*****
“We should like to see Jesus.”
All of us would like to see Jesus…for any number of reasons.
Where do we look for Jesus? Do we look for Jesus up in the sky? Do we look for Jesus in faraway places? Do we look for Jesus in special people? Do we look for Jesus in extraordinary experiences? Do we look for Jesus in once-in-a-lifetime events?
Francis de Sales suggests that we start closer to home:
“God is everywhere and in everything. There is no place or thing in this world in which God is not very really present. God is not only in the place in which you find yourself, but God, in a very special way, dwells in the depths of your heart.” (Introduction to the Devout Life, II, 2)
If we want to see Jesus, we must first recognize him in ourselves. After all, we are created in God’s – Christ’s – the Spirit’s – image and likeness. Christ dwells in our minds, hearts, affections, attitudes and actions. Christ dwells amid our daily responsibilities, successes and setbacks. Christ dwells in our spouses, children, parents, families, friends, neighbors, co-workers and classmates. Wherever we “are”, there Jesus “is”.
Lent is a season for sharpening our eyesight, for clearing our vision and for focusing our perception of a God who is with us – always and in all ways!
Lent is also a season in which we are reminded of a very special place in which we can see and experience Jesus - in the act of asking for, receiving and granting forgiveness. As much as Jesus dwells in us because we simply – and powerfully “are”, Jesus is in a very real, tangible and repeatable way present to us in the experience of forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption.
And so, ask for the grace to see Jesus more clearly in yourself. Ask for the vision to see Jesus in the events, circumstances and relationships of each and every day. Ask for the wisdom to recognize Jesus in the gift of life and the beauty of creation, with all of its ups, downs and in between. Ask for the faith to know Jesus’ presence in the gift of forgiveness.
Do you want to see Jesus? Then, open your eyes! Open your ears! Open your hearts! Open your minds! Open your attitudes! Open your lives! Allow others to see in you The One for whom you look in others!
Today!
*****
“It’s not the crime; it’s the cover-up.”
After the Watergate break-in, ‘quick action, resolution on the spot’, could have saved President Nixon, said Prof. Michael Useem, an expert in business ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. ‘It was the inaction, the cover-up, that absolutely ruined his reputation in history forever’, he said. Since the Nixon administration, a mantra repeated during many scandals has been, ‘It's not the crime, it's the cover-up.’” (http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/01/business/choosing-whether-to-cover-up-or-come-clean.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm)
In today’s reading from the Book of the Prophet Daniel, we are presented with what might be considered as the Watergate scandal of the Old Testament: the story of Susanna. In short, two elders of the people attempted to have their way with her – the crime. When she resisted, they accused her of adultery – the cover-up. In effect, they sinned against Susanna twice by (1) attempting to physically assault her, and (2) by falsely assaulting her reputation. In the end, their crime – and perhaps even more so, the cover-up – results in their paying the ultimate price – death.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales wrote:
“A soul that has consented to sin must have horror for itself and be washed clean as soon as possible out of the respect it must have for the eyes of God’s Divine Majesty who sees it. Why should we die a spiritual death when we have this sovereign remedy at hand?” (IDL, Part II, Chapter 19, p. 111)
In the Gospel, Jesus didn’t attempt to cover-up what the unnamed woman was caught doing. He implicitly acknowledged the sinfulness of the activity in which she was engaged. However, he confronts the crowd for their attempts at glossing over (or covering up) their own sinfulness by condemning the sin of the woman caught in the act of adultery. Note how the story ends - by identifying their own sins, the crowd acknowledged its inability to judge - and to enact judgment upon - the woman. By acknowledging her own sin, the woman not only is not judged by Jesus – even better, she is also forgiven by Jesus.
Today, what can this story tell us about the need to spend less energy pointing out the sins of others and our need to be honest in recognizing our own sins?
*****
“We have sinned in complaining against the Lord…”
How quickly we forget.
In the first reading today from the Book of Numbers, we witness the complaining, whining and moaning of the Israelites as they continued their journey toward the Promised Land. Sure, the trek had been laborious; sure, the conditions were challenging. Sure, the food and drink were less than desirable. But even though God had liberated them from the yolk of Egyptian slavery and oppression, the Israelites’ gratitude had clearly waned. Not only had they forgotten what God had done for them, but they also appear to have presumed that the pathway to freedom would be easy.
Dr. M. Scott Peck will probably be best remembered for the opening statement in his book The Road Less Travelled. The first chapter begins with these words: “Life is difficult”. Throughout much of his book, the author maintains that a significant amount of human pain and grief is not the result of difficulties, but rather, much of the suffering and frustration that we experience is the direct result of our tendency to complain about life’s difficulties and our attempts to avoid them altogether. Such complaining and avoidance can lead to – among other maladies – a case of chronic ingratitude.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales wrote:
“Complain as little as possible about the wrongs you suffer. Undoubtedly a person who complains commits a sin by doing so, since self-love always feels that injuries are worse than they really are…In the opinion of many – and it is true – constant complaining is a clear proof of lack of strength and generosity.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 3, p. 130)
On many levels, we can all relate to the Israelites. We’ve all experienced tough times. We have all gotten bad breaks. We have all had our share of difficulties and disappointments. We have all had moments when we felt that the road to happiness should not take so much time, effort and energy. We have all had the sense sometimes that if we did not have bad luck, we would have no luck at all. But we also know from our own experience that chronic complaining is toxic. It poisons our perceptions and perspectives. Ultimately, complaining does nothing to address or reduce whatever difficulties we may be facing, be they real or imagined. In fact, chronic complaining usually has the opposite effect of making things much worse for us, as well as, for all those around us. Today, are you – or someone you know – grappling with chronic complaining? Try applying one of the most powerful remedies of all: the attitude called gratitude.*****
“Our free will is never as free as when it is a slave to God’s will, just as it is never as servile as when it serves our own will. It never has so much life as when it dies to self, and never so much death as when it lives to itself. We have the liberty to do good and evil, but to choose evil is not to use but to abuse this liberty. Let us renounce such wretched liberty and subject forever our free will to the rule of heavenly love. Let us become slaves to dilection, whose serfs are happier than kings. If our souls should ever will to use their liberty against our resolutions to serve God eternally and without reserve, Oh, then, for love of God, let us sacrifice our free will and make it die to itself so that it may live in God! A man who out of self-love wishes to keep his freedom in this world shall lose it in the next world, and he who shall lose it in this world for the love of God shall keep it for that same love in the next world. He who keeps his liberty in this world shall find it a serf and a slave in the other world, whereas he who makes it serve the cross in this world shall have it free in the other world. For there, when he is absorbed in enjoyment of God’s goodness, his liberty will be converted into love and love into liberty, a liberty infinitely sweet. Without effort, without pain, and without any struggle we shall unchangingly and forever love the Creator and Savior of our souls.” (Treatise 12: 10, pp- 277-278)
The Salesian tradition holds this truth about human freedom. It is not about being able to do whatever we want – that isn’t freedom, that’s license. True human freedom is about being able to do whatever it is that God wants us to do. Today, how might this truth set you free?
