*****
“Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed.”
Our God can be described in many ways: a God of love, a God of life, a God of salvation, a God of reconciliation, and a God of peace.
And as today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah reminds us, our God is also a God of justice. This means that God is just, that God is fair. God is morally righteous. God is reasoned, reasonable and truthful.
In other words, God gives people their due.
We are made in the image and likeness of God. To that end, like God, we, too, are called to be people of justice and to give others their due.
Insofar as God calls us to live justly, one of our greatest temptations is to act in an unjust manner, that is, to live with “two hearts”. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“In general, we prefer the rich to the poor…we even prefer those who are better dressed. We rigorously demand our own rights but want others to be considerate in insisting on theirs. We complain easily about our neighbors, but we would expect them to never complain about us. What we do for others always seems so very great, but what others do for us seems like nothing at all. In short, we have two hearts. We have a mild, gracious and courteous attitude toward ourselves but an entirely different demeanor that is hard, severe and unyielding toward others.” (Part III, Chapter 36)
Francis de Sales challenged us:
“Be just and equitable in all your actions. Always put yourself in your neighbors' place and them in yours, and then you will live justly. Imagine yourself the seller when you buy and the buyer when you sell and you will sell and buy justly……In the end, we lose nothing by living generously, nobly, courteously and with a royal, just and reasonable heart. Examine your heart frequently to see if it is disposed toward your neighbor as you want your neighbor's heart to be disposed toward you.” (Ibid)
Justice, then, is not merely imitating some remote, unachievable attribute. Justice is not solely an issue of remedying social inequity. Justice is not limited to working for some noble, global purpose. Justice must be the hallmark of even the smallest, most mundane dimensions of the lives of all those who wish to follow Jesus, who wish to live a devout life. It is, in truth, about being more fully - and deeply - human.
To the extent that we treat others as we would want them to treat us in the small and ordinary exchanges of everyday life - fairly, reasonably, rightly - we reveal something of God's divine justice. What better way is there for us to give what is due to God, than by giving what is due to one another…and, in the process, to know the blessedness that comes with being single-hearted?
*****
“If you wish to be perfect, sell what you have and give to the poor…”
And the man went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Listen carefully to Jesus’ words. He doesn’t say, “Give it all to the poor”. He does say, “Give to the poor.” This presumes that what – or how much – is given to the poor is left to the individual to decide. In the case of the unnamed young man in today’s Gospel, perhaps his sadness was caused by the fact that he didn’t want to give anything – not one bit – to the poor. If, in fact, he had many possessions, this unwillingness makes his reluctance to share even the smallest amount of his good fortune with those less fortunate than he even more saddening.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales counseled:
“We must practice real poverty in the midst of all the goods and riches that God has given us. Frequently give up some of your property by giving it with a generous heart to the poor. To give away what we have is to impoverish ourselves in proportion as we give, and the more we give the poorer we become. It is true that God will repay us not only in the next world but even in this world…Oh, how holy and how rich is the poverty brought on by giving alms!” (IDL, Part II, Chapter 15. p. 165)
Listen carefully to Francis’ words: “Frequently give up some of your property…”Count your blessings. Name your possessions. Be they material, like money, or non-material, like influence, time or talent, what transforms our riches into wealth is our willingness to share them with the poor, with the impoverished, with the less fortunate, with those who have fallen on hard times.
Do you want to gain eternal life? How many – or much – of your possessions are you willing to share with anyone poor or needy?
Just today?
*****
“You are man, not a god.”
There’s no way of sugar-coating the words from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel. At times, we human beings - made in the image and likeness of God, reflections of the love of God, sharers in the life of God, beneficiaries of the power of God – are tempted to forget our rightful place in the universe. We are tempted to forget who’s in charge. We’re tempted to forget who calls the shots. We are tempted to reach – or live – above our “pay grade”.
To suggest or presume that being made in the image of God puts us on par with God is an affront to the virtue of humility; it simply isn’t the truth.
Francis de Sales encouraged his readers:
“All that we must try for is to make ourselves good men and women, devout men and women, pious men and women. We must try hard to achieve this end. If it should please God to elevate us to angelical perfections, we shall then become good angels. In the meantime, let us try sincerely, humbly and devoutly to acquire those little virtues whose conquest our Savior has set forth as the end and care of our labor…” (IDL, Part II, Chapter 2, p. 127)
Let God be God. As for us, may God give us the grace to know our rightful place, and – in so doing – may we give glory to the One who is God through our willingness to take – and make the best of – our place.
And a wonderful place it can be for good men and women, devout men and women, pious men and women!
*****
“Woe to the shepherds of Israel…”
We hear another tough “performance review” through the words of the prophet Ezekiel. The recipients of today’s rebuke are “the shepherds of Israel”. Of course, the prophet is not referring to actual shepherds or sheep; he is addressing the clergy, the prophets and the leaders of the people who are so consumed with using their offices, power and authority to look themselves that they fail to do what God expects them to do - to look after the needs of others.
