“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”
Some people approaching the Sacrament of Penance and the Season of Lent might complain that they don't really know how they should repent. "How have I offended the Lord?" they might ask; and, "What am I supposed to do.
In today's first reading the Prophet Isaiah spells out a series of urgent recommendations. First, we remove oppression, then clean up our speech, feed the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted.
There follows a series of promises, including wise guidance and "plenty on the parched land."
And then he continues,
If you hold back your foot on the sabbath
from following your own pursuits on my holy day;
If you call the sabbath a delight,
and the LORD’s holy day honorable;
If you honor it by not following your ways,
seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice—
Then you shall delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth....
Perhaps the key to all this is found in the expression, "If you honor it (the Sabbath and all it represents) by not following your ways, (and) seeking your own interests...."
In his book, Habits of the Heart, Robert Bellah identified Utopian Individualism as a belief that, "If you do your thing, and I do my thing, and everyone does their thing, everything will work out just fine." It sounds ridiculous because it is, and yet that is often how counselors address their clients, and friends encourage one another. That affirmation of my feelings is very pleasant but my feelings are short-lived. They come; they go; they may be trusted some of the time. The notion that there is some mystical system that functions smoothly when no one sacrifices anything is beyond absurd; it is probably evil. It's certainly a sandy foundation for a community.
Wisdom teaches us to suspect our own motives, as well as those of others. I have to do what I don't want to do very often; and, almost as often, I find that someone else was right where my feelings, desires, and preferences were wrong.
Jesus said, "I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.” He might have added he did not come to save the self-assured, the always-right, and arrogant fools. His salvation begins with those willing to confess their sins, admit they did wrong and were wrong, and recognize how they have oppressed others.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.