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“God is rich in mercy…manifested to us in Christ Jesus.”
“We are truly God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to lead the life of good deeds which God prepared for us in advance.”
Lent is a time to celebrate the mercy, the generosity and the kindness of God.
We certainly hear echoes of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in St. Francis de Sales’ observations in his Treatise on the Love of God (II, 5) where he writes:
“Who now can have any doubt as to our abundant means of salvation since we have so great a Savior, in view of whom we have been made and by whose merits we have been ransomed?”
Francis continues:
“Far indeed was Adam’s sin from overwhelming God’s generosity; on the contrary, Adam’s sin aroused God’s generosity all the more and called it forth!”
Lent calls us to proclaim this truth: as much as God loved us by creating us, God loved us even more by redeeming us! As St. Francis de Sales claimed, “The state of redemption is a hundred times better than that of innocence.”
Lent calls us to proclaim this truth that in the face of God’s generosity, we are all-too-frequently stingy, small-minded and small hearted. This is most powerfully displayed when we sin. Ironically, it is only when we truly accept God’s generosity that we are truly able to repent of our sinful affections, attitudes and actions. Francis de Sales asks the question: “Do you not know that the kindness of God should lead you to repentance?”
Lent calls us to “lead the life of good deeds”. Repentance is not merely refraining from sin; but repentance is also about embracing virtue, of doing what is commanded and counseled by God “diligently, frequently and readily with alacrity and cheerfulness”. (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part I, Chapter 1)
In what remains of this season, dedicate yourself to thankfulness. Be grateful for God’s mercy, generosity and kindness to you and accept the salvation won for you in Christ! Turn away from those sins that prevent you from experiencing and accepting that generosity in your life. Give testimony to God’s kindness and your repentance by being merciful, generous and kind in your relationships with others. In so doing, you will more convincingly become “God’s handiwork, created in Jesus Christ, to lead the life of good deeds” that God prepared for you – yes, you - from the creation of the world!
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“The man believed what Jesus said to him...”
In today’s Gospel, a royal official – whose name we never learn – asked Jesus to save his son, who was apparently near death. Obviously, the fulfillment of this request was going to involve some travelling on Jesus’ part (upwards to a full day, as it turned out!), insofar as the official asked Jesus to “come down” – presumably, to his home – and heal his son. Much to the surprise of the official, Jesus simply tells him – without making the trip to actually visit the boy – that his son has already been saved. And the official “believed what Jesus said to him”. In other words, he took Jesus at his word…and headed home.
You don’t think it’s a big deal? Then put yourself in the official’s position. Can you imagine what was going through his mind, minutes - then hours - after beginning his long walk back home? He had lots of time to second-guess his decision to simply believe Jesus’ statement. “What was I thinking about?” “Am I crazy?” “Should I have insisted that he come with me?” “Was I stupid to believe him?” “What if my son has died by the time I get home?” “Did I let my son – and my family – down?” “Have I failed?”
Talk about faith! A faith, as it turns out, for which he and his entire family were richly rewarded. St. Francis de Sales once wrote:
“Believe me, God who has led you up until now will continue to hold you in His blessed hand, but you must throw yourself into the arms of His providence with complete trust and forgetfulness of self. Now is the right time. Almost everyone can manage to trust God in the sweetness and peace of prosperity, but only his children can put their trust in Him when storms and tempests rage: I mean to put their trust in Him with complete self-abandonment.” (Select Salesian Subjects, 0130, p. 28)
When it comes to “complete trust and forgetfulness of self” the standard doesn’t get much higher than the one set by the royal official in today’s Gospel.How does our trust in God today – especially in the midst of our own “storms and tempests” – measure up?
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“Wherever the river flows, every sort of living…creature shall live…”
Water, water everywhere! That’s how we might summarize the images from today’s reading from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel! The suggestion, of course, is that the reach of God’s power knows no borders or bounds.
In a letter to Mademoiselle de Soulfour, Francis de Sales likewise used the image of water. He wrote:
“Remind yourself that the graces and benefits of prayer are not like water welling up from the earth, but more like water coming down from heaven; therefore, all our efforts cannot produce them, though it is true that we must ready ourselves to receive them with great care, yet humbly and peacefully. We must keep our hearts open and wait for the heavenly dew to fall.” (LSD, p. 100)
Regardless of whether it flows up from the earth or falls down from the heavens, what is more important is to remind ourselves that the water of God’s love is welling up inside each and every one of us and is meant to be shared with all those around us. Today let it flow!
