We would like to believe that our civilisation has become more merciful and tolerant. It would appear that for a community to be accepted as civilised it must show that it is warm and welcoming. With this kind of expectation, the margin has come to the centre, meaning that those belonging to the categories of the least and the lost are to be welcomed and celebrated. Thus, society, of which the Church is a part of, should strive to create a friendly, inclusive and hospitable environment where each person can feel respected, valued and at home regardless of background or beliefs. If John Lennon were here, you can imagine living life in peace.
Contrast this image with the present American experience. A sizeable portion of the USA thinks that Trump is a fascist dictator. In this way, he is no different from the two groups of people in the Gospel today. The Pharisees and Scribes have rigid rituals and are restricted by religious boundaries whereas Trump just wants to exclude and restrict migration into the US. What is more? Jesus is supposed to be an observant Jew and so they complained to Him about His choices of dining companions. Since ritual purity is central in a Jewish religious outlook, any engagement with outcasts will render one a social pariah. As they say, guilty by association.
Since Jesus welcomes sinners, the only logical assessment of the complaining Pharisees and Scribes is that they are basically hypocritical, unforgiving and unwelcoming. It is ironical though. While we may pride ourself as merciful, tolerant and much more enlightened than the hypocritical Pharisees and Scribes, all a person needs is to commit a grave sexual sin and he will be condemned for life. We are not as forgiving or welcoming as we would like to believe we are. Maybe we use a less graphic example. Remember David Walliams, one of the judges in Britain’s Got Talent. For something he had said in private he has lost his place as a judge in the show. Our merciful mindset has a particular measure or metric whereby one must not breach.
It brings us to this Sunday’s parable, found only in Luke’s Gospel and no other. In response to the Pharisees and the Scribes’ criticism, Jesus related a compelling parable highlighting God’s mercy. He profoundly welcomes those who are deemed unacceptable by whatever metrics we have of people. However, in the matter of God’s mercy towards us, we might want to think of our mercy towards God. This is such a weird perspective, not to mention arrogant too. Who are we to extend “mercy” towards God?
This view makes sense if we accept that we have been socialised into entitlement. We have been trained through our talks and theology to expect a God whose compassion envelops us. For example, a recurring motif of Pope Francis’ papacy has been on mercy as a way of leading us to back to God. The sad reality is how we may have corrupted the image of a merciful God to one who is possibly weak and incapable of anything but forgiveness. What appears to be God’s mercy toward us, we may have turn that gift into an entitlement.
When mercy becomes an entitlement, then repentance and conversion will no longer be necessary. St Thomas cautioned that mercy without justice is indulgence but he also balanced his warning by alerting us to the fact that justice without mercy is cruelty. An entitled generation is an indulgent lot andwe project that attitude into God. A good illustration is how we tend to frame God’s attitude towards what we have come to deem as the “Pharisaical concerns”, that is, we presume that this is how a merciful God views ritual or religious taboos. He is not bothered by our petty nit-picking attitude. “Does God really care how one dresses?”. Or “Do you think God is upset that we did not abstain on Friday?”.
Such questions may betray a presumptuousness. We presume that little things are unimportant because God is unaffected when in reality, it is we who have become apathetic. In a way, we sanctify our disregard by presuming God’s mercy. Perhaps, a good way to understand this presumption or our apathy is to look at how we treat a person of importance.
What happens when the King visits or a special person makes an appearance? We dress up and go out of our way to welcome them. When we assume that they do not care about our appearance, the truth is, we are just not bothered to honour them. In other words, God’s mercy must be reciprocated by a changed behaviour towards Him. In the context of Lent, when we ask God for His mercy, like the Prodigal Son, our response should be “I will return to my Father”. Conversion is a response to mercy.
Interestingly, the young man’s conversion is described of as a journey. “He came to his senses”. Thus, a pilgrimage is not just any excursion but rather a journey of conversion. It requires that we come to our senses by recognising our sinfulness and by repenting as we seek forgiveness.
The Elect this Sunday are meditating on the Gospel of the Man born Blind. He was healed by Jesus but the greatest gift that he received was not the gift of physical sight but rather the gift of spiritual sight to recognise Jesus as Lord. For the blind man, his healing was a chronicle of conversion. At first, Christ performed a sacramental act. He spat onto some earth, made a paste and daubed it on his eyes. Recall the ashes on our forehead that was made into a paste by Holy Water? The first sacramental act was followed by another as the blind man was asked to wash himself in the pool of Siloam. Thus, for the Elect,the aim of the Scrutinies is to deepen their Sacramental journey.
