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| O little town.... |
Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners
and tax collectors and said to his disciples,
"Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
and tax collectors and said to his disciples,
"Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
A utilitarian might answer the Pharisees’ question with, “Jesus wants to save their souls. That’s why he eats with tax collectors and sinners.”
But perhaps he just prefers their company. There is something divinely attractive about people who are “damaged goods”; they have lost their pretenses.
I have sometimes said to grieving persons in the confessional, “If you get to be forty years old and haven’t screwed up big time yet, you’re not even trying.” I certainly did more than my share, with six weeks in a psychiatric hospital and eight months in psychiatric rehab. Turning forty didn’t seem to improve matters much; I needed another twenty years and another round of psychiatric care before I turned sixty. The episodes of mental illness are easy to talk about compared to the load of sins I deposited with my confessors. You don’t want to hear about that. (Or maybe you do, but you won’t.)
The truly religious person is the one who hesitates at the church door saying, “May I come in?” She feels reassured by the recitation of the Confiteor, and the other penitential expressions. She understands the centurion’s exclamation, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.” She is wonder struck when she hears the Collect on January 1:
O God, who through the fruitful virginity of the Blessed Mary
Bestowed on the human race
The grace of eternal salvation,
Grant, we pray
That we may experience the intercession of her,
Through whom we were found worthy
To receive the author of life….
Our sinner did not think it possible she might be found worthy to receive the author of life, but she has experienced the intercession of Mary, the saints and all the Church. Broken by disappointment in herself and others, she has seen the wounds in his hands, feet and side and decided this man may be trusted. He too is damaged goods. She is happy to sit down at table with him, even as the Pharisees chatter outside.
My favorite change from the New Roman Missal is the prayer before communion, but it is the hardest one for me to remember. I am so focused at gazing at the Holy Body and Blood, I forget to look at the card. But the line ..."only say the word and my soul shall be healed." gives me such hope that Jesus can and does heal my broken, fragmented soul. Jesus is the great physician who has come to dine with us sinners. YEAH!!!!!!!
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