God Has No Favorites

In today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 62,we praise God, saying: "Lord, you give back to everyone according to his works."   In the first reading, Romans 2: 1-11, St. Paul reminds us that God has no favorites. Anyone who does evil will reap accordingly and those who do good, as well. Whether Greek (Gentiles) or Jews, whether rich or poor, whether persons who hold high offices or "low", whether this race or another, this nationality or another, whether black or white or any other color,  whether Native American, African American, Chinese or Japanese, Russian or European, Scottish or Danish, and so on:  God "will repay everyone according to his [her] works, eternal life to those who seek glory, honor and immortality through perseverance in good works, but wrath and fury to those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness."  No exceptions for anyone in any state of life or any nationality or any culture or any status!  To emphasize, St. Paul states: "Yes, affliction and distress will come upon everyone who does evil, Jew first and then Greek. But there will be glory , honor, and peace for everyone who does good. Jew first and then Greek. There is no partiality with God."

Oh, the mercy of our God so admirably revealed to us on the cross when Jesus said to the good thief, who rebuked the thief beside him who was mocking Jesus and asked Jesus to remember him when he got to His kingdom. "This day, Jesus said to him, you will be with me in paradise."  Because of God's mercy toward us, Jesus says the same thing to you and me when we acknowledge him as Savior and God and repent of our sinfulness: "This day you will be with me in paradise," not that we earned it but because Jesus secured it for us when he triumphed over sin and death through His resurrection from the dead.

Thank  you, my Lord and my God, "my rock and my salvation, my stronghold" (Psalm 62)!

The Promises of the Lord

In today's first reading, Baruch 5: 1-9, the prophet asks Jerusalem "to take off [its] robe of mourning and misery....For God will show all the earth your splendor: you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God's worship.....Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God. Led away on foot by their enemies they left you: but God will bring them back to you borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones. For God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground, that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God."

What promises, not only to Jerusalem, but to every city and town, nations and peoples!  Every continent, every race, every religion is ask "to take off its robe of mourning and misery.  "...God will show all the earth" the splendor of God" hidden within it. Are we willing to yield our robes of mourning to the Lord? Are we willing to leave corruption and sin, injustices and deceit behind?  God has named us forever "the peace of justice."  "Lofty mountain[s]" of pride and lust, gluttony and avarice God has commanded to "be made low."   Isis and Al Quaeda, abortionists, human traffickers, those perpetrating slave labor, all those involved in corruption of any kind will be defeated. That within you and me that needs to be brought low will be leveled and virtue risen in its place.

O, the glory and the splendor, the power and the honor of our God in our midst. God, who is our leader and our warrior, will not be stopped in His plan of saving us. We may for a time be "led away...by [our] enemies]...but God will bring [us]  back...borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones," Baruch prophesies!

These are some of my reflections on today's first Scripture reading, Baruch 5: 1-9. What is God saying to you in this reading?

Jesus' Example of Knowing One's Identity in the Face of Being Sinned Against

In the first reading of today’s Mass, Isaiah 50: 4-9a, we read:  “The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced…  He is near who upholds my right…Who disputes my right? Let him [her] confront me. See, the Lord God is my help; who will prove me wrong?” Jesus, no doubt, prayed this  passage, often reflected upon it and lived it, confident of His Father’s relationship with Him and of who He was as the Son of God.  Fully human, Jesus suffered disgrace and insult throughout His public ministry. In His final hours,  He was physically abused to the point of near death before He actually carried the instrument of His crucifixion to Calvary’s hill. He was spit upon, kicked, slapped, His face bloodied, His whole body mangled by the scourging and crowning with thorns. “…I have not rebelled,” Jesus says through the prophet Isaiah, “have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;  My face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.” Anyone else would have thrown up his/her hands to protect the face area.  Jesus did not.

In the face of ugliness thrust upon Him, Jesus did not lose His dignity, His honor or His integrity.  Neither does anyone who puts his/her hand in the hand of the Lord when dealing with  the ugliness of sin of which he/she might be a victim. We may be repulsed in seeing a human person being defaced, shamed, abused, the victim of human trafficking, slave labor, drug trafficking or the victim of a disfiguring disease.  Seeing images of aborted babies may cause us to feel nauseated as well. Victims of crime or serious, disfiguring illnesses  are sons/daughters of the Most High. They deserve all we can give to show them the honor they deserve and to release them from the prison of abuse or to bring healing to their tortured bodies, minds and souls.

Lord, may the repulsion I feel when seeing another person in pain not stop me from showing compassion or being compassionate in my efforts to assist, as Mary did when she met you on your way to Calvary and as she stood beneath the cross on that first Good Friday.