In conclusion, Laetare Sunday symbolises the forgotten joys that accompany conversion. Both the Prodigal Son and the Man born Blind are diaries of change and conversion. It appears that for the Pharisees and Scribes, conversion has been reduced to a dreadful duty—much like having to submit to Lenten fast and abstinence. Take the recent incident where a boy was slapped for eating publicly during fasting month. Imagine a squad who goes around enforcing the duty to fast or abstain highlighting that one can be lost in the chore of “doing” Lent correctly while missing out that conversion is a joyful pilgrimage. We are not compelled to make this pilgrimage. Conversion is a journey we joyfully desire and trustingly embrace because of God’s welcoming and compassionate mercy.
Today, we begin the 1st Scrutiny. Our Readings come from Year C but since there is also the Scrutiny, then the Readings will resort to the set from Year A. It is usually a headache to have to prepare two homilies for a weekend.
The gist of this weekend’s Gospel is found in the parable of the Fig Tree which is basically focused on the centrality of conversion. The context was the phenomenon of untimely deaths and the inevitable question arose on culpability and consequence for sins. God’s punishment, though certain, is not as swift as one would expect. Christ pointed to the fruitless Fig Tree that was not chopped down instantly.
There is a connexion between sin and death but the association is not direct as the Jews would have thought. The price of sin is death, but not every death is the result of sin. Jesus is our prime example. He was the sinless one who was put to death. In the example of the Fig Tree, Jesus pointed out the lack of repentance or prolonged fruitlessness will result in its annihilation. When we do not repent, then the dire consequence will be death.
The Fig Tree symbolises the invitation to repent and the call to be fruitful. The theme is supported by the 1st Reading and St Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians. Since Lent is a season of penance and conversion, then Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt foreshadows our journey from sin and death to grace and life. It is an on ongoing pilgrimage and as such, St Paul urged the community not to be complacent in their spiritual life.
The call to conversion is appropriately this Sunday’s Lenten theme for us to consider. When it comes to the process of conversion or repentance, the usual train of thoughts is to focus on changing our lifestyle and it mainly involves giving up on something. It feels like a New Year’s Resolution revived. The central goal of repentance is not so much “giving up something” as it is “giving up something for”.
We can now turn to the Gospel for Year A because it is good illustration of giving up something for something else. The Samaritan Woman at the Well in her conversation with Jesus began with a very natural need. She had come to the well searching for the elixir of life. In the desert, water is the commodity central to human survival. But the conversation did not stop with her natural need. Christ elevated her natural thirst for water to the profound need within her. As He steered the conversation, a deeper desire welled up within her to the point that she was willing to even abandon her natural thirst. Deep within her was the latent supernatural thirst for eternal life. She was ultimately freed to embrace the eternal life that Christ promised her.
The Woman at the Well is appropriately the theme for the 1st Scrutiny. Through this particular Scrutiny, the Elect are led to concentrate on their personal journey of conversion and also to embrace their new life centred on the Sacraments; water being the primary matter necessary for Baptism.
All of us want to get close to Jesus. We seek that experience which the Samaritan woman had, that is, to have a close encounter with the Lord. For many of us, we define close encounters as exceptional, in terms which are described of as experiences that are out of this world. In other words, we crave the extraordinary. Closer to our lived experiences, the Sacraments are unexceptional. They are mostly mundane rituals and predictably boring.
On the other hand, there are many alternative programmes that we want to implement that are touted as life-saving. We believe that we can create events or talks that give people a personal encounter with Jesus. Programmes are good and they may be helpful. But they cannot save us. They can make us better but ultimately they do not bring us to heaven.
Instead, we need a Saviour and there is only one, as the Samaritan woman found out. He is Jesus Christ. Indeed, Jesus Christ is the Sacrament of the Father’s salvific will. God desires to save us and He has sent us His Son. As Saviour, Christ instituted the Sacraments as channels to reach out to us through time. Every Sacrament represents Christ saving act. How much closer can we get to Christ, if not through the Sacraments?
