*****
"Is the Lord in our midst or not?"
From generation to generation, this is a timely (even a perennial) question more often than not raised in moments of crisis and confusion or in the experience of suffering, tragedy, injustice or loss. Angry, frustrated and disillusioned, the Israelites - our spiritual ancestors - posed this question to Moses in the midst of the seemingly aimless desert trek on which they had been led. Like them, we ask the same question in our own ways every day, whether due to global events like terrorism, war, famine and disease or our own personal struggles, including unemployment, illness, death and relational issues.
Moreover, it is the perfect question to reflect upon as we progress in our Lenten journey.
At least intellectually, we do believe that God is truly in our midst. Francis de Sales certainly did, but for him, this belief was not merely an intellectual assent – but also, one of his core beliefs:
“There is no place or thing in this world in which God is not truly present. Just as wherever birds fly they always encounter the air, so also wherever we go or wherever we are God is truly present.” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part II, Chapter 2)
However, in our eagerness for God to spring water from the rock in times of doubt or adversity, we often forget the fact that God has been with us all along the way. In moments of crisis, those who encourage us with a kind word, a good turn or attentive an ear can reflect to us the immediacy of God's faithful, ongoing presence - a presence likewise experienced in Scripture heard, Eucharist shared and prayer raised up.
Still, despite our best intentions and attention, we sometimes panic and miss the obvious in our frantic search for the Lord, especially in times of great need. God is, as it were, “hidden in plain sight”. We forget that God is as near to us as the very air we breathe, a mistake that the Samaritan woman almost makes in her own encounter with Jesus at the well. The Lord is in her midst – in fact, he is right in front of her – but this spontaneous request for a drink from a Jewish male is so astonishing that she almost fails to recognize who is speaking with her. Happily, she realizes that it could “possibly be the Christ” and gratitude stirs her to abandon her water jar, run to town and announce to the people the Good News of her encounter with Jesus.
Whether in the desert or at the well, signs of God's presence are always in our midst and, like the woman in the Gospel, these signs are something for which we should be grateful. The gratitude we feel and express for these signs produces trust: trust in God and trust in those who are signs of God's love for us. “Just trust in the Lord,” St. Francis de Sales writes, “and He will continue to lead you safely through all things. Where you cannot walk, God will carry you in His arms.”
In gratitude for those times when we have been carried in the Lord's arms, today may we be signs of God's presence for others.
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“If the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it?”
Naaman – a great general and a foreigner – travels to far-off Samaria in the hope of being cured of his leprosy. This powerful man – a force with whom to be reckoned - is prepared to do whatever it takes, regardless of how superhuman or heroic, in order to curry favor with the God of Israel. When he finally reaches the home of Elisha, Naaman is told to simply wash seven times in the River Jordan. Period!
Naaman is furious! Such a remedy seems useless at best, insulting at worst. But then, someone in his retinue challenges his presumption that God can only work through extraordinary events and actions or that God is only interested in extraordinary events and actions. In effect, a servant says to Naaman, “You know, if the prophet had asked you to do something absolutely impossible, you would have done it in a heartbeat. When he asked you to do something incredibly ordinary instead, you can’t believe it. Get over yourself and wash! Other than your pride, what do you have to lose?”
And the rest – as they say – is history.
There’s something of Naaman the Syrian inside each and every one of us. After all, don’t most of us – if not all of us – believe that if you really want something big – if you love somebody big-time – that you need to do something big in order to achieve something big – and that you have do something big in order to express your big-time love? Francis de Sales reminds us:
“Great opportunities to serve God rarely present themselves, but little ones are frequent.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 35, p. 215)
Are you looking to do something good for God today? Rather than waste your time waiting around for an opportunity to do something bigger than life, how about turning your attention to everyday life?
With big – that is, great – love!
*****
“Let our sacrifice be in your presence today…”
This line from the reading from the Book of the Prophet Daniel would suggest that it is possible to sacrifice something without being in God’s presence. But - as we heard so clearly and convincingly from St. Francis de Sales this past Sunday - it is not possible to sacrifice something apart from God’s presence because there is no place in this world in which God is not truly and fully present.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Although faith assures us of God’s presence we forget about him and behave as if God were far distant from us because we do not see him with our eyes. We really believe that God is present in all things, but because we do not reflect on this fact we act as if we did not believe it.” (IDL, Part II, Chapter 2, p. 84)
Whatever we might choose to offer and sacrifice to God today, just remember that our offerings and sacrifices are not intended to draw God’s attention to us. Rather, our offerings and sacrifices are designed to draw our attention to God!
