Isaiah 58:9-14 / Luke 5:27-32
God speaks: “Help others and I will help you.”
A woman named Linda was in a state mental hospital. She
said she was without hope for the future and without faith in God. Then one day
she happened to notice a small sign: “Volunteers needed to help the elderly.” She
says she doesn’t know why she responded to that sign, but she did. Several
months later she wrote about her experience, “Each day spent with these elderly
patients awakened something within me.” Linda’s experience with the elderly
patients restored not only her faith in the future but also her faith in God.
***
Recall a time when our faith and hope were restored after
sharing love with another. When we reach out to others, we frequently help
ourselves far more than we help them.
****
The season of Lent has
a penitential orientation for us. It constantly reminds us of the need for
repentance and conversion. Of course, that means that we are going to be
reminded of our sinfulness. Sinfulness might seem to be an abstract subject for
reflection and self-examination. But when we reflect on our inter-personal
relationships, we would immediately come to see that there are areas in our
relationships with others that we have crumbled.
The 1st reading
mentioned two graphic images that we can easily identify with - the clenched
fist and the wicked word. Yet when we confess our sinfulness in our
relationships with others as well as with God, then we shall become like a
watered garden and a spring of water that will never run dry. Indeed, during
this season of Lent, Jesus wants us to know that He came to call sinners to
repentance. Sinfulness makes us sick in the spirit. Jesus is our Healer. Let us
turn away from our sinfulness and follow Him as Levi did.
SATURDAY AFTER ASH
WEDNESDAY - LITURGY
RE-CREATING ENCOUNTER
Introduction
Jesus came to call sinners. It is they that need him, not so
much the just, the righteous. It is the sinners who need healing. We are among
them, and so we need healing. The Pharisees considered themselves just, but
there was little mercy in them; their hearts were dried-up, and it is mercy
that Jesus wants, not sacrifices. Jesus comes to encounter Levi-Matthew. Just a
call, and Matthew leaves everything behind: his desk, his past. He is a new
man, created anew by Christ. He lives now for the future. His converted heart
will turn to others too, as he becomes an apostle. In this Eucharist Jesus
comes to call us and to change us; he sits at table with us, as he did with
Levi-Matthew.
Opening Prayer
Lord our God, merciful Father, when you call us to
repentance, you want us to turn to people and to build up peace and justice
among us all. According to your promise, let us become, with your strength, lights
for those in darkness, water for those who thirst, rebuilders of hope and
happiness for all. May we thus become living signs of your love and loyalty, for
you are our God for ever.
Commentary
Repairer of the breach. Restorer of ruined homesteads. Those
designations would have been apt and welcome in 2005 when a mammoth hurricane
destroyed a large part of the city of New Orleans. Many people did their part
in the midst of such a calamity, but when all was said and done, there was
still much reconstruction to do. But there are other breaches to repair, ways
in which we can respond honorably to disaster, especially moral failure. And
Isaiah today outlines some of them. In the matter of living God’s law there is
a strong incentive: happiness in doing what God wills. This happens when the
Sabbath is not a burden, but a delight. It is commended to honor the Lord’s day
by not following our own will nor speaking of others with malice. If we do so,
all will be well. The avoidance of false testimony and improper speech, coupled
with a sense of outreach and care for the sick—such are signs of a correct
conscience, worthy of a holy people. When Levi gave a reception for Jesus, he
was not discriminating of the people who attended. He was, after all, a tax
collector and would certainly have had friends among such people, who were
agents of a foreign, pagan power. Tax collectors were not table companions for
believing Jews. But once again Jesus breaks the barrier. It is precisely for
the unwanted that he has come. They are the sick in need of help, much the same
as the sick in the emergency rooms of our hospitals. Jesus sees his role
largely in terms of care for the morally ill. They, not the well, need the physician.
Today’s readings are a call to an upright life. Of course, we all fall short.
But we still return to the task. In doing our best, we add to the collective
good. We help repair the breach. And if we feel a bit wounded at time, the
physician is there to see us through.
Points to Ponder
Choosing God over ourselves
Christ’s embrace of the unwelcome
Intercessions
– That Christians may experience the joy of receiving
forgiveness from God and from forgiving one another, we pray: – That people
entangled in sin and who don’t know how to get out, may encounter Jesus, who
came as a healer of hearts, we pray:
– That we may all learn that it is a part of our conversion
to turn to people and to bring them justice and love, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Merciful God, you have sent your Son among us to eat and
drink with us sinners. May Jesus look also at us intently and call us to
genuine repentance, and may we be so humble as to recognize that we are in need
of conversion. Give us the strength to follow Jesus, who is our Lord for ever.
Prayer after
Communion
Lord God, merciful Father, your Son Jesus Christ has touched
our hearts and we are willing to follow him. But we are weak and frail, and so
we pray you: May the bread of life and the wine of strength, which we have
taken at the table of your Son, sustain us on the road to you, our God for
ever.
Blessing
Through Jesus, God creates people anew by forgiving them. He
makes an apostle out of a typical sinner, Matthew, the tax collector. As
forgiven people, we help God to restore people by our goodness, by helping
others. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit.
