March 8, 2015

Bulletin

3^rd Sunday of Lent B

Exodus 20: 1-17; 1 Corinthians 1: 22-25; John 2: 13-25

The Lenten journey continues and I continue to concentrate on how I am loved by God. Thoughts creep into my head … ‘what am I doing to get closer to God this Lent.’ Actually I have to enlarge this question: What do I do…what am I…and what am I aware of? Switching these questions around, I now reflect on: what am I aware of…what is this telling me about what I am and as a result of this what am I doing?

I spend time on my experiences and what I see and what I react to because these help to shape me into the person God has called me to be. In The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis shares that at the very heart of the Gospel is life in community and engagement with others. Jesus said that we have been created to love God, to love all those in our life and all people, and to love ourselves. So if I am to love each person then I have to realize that each person has an infinite dignity. Pope Francis says: “To believe that the Son of God assumed our human flesh means that each human person has been taken up into the very heart of God.” Since I have been created in the image and likeness of God as each and every person has, I have the sacred duty to treat each person with love. Jesus said in Matthew’s account on the last judgment, “As you did it to one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it to me.” (Mt 25:30)

Pope Francis continues, The Gospel is about the kingdom of God (cf Lk 4:43); it is about loving God who reigns in our world. To the extent that He reigns within us, the life of society will be a setting for universal fraternity, justice, peace and dignity.” It’s good for me to ask how I am living up to this. One checkpoint I use is to examine my life and see what disturbs me. I feel that the key point in Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation is: “An authentic faith—which is never comfortable or completely personal-always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it.” So if something concerns me, is that because there is some evil, harm, disrespect, abuse or worse that is not building a better world. The Pope then calls to mind various situations and conditions that cause me to stop and to reflect.

I have been honored to do a bit of travelling and some sights have changed my life. I went to Haiti in 2000 and saw the condition of the country and people in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. I spent two days in ‘City of Sole’ which has 200,000 people in absolute total poverty. One Haitian told me that a ‘poor person is one who has no change of clothes. No one in City of Sole has. I spent part of a day serving rice in a soup kitchen and the ‘containers’ they brought to be filled with rice with totally appalling. Yet their smile ‘lit up the world.’ This has left an indelible mark on me about poverty.

The Pope calls my attention to new forms of poverty and vulnerability where I can recognize the suffering of Christ. He spells out the homeless, and I’ve been very conscious of their plight this winter with the chilling cold and they live under overpasses in a spot that can protect them from the elements. And I am warm and comfortable.

He talks about the addicted and refugees and indigenous peoples and the elderly who are increasingly isolated and abandoned. While I was still in the seminary I worked during the summer with migrants around Syracuse, they have so many needs and are pushed into the background. Human trafficking is so blatant a disregard to the dignity of all people; and this is present big time in Richmond, and around Williamsburg too. He talks about the women who endure situations of exclusion, mistreatment and violence since they are frequently less able to defend their rights. The vulnerability of the unborn children, the most defenseless and innocent among us. Example after example gives me shudders as to why this is happening. These are God’s people, my sisters and brothers what am I doing?

What I appreciated about this reflection is that these societal situations abhor me and even though I am pleased with my compassion I must be much more a person of action in loving. I AM AWARE, but I have miles to go. I am aware and it hurts me that others are hurt. THIS is getting me in touch with the awareness of how God loves. What am I…a loved creature of God as each person is? NOW what am I going to do?

This is the point of the readings today. Moses gives the people the Ten Commandments, regulations that foster the life of the community and its relationship with God. I remember one of my moral teachers in the seminary describing these as GOAL commandments. I keep REACHING toward the GOAL, knowing that some days I take two steps back and only one forward. Jesus reiterates these and goes deeper into His Command of Love: that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength; and to love each and every person and to love ourselves.

Now IF I spend time on the ‘anger of Jesus’ in the Gospel, I am missing the point. Jesus is overturning all religions. As John, A Devotional Commentary says, “When we read the account of Jesus cleansing the temple, we can be distracted by what seems to be a fiery anger released against those who were using the temple for their own purposes. In fact, Jesus was performing a prophetic gesture in which He demonstrated His power and authority over the effects of spiritual darkness in our lives. Scripture reminds us that we are the ‘temple of the Holy Spirit’ (1 Corinthians 6:19) and that we should ‘cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit’ (2 Corinthians 7:1). In His death and resurrection, Jesus opened the way for our cleansing, and it is Jesus Himself who personally accomplishes this in our lives—moment by moment—as we allow Him into our hearts.” The bottom line is that God cherishes my love and the love of each person. He sees how each person can be distracted by the lures of the world and by self-centeredness. He wants to open mine and every person’s mind and heart each day to the true purpose of His commandments. They are meant to bring us joy and refreshment as we allow Him to cleanse us and fill us more deeply with His love and love for all. That’s what my lent is about so I reflect on:

• What ideas and attitudes about God do I need overturned this Lent?
• Am I facing my own sinfulness? What sin or injustice makes me angry? It is so easy to shirk my accountability and refuse to see that I have a big role to play. Why?
• The only way to deal with sin is to admit doing wrong, ask forgiveness, and then try to live differently. Do I do this?
• I have to ask myself each day: Am I aware of the NEEDS of the people around me…those in my life…those I see? AM I RESPONDING? Not to respond is not to love.
• Am I aware that I am Christ today…am I aware that for the people in my life today I may be the only Christ they see?
• Am I aware that the reason I am loved is so that I can treasure this love and to love? e demonstratged His power and authority