Over and over again!
*****
“Observe them carefully…”
What is it that we should be observing carefully? As we hear in the words on the lips of Moses from the Book of Deuteronomy today, it is God’s statutes and decrees that we are to observe carefully.
When we fail to observe God’s laws carefully – regardless of how large or how little God’s laws may be, as Jesus points out in today’s Gospel from Matthew – often times it is not because we are intentionally choosing to break them as much as – once again – we have managed to forget them, and in forgetting them we manage to lose sight of them altogether.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Blind men do not see a prince who is present among them, and therefore do not show him the respect they do after being told or reminded of his presence. However, because they do not actually see him, they easily forget his presence and having forgotten it, they still more easily lose the respect and reverence owed to him.” (IDL, Part II, Chapter 2, p. 84)
And in the effort to underscore the importance of doing carefully any worthwhile endeavor, recall Francis de Sales’ very definition of devotion, that is, holiness:
“Genuine, living devotion presupposes love of God, and hence it is simply true love of God. Yet it is not always love as such. Inasmuch as divine love adorns the soul, it is called grace, which makes us pleasing to God. Inasmuch as it strengthens us to do good, it is called charity. When it has reached a degree of perfection at which it not only makes us do good but also to do good carefully, frequently and promptly, it is called devotion.” (Ibid, Part I, Chapter 1)
Today, do you want to make progress in observing carefully God’s statutes and decrees? You can start - as the Book of Deuteronomy reminds us – by not allowing them to slip from your memory! As the saying goes, “Out of sight, out of mind.”
*****
“If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts…”
If you ask a group of people the question, “What is the worst thing that can happen to the human heart?” many folks will almost instinctively respond by answering, “When it breaks”.
However painful a broken heart may be, there is actually something far worse than can happen to a human heart - “When it hardens”.
The first reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah cites some characteristics or qualities frequently associated with hardening of the heart. These include:
• Not paying attention or heed
• Being disobedient
• Turning ones back on God and others
• Being stiff-necked
• Not listening
• Not answering
• Being unfaithful
And in the case of today’s Gospel, we witness a particularly toxic variation on hardening of the heart - refusing to acknowledge the power of God at work in the lives of others and refusing to acknowledge that God can choose to work in the lives of others that often confound – and contradict – worldly wisdom.
Nobody wants a broken heart! However, a broken heart can serve as a kind of spiritual pulse. Wounded as we might be, at least having a heart capable of breaking can remind us that we are still alive! By contrast, a hardened heart ultimately leads to one thing and one thing only - death.
If you hear God’s voice today, with what kind of heart will you listen?
*****
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself…”
In today’s selection from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus cites what He considered to be the greatest or “first” commandment: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” But Jesus doesn’t stop there. Without being asked, He cites a “second” commandment as well: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The order of the “loves” listed between the two “commandments” is noteworthy: love of God comes first, love of neighbor comes second and love of self comes last. Many people quietly confide to their most trusted friends that over the span of their lives, the person that that they discovered it took the longest to love was themselves.
Are you having problems loving God? Are you having problems loving others? Maybe it’s because you’re having trouble loving yourself. “There is no commandment greater than these.” In the case of the last, perhaps there is no commandment more difficult.
*****
"O God, be merciful to me, a sinner..."
We are told in today’s Gospel that the man who identified himself as a sinner – and who asked for the mercy of God – is the one who “went home justified”, unlike the Pharisee who in his smug self-absorption thanked God for making him better than most other people. While the latter puffed himself up, the former wasn’t necessarily putting himself down, but rather, he was simply speaking the truth.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Nothing can so effectively humble us before the mercy of God as the multitude of his benefits. Nor can anything so much humble us before the justice of God as the enormity of our innumerable offenses. Let us consider what God has done for us and what we have done against Him; and as we reflect upon our sins – one by one – so let us consider his greater graces in the same order. What good do we have which we have not received from God? And if we have received it, why should we glory in it? On the contrary, the lively consideration of graces received makes us humble, insofar as knowledge of these graces should excite gratitude within us.” (Select Salesian Subjects, 0048, p. 12)
The Pharisee and the tax collector are a study in contrast: one’s accounting of God’s graces in his life left him arrogant and aloof, whereas another’s accounting of God’s graces in his life left him humble and grateful.
Who would you rather be today?