Part of what it means to be a son or daughter of God – part of what it means to be a brother or sister of Jesus – part of what it means to be temples of the Holy Spirit – is to try our best to shepherd one another, that is, to look after – and to look out for – one another.
Today, how might God be calling us – no, requiring us – to shepherd one another in imitation of his Son, Jesus, the Good Shepherd?
*****
“I will give you a new heart...taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.”
When you ask people, “What is the worst thing that can happen to a human heart?” many will instinctively or impulsively answer: “When it breaks”. As the reading from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel suggests, a broken heart doesn’t come anywhere close to the truly worst thing that can happen to the human heart - when a heart becomes hardened.
How does a heart become hardened? People don’t generally wake up one morning and just decide to harden their hearts all at once, do they? In truth, most hearts become hardened slowly, insidiously and perhaps even silently over a long period of time.
Picture this image: what do nearly all small children do when they visit the beach for the first time? Almost instinctively (to the horror of their young parents!) they run fearlessly straight for the surf. Sure, they get knocked down; sure, they get sand in places it doesn’t belong; sure, there are the occasional tears and sobs associated with encountering the force of the ocean. But invariably, once they’ve recovered, most children can’t wait to return to where the action is - they learn not to allow the occasional hurt to deter them from experiencing the tides of happiness.
Not so for others. For some children, the day at the beach may begin a slow process from which they never recover. They learn to fear not only the ebb and flow of the surf but the ebb and flow of life itself. Knocked down one-too-many times, they gradually stop going into the water; over time, they stop going to the beach; over a lifetime they stop going anywhere near where the action is: they learn to play it safe so as not to get hurt ever again!
St. Francis de Sales reminds us that we are born to love. That’s why we’re here, that’s what we’re all about and that’s where the action is. As with beachgoers in the roaring surf, love is fraught with risks. We sometimes get knocked down and around in our pursuit of love, we sometimes get embarrassed, we sometimes get hurt and sometimes we even feel like we’re drowning.
In the ups and downs of life – and love – resist the temptation to harden your heart. Resist the temptation to play it safe. Resist the temptation to avoid where the action is. Keep you heart open; keep your heart trusting; keep your heart human; keep your heart the way God intended – and created it – to be.
If you choose to love on the beach of life – if you allow your heart to wade into the waves, the surf and the riptides of everyday relationships – your heart will be broken. Speaking for myself, I’ll take a broken heart over a hardened one any day.
*****
“Which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms that the greatest of the commandments is actually two commandments: the love of God and the love of neighbor. These two commandments provide both the foundation and summation of everything else, including the Law and the prophets.
In a letter to Jane de Chantal, Francis de sales wrote:
“I have been praying just now, and on asking myself why we have come into this world, I understood that we are here only to receive and to carry our sweet Jesus: on our tongue, in telling people about him; in our arms, in doing good works; on our shoulders, in carrying his yoke…O blessed are they who carry Him gently and with constancy!” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 168)
In the fullness of her humanity, who better than Mary embodies this way of carrying Jesus and sharing Jesus with others? In her saying “Yes” to being the Mother of God, Mary embodies the fullness of the two greatest commandments. She agrees to be the mother of the Messiah out of her love both for God and also for neighbor.
How might we follow her example today in our attempts at loving God, and loving one another?
*****
“Do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you…”
But do not follow their example. Jesus’ criticism, of course, is directed at the scribes and the Pharisees. There is good news and bad news about these religious peers of Jesus. The good news? They excelled at telling other people how to live a virtuous life! The bad news? They failed to practice what they preached.
In other words, they lived life by a double standard. As Francis de sales once described, they had two hearts:
“A mild, gracious and courteous attitude toward themselves and another that was hard, severe and rigorous toward their neighbors. They had two weights: one to weight goods to their own greatest possible advantage and another to weight their neighbors to their greatest disadvantage.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 36, p. 216)
To make matters even worse, not only did the scribes and Pharisees weigh one weight to their neighbors’ greatest disadvantage, but they also laid heavy burdens on others – hard to carry – without lifting even so much as a finger to help carry them.
Francis de Sales’ condemnation of living life by a double standard is short but not very sweet: “To have two weights – one heavier with which to receive and the other lighter with which to dispense – ‘is an abominable thing to the Lord.’” (Ibid)
Today, do you want to be the greatest among others in the sight of God? Then live not by two standards, but by one: God’s standard. Unlike the scribes and Pharisees, try your level best this day to treat others as you would want them to treat you. Let others see in you someone who not only talks the talk but who walks the walk.
The talk – and walk – of love.
* * * * *
