Faith

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/prayer-list-or-hit-list/ based on the Gospel

The prophet Ezekiel today makes a double point. On the one hand if the man who has done evil genuinely repents of what he has done he will be totally forgiven. All the sins he committed will be forgotten from then on; he shall live because of the integrity he has practiced. God promised not a probationary restoration to the wicked man who turns, but full restoration. It is God’s desire that we should live rather than die. On the other hand, if the formerly good man turns to a life of sin, he will die in his sin. Some may object that that is not fair. Why should he be punished when he did so much good in the past?

There was a tendency among the people of the Old Testament to believe that people were not only guilty of their past sins, but even of the sins of their parents. We remember in John’s gospel, how Jesus was asked whether the man born blind was that way because of his own sin or the sin of his parents. Chronic disabilities – blindness, paralysis, deafness and the like, were often seen as punishment for sin. When the paralysed man let down through the roof came to the feet of Jesus, the first thing Jesus said to him was: “Your sins are forgiven.” And his subsequent healing was taken as proof that indeed his sins were really forgiven, because the cause had also been removed.

But here, Ezekiel is affirming that sin is something that belongs to the individual. And that it is a person’s present dispositions, and only these, that determine God’s judgement. God’s heart is for the wicked man to repent, to turn from his ways and live. God is not sadistic and cruel, making repentance impossible because He loves to see humanity suffer.

One thing that comes out clearly in the Scriptures, especially the New Testament, is that God has a very short memory. Far from being a defect, it is a quality that very much favours us. The person God sees is the person that I am now. What matters are my relationships with him now. The past, good or bad, is forgotten. There is not a divine account book with credits and debits that have to be balanced out at the end of the day.

The fact that God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked does not mean that it will not happen. God’s general desire for all humanity is that they would repent, turn to Him and be saved; yet He will not spare the requirements of justice and holiness for those who refuse to turn to Him. Judas, a chosen apostle was lost because of the final choice he made in life. Yet the murderous brigand on the cross with Jesus repents, and goes with Jesus to heaven. Some may complain that “what the Lord does is unjust”. But the reading makes the situation clear:

When the upright abandons uprightness and does wrong and dies, he dies because of the wrong which he himself has done. Similarly, when the wicked abandons wickedness to become law-abiding and upright, he saves his own life. It is not God who condemns us. It is we who make the choice to be with God or to alienate ourselves from him. And God recognises our choice.

So, we too need not be anxious about our past. The door of repentance and restoration is open to any man or woman who repents. All that matters is how I relate to God today, and each day forward. And the choice to be with God, or away from him, is all ours. If today I reject God, directly or through the way I relate with those around me, then, however virtuous I have been in the past, I have put him out of my life. If, on the other hand, today I choose God, then I have nothing to fear, whatever I may have been guilty of in the past.

– Sacred Space

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Faith

When God cries out, he also cries within – Wednesday, 1st week of Lent – Jonah 3:1-10, Luke 11:29-32

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/voice-of-his-word-versus-vices-in-my-heart/ based on the Gospel of today.

Jonah has learned a lesson between chapter 1:1 and 3:1. This time scripture tells us “The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.” The word of the Lord had to come to Jonah a second time because this reluctant prophet was on his ‘on trip’ and not ‘the trip’ to Nineveh, as God desired.

The people of Nineveh were the traditional enemies of the people of Israel. Jonah was sent by God to a hated nation to preach against their “wicked ways.” Jonah knew God all too well. If God cried out against Nineveh’s wickedness, then God was also crying within; hoping their hearts would change. At the heart of God is the desire to save and give life and if Jonah was sent to cry out on God’s behalf it meant only one thing; God desired to save and redeem even this wicked nation.

Chapter one and two tells us of Jonah’s shenanigans. From deliberately taking the wrong boat, heading in the wrong direction, begging to be thrown into the stormy sea; this ‘prophet’ did not want Nineveh to profit from God’s mercy. He would rather die than see them live. Yet Jonah foolishly took on God who had taken on the cudgels for Nineveh. Jonah’s tantrums now set aside; he finds himself swept right up the shores of Nineveh, having spent three days in the belly of a large fish.

Imagine a stinking, smelly Israelite prophet washed up on enemy shores with a five-word message (in Hebrew it is all of five words)” Forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown” (Eight in English). It is difficult to imagine that Jonah preached his short sermon with any conviction, that he put any force into it, that he made eye contact and attempted to persuade the people. Jonah had to go to Nineveh and he had to deliver his little sermon but he certainly did not like it.

