Lord, Save Us!

In today's Gospel, Matthew 8: 23-27, Jesus gets into a boat  with his disciples "and suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but [Jesus] is asleep."  Terrified for their lives, the disciples awaken Jesus. "Lord, save us! We are perishing!"  Jesus calmly says to them:  "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm."

Right now, we are dealing with a violent storm, the coronavirus sweeping the country. Thousands are dying across the country every day. Our hospitals in some States are reaching their capacity. ICU beds are at a premium. Healthcare workers are stretched to the breaking point. Last night news claimed that we are at a very dangerous point in dealing with this pandemic. Another news this week stated that the virus is out of control in this country!  Also, foreign countries have banned anyone from our country to travel to theirs.  "Lord, save us! We are perishing!"  Jesus asks to us:  "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?" With the psalmist in today's responsorial psalm, we expectantly bring our plea for the end of this virus to the Lord.  

We know that God can, at any point in this horrible experience, get up, rebuke the virus, and save us from further attack! However, we also  need to realize that, I think, God expects us to do our part to stop its spread and not expect God to miraculously destroy a virus whose spread we are not willing to stop by appropriate measures within our power! Let us not put God to the test because we are unwilling to discipline ourselves!

Do the harsh words in today's first reading, Amos 3: 1-8; 4: 11-12, apply to us?  Yahweh says to the Israelites: "I brought upon you such upheaval as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah: you were like a brand plucked from the fire; yet you returned not to me, says the Lord." 

God Listens to the Poor

In today's first reading, Baruch 4: 5-12, 27-29,  Baruch reminds the people that they "were sold to the nations not for [their] own destruction... [but]because [they] angered God...[Y]ou provoked your Maker with sacrifices to demons, to no-gods; You forsook the Eternal God who nourished you....[C]all out to God. He...will remember you. as your hearts have been disposed to stray from god, turn now ten times the more to seek him; for he...will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy."

The responsorial psalm, Psalm 69, reminds us that "[t]he Lord listens to the poor--[that is, to those who  know their weaknesses and their need for God's help and ask for that help.]  See, you lowly ones, and be glad; you who seek God, may your hearts revive! For the Lord hears the poor, and his own who are in bonds he spurns not."  And all of us are in bonds that only God can loosen, as Jesus loosened the bonds that bound Lazarus, for instance.

The message of Baruch applies to us today.  Like the Israelites, we, too, have sacrificed to demons-- greediness, selfishness, jealousy, gluttony, envy, narcissism, sexism, prejudice, hatred and so on--and to no-gods (wealth, hedonism, consumerism, materialism, sexism, and so on); we forsook the Eternal God who nourishes us in the sacraments, in the blessings of each day, in the love we give and receive from family and friends, in acts of altruism, generosity to the poor and oppressed, in honest living, and in faithfulness to what God asks of us in the ten commandments, in the Scriptures, through the Church and through the Holy Spirit at work in all of the events of our lives. 

May we come back to Jesus, serve the Lord and others in self-sacrificing love, in fidelity to our faith, and in building up the Kingdom of justice, love and truth. If we do so, as did the seventy-two disciples (see today's Gospel, Luke 10: 17-24), we will hear Jesus say to us as He said to them on their return from the mission Jesus sent them on: "I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power 'to tread upon serpents' and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy..."  Do we believe that Jesus has given us this power?  Or have we stopped believing in the power of the Spirit given to us in baptism and confirmation, in any of the sacraments?

The Lenten Journey Begun This Day

Today we celebrate Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the holy season of Lent. Lent is a time of special graces, a time to heed the words of the prophet Joel. God speaks to us today through Joel 2: 12-18: "Return to me with  your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning. Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God." The question I need to ask myself is: Why is God asking me to return to Him? I also need to take heed of the call to return to him with my whole heart! How am I, I need to ask myself, serving God halfheartedly?  sluggishly? Do I give God only my leftovers and give the best to other gods, to my idols, to things I treasure more than God? What, in my life each day, do I devote most of my energy, most of my time, especially time when I am free of the responsibilities of my profession, my career: the kids have been put to bed, the dishes and other chores are done, my community or priestly responsibilities are met, I've spent quality time playing with or listening to my children and communicating with my spouse or the members of my religious community with whom I live or fulfilling my duties as priest! Wow, I am free finally, I say to myself!    Is this a time that I am being called to turn my attention to the Lord in prayer, in reflecting upon a Scripture passage, the readings of the day's liturgy, a spiritual reading book that lifts my mind and heart and soul to God?

Maybe the fasting God is asking of me this Lent is to participate more fully in my children's life, in the life of my spouse or the members of my religious community, giving more of myself in sharing responsibilities around the house, in the parish, in meeting the needs of an elderly parent/fellow Sister, a needy parishioner,  listening to another person's story or concerns, especially that of one's spouse, one's fellow religious or priest, or, if married, in playing with or doing homework with my children.  "Rend your hearts, not your garments!"

Lord, help me know and do what it is, each day, that you ask of me in rending my heart so as to enhance the life of those with whom I live and for whom I have committed my life as a married person or a member of a religious community or a priest or as a single person. All of us are called to rend our hearts in some way! Let us pray for the grace to do so!

Turn to the Lord

In the first reading of today's liturgy, Joel 2: 12-18, the prophet invites us to "[r]end our hearts,not our garments..." during this holy season of Lent.  We are reminded that Lent is a time of conversion, of interiority, a time to "return to the Lord...For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger and rich in kindness..." (Joel 2: 12-18).

I thought of a small child who begs mom and dad to visit "Grandpa and Grandma?"  Why? Grandmas and Grandpas are "kind and merciful," loving and caring.  Hence, the child wants to be with his/her grandparents.
That thought led me to Jesus' words: Let the children come to me because of such is the Kingdom of heaven and unless you become like little children you will never enter the Kingdom. If our image of God is of Someone who is "gracious and merciful," "slow to anger" and "rich in kindness", what keeps us from turning, or returning, to the Lord every day to bask in that love? Why do we not, everyday, sit with the Lord, gazing upon the Lord with love and letting the Lord gaze back at us in love (God knows no other way to relate to us because God is love)? What restrains us from taking time to be with the Lord in an empty Church or in the quiet of nature or in the silence of  our hearts--all noise silenced--to simply rest with God, commune with God, love God in the depth of our being?

What if our resolve this Lent would be to "rend our hearts, not our garments"?