Monday and Tuesday of the Second week of Lent, March 5 and 6, 2007. Lectionary #231 and #232
God is full of compassion and forgiveness! All of today's readings contain
the word "compassion" in them. We can easily center on God who is so
compassionate to us no matter what state we are in whether needing
forgiveness, reconciliation, or whether we are at peace with ourselves in
our relationship with God and with others. Daniel prays with us, "But,
yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness." Then David or the
Psalmist continues our prayer, "Remember not against us the iniquities of
the past; may your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very
low." Then in our short Gospel selection from Luke Jesus tells us,"Be
compassionate as your Father is compassionate." In the language of Jesus
the word he used for this is CHESED/OR HESED and it is only used in the
Scriptures to indicate the compassion and love made in the covenant of
ourselves with God. It can also be translated as lovingkindness, grace,
mercy, and love. It is found almost fifty percent of its use in the
psalms. In fact, today's psalm could be used as our Lenten prayer. We could
say it in its entirety outside the Eucharist where it is used as our
responsorial with a few of its stanzas. The above dispositions are an
excellent way of living out this day of Lent as we experience this type of
love and compassion for our God through Jesus' love for us. We then could
show such love to not only our friends and families, but also to the poor,
those who are ill, strangers, the homelesss and the lonely. Yes, let us be
compassionate as our loving Savior Jesus is compassion itself. God is
love. Amen.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007. Lectionary # 232. Scriptures: Isaish 1:10.16-20.
Psalm 50:8-9,16-17,21.23. Matthew 23:1-12.
Isaiah lived during the time of four kings who are mentioned at the
beginning of the chapter. We can thus chronologically situate him. We need
to remember that there are three different parts to Isaiah all of which
contain his spirit but only the first part may have been written by him, a
priest of the Temple. The kings mentioned in the opening verse are Uzziah,
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, all kings of Judah and those who would have
worshipped in the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem as did Isaiah himself who
received his call to prophesy in the sacred sanctuary. His prophesying
took place from 738 B.C. down to 701 B.C. and possibly down to 688 B.C.E.
It is striking that there are very few calls to repentance from Isaiah but
we do have one today and it fits this season of Lent. Such a call being so
infrequent demands a positive reponse from us to return to God with all our
heart, mind, and soul. To do what is right and not simply to do the "rite"
is what is our concern during this holy season. Isaiah encourages us to
take what God is saying through him and to put it into ethical action by
doing what we can for the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, the
homeless and the lonely people we meet. It is through our prayer and our
listening to God's word that we become aware of how to help these people.
As we turn to the Gospel of the day, we learn that Jesus tells us not to
show off through our rituals and behavior but rather to be humble and to
become a learner of his, that is, to become a disiciple. I can ask myself
does my prayer and my own behavior lead me to do something for others? If
I am honest and truthful with myself and act with a faith-filled heart then
my routine observances and practices in prayers and devotions will lead me
to reaching out to others even to strangers. I can even attempt dialogue
with someone who does not share the same faith perspective or may even been
hostile to me and my religion. Surely, we find it easier to pray about
these possibilities but Isaiah, David or the Psalmist, and Jesus are
suggesting we do something in the areas of social justice, compassion,
kindness, and forgiveness. Yes, Lord, Jesus, Son of the living God, have
mercy on us. Amen.
posted by Fr. Bert SM at 9:50 AM
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