Jonah must have expected a battering for what would seem his impudence. Yet the unimaginable happens. From king to cow a fast in proclaimed, sackcloth and ashes cover a “great city” (3:3). More than one hundred and twenty thousand persons lived in Nineveh (4:11). The cry of repentance is heard from the lips of prince and pauper; and Yahweh relented. He did not destroy Nineveh.

“Forty days.” These words hint that God is not determined to destroy the city. If he were so determined, why wait forty days? Why not overthrow the city immediately? Why give these people any warning? Forty days is a grace period, an opportunity to repent, an opportunity for these people to change their behaviour, a chance for them to save themselves.

We have forty-six days this Lent, if you add the Sundays… God desires to save us, not destroy us. Go look for sack cloth and ashes……

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Faith

Power, Purpose, Promise –  Tuesday, 1st week of Lent – Isaiah 55:10-11/Matthew 6:7-15

Words are powerful. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble. It is the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us that changed our lives as believers in Christ Jesus.

The scripture text for today, taken from the prophet Isaiah forms part of the last chapter of the second book of Isaiah also known as Second Isaiah (chaps 40-55) or the ‘Book of Consolation.’ It is so called because it speaks with hope and encouragement of the approaching end of the Jewish exile in Babylon, in contrast to earlier prophecies which rather emphasized the punishments which Israel had merited by her infidelities. Now God sends his word to his people through the prophet. God’s word has power, God’s word has purpose, God’s word is promised and God’s word is accomplished.

God’s word has power; God does not do things in half measure. He sends the rain and the snow from heaven and he ensures that not only does it rain and water the earth but that life is brought forth by his actions. Now the sower has seed and the hungry have bread to eat.

God’s word has purpose: God does not act randomly. His actions are oriented towards a goal. He sends the rain and snow and ensures that they do not return till they have accomplished his purpose. In the book of Genesis, he sent rain for forty days and forty nights with a clear purpose to destroy the earth.

God’s word has a promise. We are told that the rain will not return till it has watered the earth and made it bring forth life. God wills that we have life and life in abundance. This means that God is not just “talk.” When He talks, His words accomplish His intended purpose. The word of the LORD has power, and it never fails in His intended purpose.

God’s word is accomplished. God’s word does not return to him empty. God’s promise is that his word will be accomplished and not just accomplished but it will succeed precisely, keeping in mind the intention of God. This success is not some game of chance or luck. God has set his mind on a task and he will bring it to fulfilment.

It is clear that God’s word brings life. If that be so then we too must be responsible for the words that come from our mouth. Our words must be life giving. In Matthew 12:36-37 Jesus says, “I tell you, on the day of judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

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Are you holy? Monday, 1st week of Lent – Leviticus 19:1-2,11-18/Matthew 25:31-46

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/the-gospel-in-five-words/

Several times in the Book of Leviticus Yahweh declares, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” Read by itself, “you shall be holy” could be a command or a promise. Read as an entire line it is clearly a command. Jesus taught this principle when He said, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

Right off the bat we need to understand what do we mean by holiness. When translated from Hebrew Qadosh or Greek Haggios the word simply means ‘different’ or ‘set apart’. So, when say this person is holy or this thing is holy what we mean is that this person is set aside by God or this thing is set aside by God or man for a holy purpose. Thus, when we say that the sabbath is holy we communicate the idea that of all the days of the week this day has been set aside for the worship of God. Our actions are meant to be different on this day because God established the sabbath as a day of rest and worship.

Yet we are called to be holy as God is holy. How do we understand this? Clearly God is different, he is holy but not the same way we mean when we say a saint is holy. A saint lived the life that God desires of us. Compared to a saint, God is not some superlative, he is not a superman. God is divine! The way we treat God therefore is different from the way we treat a human person who lived a holy life. Only God is worshipped as holy while a saint is venerated because they lived a holy life. We may admire a holy person but we can only worship God. Therefore, the worship of any human being, no matter how ‘godly’ they may appear or be is sinful.

When we sing “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord” at Mass we turn on a switch. We don’t think of God as father or as a friend or as a creator but more than anything, we cry out to him and praise him for He is holy, he is different. His holiness is distinctive!

In the reading of today, The Lord commanded his people to pursue holiness. We read, “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. (vv. 1-2). Moses was not called to speak to some people. The call to holiness is not for an exclusive club of people, it is a call for everyone. We are all called to be saints. We may choose not to walk that path but God desires for us to be holy.