Most of the times, the celebration of the Sacraments is too predictable and unexciting and there is always the need to supplement them with more exciting experiences. Somehow, we miss the point of boring and predictable rituals. Predictability has a role, meaning that it does a job of ensuring that what we get is no less than the very grace intended for us.
The Seven Sacraments are “efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us” (CCC 1131). Christ intends to save and the surest signs of His saving desire are expressed through the Sacramental system that we have. I would rather have boring over exciting, if I am assured that I can be saved.
In summary, both the Gospels of Year A and C are focused on the Lenten themes of repentance, conversion and salvation. There are two similar posters outside the walls of the two confessionals and both feature a quote from Hippocrates: “Before you heal someone, ask him if he’s willing to give up the things that made him sick”. If we follow the example of the woman at the well, conversion involves giving up sin for grace. Christ invited her to choose thepath of freedom by giving up the good for the better. Indeed, the Lord desires our salvation and thus every Sacrament is an expression of His intention to save. Each Sacrament is an articulation of His divine mercy extended to us. The only response we can return for God’s mercy and salvation is to admit our sins, repent and be saved.
There was a woman who was cheated of her huge inheritance. She fought hard to regain what was unjustly snatched from her. The legal litigation took years but finally she won. Sadly, it was a pyrrhic victory for she died soon after she won. In the end, nothing of her massive inheritance was useful to her.
This is not a story to stop people on the pathway toward justice. While it may suggest the futility of their struggles for material compensation, the point is that, if one has a case, one should go for it because it is a right and a just course of action. For example, if you were scammed, you should seek restitution. The story about the woman who died after she won may help us appreciate our history beyond this temporal existence.
Each person has a history and that history does not end when we breathe our last.
In the Gospel today, Jesus ascended Tabor and there in the midst of His sleeping disciples, He is transformed. The Transfiguration opens up a window providing a glimpse beyond the present realities of life. Somehow, our vision can be myopic that at times we are unable to discern the bigger picture. The analogy is a camera lens focussing on a painting or picture too closely that all the details are blurred out. The larger canvas of the Transfiguration is that it is closely associated with the Passion in the Garden. They both belong to the bigger picture and are connected one to the other.
If a coin has two sides, then the Transfiguration is actually the other side of Gethsemane. There is almost a perfect symmetry between them but some may find it hard to recognise that. Both took place on top of a mountain. Tabor for the Transfiguration. Mount Olives for the Agony in Gethsemane. He was transfigured on one but He was somewhat disfigured on the other as He sweated of blood. One highlighted His Divinity whereas and the other showcased His humanity.
There should not be any problem for Peter to be warned by the Lord of His impending Passion. Yet, Peter was unable to digest it. He was not able to see how Christ’s Transfiguration was a preparation for the Passion. All Peter knew about the Passion was the Disfigurement of Christ and that was unacceptable to him. His vision for Christ was a “transfiguration” which mirrors an earthly victory.
The exchange between Jesus and the other two prophets emphasises the change that Jesus would accomplish. He was about to effect the Exodus, the salvation that would come via His Passion and Cross in Jerusalem. Humanity would be saved by His suffering and the Transfiguration is a foretaste. When Moses led the Israelites, they left Egypt for the Promised Land. For Jesus, the Promised Land will no longer be a place but an exalted state of being. We will be saved and His dazzlingly white Body is a promise of the fate that is ours.
St Paul in the 2nd Reading spoke of mimesis. It is the Greek word for our English “mimicry”. Imitate me. Why? He had imitated Christ and thus the Philippians were supposed to imitate Paul for he has shown the way to live the Transfiguration. He reminds us that our homeland is not here on earth. Our homeland is the eternal one in heaven. This makes sense of the story of the woman who regained her inheritance only to discover that she could bring nothing with her into the eternal homeland.
If at all, the only possibility for us is to work for the treasures that neither rust nor rot. This is not in any way a counsel to ignore life temporal but to have an attitude of planting our feet, one here and the other in heaven. However, between here and heaven, Jesus taught: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him take up his cross and follow me”. Peter struggled to accept that the path to Tabor passes necessarily through Golgotha. Only later did Peter come to know that Calvary was not the final stop for Jesus.
