Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

Lectionary: 242

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

Nothing subtle about that introduction! Although the very people who are supposed to get it -- won't.

But then I wonder if I am one of those people. How can I be sure I am not? Is my Blessed Assurance, in fact, arrogance in the face of my unsatisfactory attitudes, manner, and behavior?

Lent should raise that doubt within us. It is good to suffer a certain uncertainty as we approach Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter.

Older Catholics remember the parish schools and the redoubtable nuns who taught us; they often recall the insecurity that was woven into religious training. We should never presume to be saved. (That was a Protestant word.) Presumption was a deadly sin, right up there with pride, avarice, greed and sloth -- not to mention lust (which they never did).

I would not want to recreate that anguish but I am willing to live with normal, healthy anxiety -- the kind that comes with grace and freedom. Anyone who declares he is most certainly saved invites trouble, especially when he creates a religious institution that vigorously denies and defends against doubt.

Lent reminds us that the sin which murdered Jesus is Original Sin, something in which everyone participates. No exceptions.

Periodically our contemporaries in the secular world come up with another contraption that will effect only Good. Dynamite was good because it was too powerful, savage, and barbaric to be used in warfare-- until it was. The Internet was supposed to promote science and effect fruitful conversations. Its creators never imagined hackers creating viruses, Trojans, worms and other malware. They did not expect to see unpopular children committing suicide, or virtual wars on line. The atomic bomb also guarantees peace because it is destructive beyond anyone's imagination, even as rogue nations develop their own weapons of mass destruction. 

Hello? Is there a pattern here?

Original Sin runs deep in every human culture, and every human enterprise. There are always unforeseen consequences that include evil; there are always people eager to exploit new opportunities especially on a gullible society which doesn't believe in Original Sin. 
With this parable Jesus holds up the gospel, "the mirror of perfection," and invites us to look into it. Which one do I see? The one who stares back at me or the one who will not even raise his head?