in our day as well. Our country, our families, our society, our church and the world at largehave been delivered up to sin, to the slavery of selfishness, to the lust for power,  control, for pleasures of all sorts at other people’s expense.  Our lands are pillaged by earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, fires, tornadoes, tsunamis.  The lives of our children are ruined by human traffickers, drug traffickers, perpetrators of domestic violence and wars within and between nations, violators of human rights, especially those of the poor and even those of the unborn.  We are brought low on all sides.   

Ezra, not only acknowledges his peoples’ sins but also recognizes God’s incredible mercy, saying:  “And now, but a short time ago, mercy came to us from the Lord, our God, who left us a remnant and gave us a stake in his holy place; thus our God has brightened our eyes and given us relief in our servitude.” Do you and I  realize that, in our day, Jesus has given us “a stake in his holy place,” by His death and resurrection, by the Eucharist and the Word of God in our midst, by each of the sacraments that restore us to right relationships with each other, with our deepest self--our God-self-- and with the world around us? By God’s mercy, you and I are being transformed every day into vessels of His grace and mercy as we carry the Good News and are “Good News” people to those we encounter! Oh, may that be so in an abundance today, as God blesses our efforts to experience our redemption and relate as the redeemed!

Followed by Kindness and Goodness

In today’s first  reading, Daniel  13: 1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 and Sunday’s Gospel, John 8: 1-11, we meet God’s justice, forgiveness, and compassionate intervention in the lives of two women: one unjustly accused of adultery and the other guilty of adultery.  Both, according to the Mosaic Law, faced being stoned to death if found guilty.  Injustice exists in both instances: the one accused falsely by two wicked judges and the other accused of this sin without the male partner also being made to accept responsibility for his role.

In the case of Susanna, God inspires Daniel to speak up on her behalf and confront the wicked judges. In the case of the woman in the Gospel, Jesus intervenes and challenges those who confront her and who are using her to trap Jesus. Jesus asks those without sin to cast the first stone and all walk away.

You and I, had we been among her accusers, would also have had to walk away, as we, too, are not without sin.  Jesus is our mediator, the One who intervenes for us, as Daniel intervened for Susanna. Yahweh says to us through the prophet Isaiah, “though our sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Is. 1: 18). That theme is re-echoed in the responsorial psalm of today’s Mass in the words:  “Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life.”  Why? Because we are redeemed, called to and empowered to conversion every moment of every day! Like the good thief on the cross, God says to us: “This day you shall be with be in Paradise.” For you and me, that does not only refer to the day we die, it refers to today.  “Salvation is now,” Paul tells us in 2 Cor 6:2.

Ransomed by the Blood of Christ

In today’s first reading, 1 Peter 1: 18-25, Peter says  to us: “Realize that you were ransomed from futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished Lamb.”   I imagined Jesus saying to you:

                “______(Your name)________, you are being ransomed today from the futility of

                complaining about others or about situations over which you have no control. I am

                ransoming you today from the slavery of sin, any sin, all sin.  I paid your ransom today

                as I offered my body and blood to God the Father in today’s liturgy, when I reminded

                the Father of the price I paid for you on Calvary, where I was tortured, crucified, taunted,

                pierced, ridiculed, mocked, spit upon, kicked, humiliated in all sorts of ways.

                “I was patient so you would learn patience.

                I was humble so you would learn humility.

                I was forgiving so you would learn to forgive.

                I was silent so you would learn the wisdom of silence in certain situations.

I surrendered to that over which I had no control so you would learn the value of surrender at appropriate times.

I spoke up where appropriate so you would learn the value of speaking your truth.”

Truly, God is a God of our salvation!