*****
“Ask for a sign from the Lord your God…”
Who would not jump at the chance of making such a request of God? Who would not say ‘Yes’ to the opportunity for God to display His power for us and/or for someone whom we love? Yet, in today’s selection from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Ahaz balks when given the opportunity of a lifetime and he takes a pass. He backs away, saying, “I will not tempt the Lord”.
What is up with that? Perhaps Ahaz’s reluctance is rooted in his intuition that signs from the Lord often require changes in the one who asks for the sign in the first place! Under those circumstances, his circumspection makes a whole lot more sense. Remember the admonition? “Be careful what you pray for”.
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Devout discussions and arguments, miracles and other helps in Christ’s religion do indeed make it supremely credible and knowable, but faith alone makes it believed and known. It brings us to love the beauty of its truth and to believe the truth of its beauty by the sweetness it diffuses throughout our will and the certitude it gives to our intellect. The Jews saw our Lord’s miracles (signs) and heard his marvelous doctrines, but since they were not disposed to accept the faith, that is, since their wills were not susceptible to the sweet and gentle faith because of the bitterness and malice with which they were filled, they remained in their infidelity. They saw the force of the proof but they did not relish its sweet conclusion…” (TLG, II, Chapter 14, pp. 139 – 140)
Of course, God has been giving us signs of his love for us - regardless of whether we have asked for them or not - from the very beginning of time. Creation, itself – through which we were made in God’s image and likeness - is the first and fundamental sign of God’s love for us. As today’s Gospel reminds us, Jesus is the great reaffirmation of that first and fundamental sign of divine love, because Jesus not only redeems us, but through Jesus, God also made himself in our image and likeness. If you are so moved, feel free to ask God for a sign of his love and care. However, perhaps it is better that today you be more moved to be signs of God’s love and care in the lives of others, just like Jesus was!
*****
“I hear the whisperings of many…”
The more things change, the more they stay the same, especially when it comes to one of the most common kind of all whisperings: slander.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales wrote:
“Rash judgment begets uneasiness, contempt of neighbor, pride, self-satisfaction and many other extremely bad effects. Slander, the true plague of society, holds first place among them. I wish that I had a burning coal taken from the holy altar to purify men’s lips so that their iniquities might be removed, and their sins washed away, as did the seraphim who purified Isaiah’s mouth. The man who could free the world of slander would free it if a large share of its sins and iniquity.”
“Slander is a form of murder. We have three kinds of life: spiritual, which consists in God’s grace; corporeal, which depends on the body and soul, and social, which consists in our good name. Sin deprives us of the first kind of life, death takes away the second and slander takes away the third. By the single stroke of his tongue the slanderer usually commits three murders. He kills his own soul and the soul of anyone who hears him by an act of spiritual homicide and takes away the social life of the person he slanders.”
“I earnestly exhort you, never to slander anyone either directly or indirectly. Beware of falsely imputing crime and sins to your neighbor, revealing his secret sins, exaggerating those that are obvious, putting an evil interpretation on his good works, denying the good that you know belongs to someone, maliciously concealing it or lessening it by words. You would offend God in all these ways but most of all by false accusations and denying the truth to your neighbor’s harm. It is a double sin to lie and harm your neighbor at the same time.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 29, pp. 201-202)
What else need be said? Or, more to the point – what should no longer be said?
*****
"I will be their God and they will be my people."
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:
“‘I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I have drawn you, having pity and mercy on you. And I will build you again, and you shall be built, O Israel.’ These are God’s words, and by them he promises that when the Savior comes into the world, he will establish a new kingdom in his Church, which will be his virgin spouse and true spiritual Israelite woman. As you see ‘it was not by’ any merit of ‘works that we did ourselves, but according to his mercy that he saved us.’ It was by that ancient – rather, that eternal – charity which moved his divine providence to draw us to himself. If the Father had not drawn us, we would never have come to the Son, our Savior, nor consequently to salvation.” (TLG, Book II, Chapter 9, pp. 123-124)
God’s eternal charity – that is, God’s eternal love – makes us his people. We have done nothing to merit such an honor. It is an unearned gift. And despite our individual – and collective – sins, failings and infidelities, God demonstrates that – unlike us – he is never fickle and always faithful. God always has been and always will be our God, and we always have been, are and will be God’s people.
What can we do – just this day – to say “thank you” to God for his fidelity to – and love for – us?