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“The Lord is gracious and merciful…”
Gracious. Merciful. These two attributes are deemed synonymous with God in today’s responsorial psalm. And as it turns out, these same attributes – and others like them – are very much a part of the Salesian tradition. In the book Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal – Letters of Spiritual Direction, we read:
“Chief among the Salesian virtues – and the one that belongs distinctively to this tradition, rather than to the wider contemplative heritage – is douceur. A difficult term to translate, douceur has been rendered in English as ‘sweetness,’ ‘gentleness,’ ‘graciousness,’ ‘meekness, and ‘suavity.’ None of these translations do it full justice. Douceur is a quality of person that corresponds to the light burden offered by the Matthean Jesus to those otherwise heavily-laden. It connotes an almost maternal quality of serving others that is swathed in tender concern. Salesian douceur also suggests a sense of being grace-filled and graceful in the broadest use of the term. This gracefulness extends from external demeanor – polite manners and convivial disposition – to the very quality of a person’s heart, that is, the way in which a person is interiorly ordered and disposed…stressing the harmony, beauty and grace of the whole person and which de Sales saw as reflecting the beauty and harmony of God.” (pp. 63-64)
God is indeed gracious and insofar as we are made in God’s image and likeness, how can we imitate that graciousness today in the hope of reflecting something in our own lives of “the beauty and harmony of God”?
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“Moses, his chosen one, withstood him in the breach…”
Moses and Jesus have at least one thing in common: they were willing to go the wall for the people they cared about.
In Moses’ case, he dissuades God from punishing the Israelites out of anger for their infidelity. Moses puts his own life on the line in order to convince God to exercise mercy rather than justice. Moses is an advocate for his people.
In Jesus’ case, he continues to reach out to the poor and marginalized despite the growing hostility of the Scribes and Pharisees. Jesus puts His own life on the line in order to convince his religious peers to seek mercy rather than justice. Jesus is an advocate for his people. How about us? Today, how far are we willing to go to be an advocate for others, especially for those most in need?
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“Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us…”
“Obnoxious” is defined as “very annoying or objectionable; offensive or odious.” Synonyms include words like abhorrent, abominable, detestable, disagreeable, disgusting, dislikable or dislikeable, foul, hateful, horrid, insufferable, loathsome, nasty, nauseating, objectionable, obscene, odious, offensive, repellent, reprehensible, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, sickening and unpleasant.
Do you get the idea?
So, why is the just person persecuted for being just? Often times, it is simply because one person’s attempts to do the right thing may shine a spotlight on – however unintentionally – another person’s failure to do the right thing. Of course, we find the perfect example of this dynamic – you know, “no good deed goes unpunished” – in none other than the life and ministry of Jesus himself. Jesus was far less concerned about pointing out others’ wrongdoings; he was more concerned about doing what was right. But on the other hand, Jesus was more than willing to call people out on their bad behavior, but he was much more interested in showing people the path to living a good life. In other words, Jesus didn’t invest much time or energy in laying guilt trips on other people. Other people did that all by themselves. But, rather than experience the guilt as an invitation to make a change in their lives, Jesus’ enemies experienced the guilt as a reason for discrediting, opposing and – ultimately – getting rid of him.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“We must often recall that our Lord has saved us by his suffering and endurance and that we must work out our salvation by sufferings and afflictions, enduring with all possible meekness the injuries, denials and discomforts we meet.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 3, p. 128)
Perish the thought, but it is possible that someone you encounter today may find you to be obnoxious. Of course, that could be because you are doing something wrong. But on the other hand, it could be because you are doing something right. That’s unfortunate, because in a perfect world doing the right thing would never be obnoxious to anyone.
Of course – last we checked, at least – this isn’t a perfect world!
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"Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?"
We addressed this issue yesterday, but some things bear repeating. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“We must often recall that our Lord has saved us by his suffering and endurance and that we must work out our salvation by sufferings and afflictions, enduring with all possible meekness the injuries, denials and discomforts we meet.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 3, p. 128)
The unvarnished anger, resentment and jealously of the Pharisees is on public display in today’s Gospel. Not satisfied with merely bad-mouthing Jesus, they also ridicule anyone who would have the audacity to believe – that is, to accept – Jesus’ message. Their blind, smug belief in themselves – and their disdain for the common man – render the Pharisees totally impervious to considering how God’s plan of salvation might differ from their preconceived notions of God’s plan, to say nothing of Jesus’ role in it. Even Nicodemus – one of their own – gets thrown under the bus for daring to suggest that they should reconsider their perspective or, at the very least, they should give Jesus a fair hearing.
Yesterday, we considered how others might find us obnoxious for doing what is right. Today, we might ask ourselves this question: do we ever find people who do the right thing obnoxious to us? The truth is there might be something of the Pharisees in all of us.