Our scripture text forms part of chapters 17-26 of the book of Leviticus. Scholars call this section the Holiness Code. In it, instructions are given to all of Israel as to how they are to maintain holiness in the community. God was preparing the people of Israel for their entrance into Canaan from where they were to become a blessing to the nations. Yet Chapter 19 from which are text is taken is distinctive. The laws that it prescribes are focused on “the congregation of the children of Israel” (v. 2). The first 18 chapters of Leviticus were concerned with corporate holiness, or holiness for the nation of Israel, which was to be achieved by cultic observances. Chapter 19, however, is concerned with individual holiness. It repeats, in some form, most of the Ten Commandments. It defines what it means to be a holy person under God.

In these chapters, there is no distinction between what we might call “religious” concerns and “secular” concerns. All of life matters to God; what we eat, how we do business, how we care for the land, our relationships with family, neighbours, and strangers; all of it matters to God. Holiness is not an act reserved for the temple; it is an attitude that pervades through every aspect of our life.

Contrary to what most people think, holiness is definable, holiness is practical, holiness is even measurable. But further, when it comes to holiness, those, like you and me, who have been redeemed by the grace of God are also responsible. We are to pursue the practice of holiness in our lives. And because of God’s saving grace, we have the power to do so.

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Faith

What’s the point of pointing? Saturday after Ash Wednesday – Isaiah 58:9-14/ Luke 5:27-32

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/when-dinner-is-not-used-for-diplomacy/ based on the Gospel text of today.

There is an anecdote narrated about Pope Saint John the XXIII. On a visit to the prison in Rome to meet with prisoners, he broke the ice with these words, “the only difference between you and me is that you got caught.” There is deep humility in what the Holy Father did and spoke. He acknowledged that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. As the vicar of Christ, he could have lectured them long on hard on their moral life, yet he chose not to point a finger of blame but to love and encourage. See the video on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frybSA34XvA

The text of today taken from Isaiah 58 is a call to the people of Israel to mend their ways and the hypocrisy of faith. Clearly their fasts were worthless (58:3) for God did not look upon them with a blessing. What God desired what a change of heart not another empty gesture of faith.

We live in the belief that God loves us unconditionally; that certainly does not mean that God makes no demands on our spiritual life. God loves the sinner but abhors the sin and it the sin that he wants us to address in the season of Lent. In the reading from Isaiah, God clearly places the demands for an ethical life over religious practice. Five times in this chapter he begins with the word “if” and twice he concludes those conditions with the word, “then.”

One such condition demands that we stop finger pointing and stop speaking evil of others; a trait that had not changed from Isaiah to Jesus. In the Gospel of today the Pharisees and their scribes have their fingers pointed at Jesus; his fault is that he chose a tax collector, Levi by name, to be a follower and then he ate at Levi’s house with a ‘large crowd of tax collectors.’ (Luke 5:27-29). The tone of the Pharisees is largely one of finger-jabbing, a finger full of anger, fear, and pride. It made the Pharisees and their adherents feel very righteous yet they had failed to read the scriptures, to read Isaiah 58, scriptures they claimed they had mastered.

Jesus often confronted this sin of finger pointing. In Luke’s Gospel he says, “Why do you point out the splinter in your neighbour’s eye, and ignore the plank in your own? (Lk 6:39-45); and again, in John’s Gospel he said, “Let whoever is without sin cast the first stone” (Jn 8:1-11) Blaming others, recognizing someone else’s mistakes always seems easier than admitting our own. We often forget that when I have one finger pointing at someone else, I have three more pointing back at me.

When a youngster who had been caught stealing from a farmer’s field was brought before him, the judge said, “Son, what do you have to say for yourself?” The kid looked at the official repentantly and then asked plaintively, “Judge, didn’t you ever steal a watermelon when you were a kid?” Startled by this question the judge blushed. After a long pause, he said, “though the boy has done wrong, I have decided under the circumstances to dismiss the case.” He was embarrassed because he realized that he was as guilty as the defendant

The season of Lent invites us to point a finger but not at others, rather we point a finger inward, examining our own hearts critically. We need to be aware of our failures to love others as Christ would have us love them. But if our reflections stop at the finger pointing, there being no change in our ways, then we completely miss the intention of Lent.

All have sinned and God knows who we are and what we have done. But God forgives us and loves us anyway. This Lent we do have something better to do than to stand around and point fingers. We can do what Jesus did. We can forgive and give.

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