 |
| A courageous tree struggles on between the VA Hospital and Saint Leonard's Church |
be reconciled to God.
For Christians Ash Wednesday and Lent are extraordinarily beautiful. Beginning with our senses there is the promise of spring in the air. Daylight creeps back into our mornings; the air tastes and smells of warmth and vegetation. The threat of snow ebbs away, and is replaced by a promise of rain. Gardeners already browse garden supply stores and catalogs. They are shaking out their soiled gloves and checking their tools. Soon, if not already, farmers will till the soil and plant their seeds.
Ash Wednesday dawns upon us with a promise of restored vitality, both physical and spiritual. It is time to shake off the winter doldrums, the Seasonally Affected Disorder and start walking outdoors again. New Year’s resolutions, born in a rush of secular anticipation, can be baptized and restored by consecration to God.
We remember Saint Francis of Assisi as one of the greatest of saints because he renewed a Church that supposed it didn't need renewing. Perhaps only his contemporary Pope Innocent II saw more clearly the desperate plight of the Church. It had virtually all earthly power: military, economic, intellectual, social and religious. But it was rotting in its core.
Our situation is in many ways similar. How do we announce the mercy of God to people who already know God's mercy?
There is only one way. We must own and confess our sinfulness. Should we tell other people about their sinfulness? Don't waste your breath.
Nor can we use the usual platitudes: "I know I am not perfect but...." or "I am a sinner like everyone else." Please don't patronize God with such twaddle. No one believes you when you say "There but for the grace of God go I." You don't really believe that.
Nor can we use the usual platitudes: "I know I am not perfect but...." or "I am a sinner like everyone else." Please don't patronize God with such twaddle. No one believes you when you say "There but for the grace of God go I." You don't really believe that.
Words mean so little in a world saturated with words. Only actions matter and the actions of Lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving -- as we find in today's gospel. The work of owning and confessing our sins must be performed in silence, behind closed doors where only God sees. In today's Gospel from The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus insists on the private nature of our practices.
Abandoning all hope of changing the exterior world, Christians set out in Lent to do the interior work of penance. We want only to be reconciled to God and we understand we must pass through that narrowest of gates -- penance.
Like the farmer who buries precious seed in the moist earth, we will bury our good deeds in darkness and silence. What God does with them and us -- is God's business.
No comments:
Post a Comment
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.