What Calvary does is to change us. It tempers our body for the life that we are all called to. The change we can appreciate is that both the phenomena of the Transfiguration and the Passion point us in the direction of the Resurrection. “For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the Saviour we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of His glorious body. He will do that by the same power with which He can subdue the whole universe”.
The promise of the Resurrection gives us a footing to stand firm in Christ. However, when faced with trials, we cave in to despair. When we feel that road we have taken leads nowhere, we are broken. But the voice that reached out to the Disciples is the assurance we need. “Listen to Him”. He who has travelled the rocky road grants us the guarantee that when we follow Him to Calvary, we will not end in defeat but victory.
The grace we desire is that momentary glimpse into a future of possibilities. It is a glance into eternity which we sorely need especially when we feel as if the weight of the world is on our shoulders and we are unable to cope. At time, it is in a situation between life and death that we catch a glimpse of eternity. These are the near-death experiences that grant a person the realisation of the futility of life and all its attendant achievements. “What gains a man the whole day but loses his soul”. Furthermore, Jesus went up the mountain to pray. The height grants Him a perspective. Essentially, it is through prayer that one catches the fleeting shadow of God’s presence. Every Thursday the Cathedral provides the opportunity to encounter the Lord through silent Adoration. Sometimes, a retreat too. Or maybe a pilgrimage or a talk that one attends. All these are basically experiences that might allow us to catch God at work. Thankfully, we are one of the pilgrim’s centres. It gives us the possibility to encounter Christ during this year of hope. As we continue with our Lenten journey, may we experience many transfiguring events to strengthen our hope and to grant us the confidence for the life to come and the longing to reach heaven.2nd Sunday of Lent Year C The Transfiguration.
There was a woman who was cheated of her huge inheritance. She fought hard to regain what was unjustly snatched from her. The legal litigation took years but finally she won. Sadly, it was a pyrrhic victory for she died soon after she won. In the end, nothing of her massive inheritance was useful to her.
This is not a story to stop people on the pathway toward justice. While it may suggest the futility of their struggles for material compensation, the point is that, if one has a case, one should go for it because it is a right and a just course of action. For example, if you were scammed, you should seek restitution. The story about the woman who died after she won may help us appreciate our history beyond this temporal existence.
Each person has a history and that history does not end when we breathe our last.
In the Gospel today, Jesus ascended Tabor and there in the midst of His sleeping disciples, He is transformed. The Transfiguration opens up a window providing a glimpse beyond the present realities of life. Somehow, our vision can be myopic that at times we are unable to discern the bigger picture. The analogy is a camera lens focussing on a painting or picture too closely that all the details are blurred out. The larger canvas of the Transfiguration is that it is closely associated with the Passion in the Garden. They both belong to the bigger picture and are connected one to the other.
If a coin has two sides, then the Transfiguration is actually the other side of Gethsemane. There is almost a perfect symmetry between them but some may find it hard to recognise that. Both took place on top of a mountain. Tabor for the Transfiguration. Mount Olives for the Agony in Gethsemane. He was transfigured on one but He was somewhat disfigured on the other as He sweated of blood. One highlighted His Divinity whereas and the other showcased His humanity.
There should not be any problem for Peter to be warned by the Lord of His impending Passion. Yet, Peter was unable to digest it. He was not able to see how Christ’s Transfiguration was a preparation for the Passion. All Peter knew about the Passion was the Disfigurement of Christ and that was unacceptable to him. His vision for Christ was a “transfiguration” which mirrors an earthly victory.
The exchange between Jesus and the other two prophets emphasises the change that Jesus would accomplish. He was about to effect the Exodus, the salvation that would come via His Passion and Cross in Jerusalem. Humanity would be saved by His suffering and the Transfiguration is a foretaste. When Moses led the Israelites, they left Egypt for the Promised Land. For Jesus, the Promised Land will no longer be a place but an exalted state of being. We will be saved and His dazzlingly white Body is a promise of the fate that is ours.
St Paul in the 2nd Reading spoke of mimesis. It is the Greek word for our English “mimicry”. Imitate me. Why? He had imitated Christ and thus the Philippians were supposed to imitate Paul for he has shown the way to live the Transfiguration. He reminds us that our homeland is not here on earth. Our homeland is the eternal one in heaven. This makes sense of the story of the woman who regained her inheritance only to discover that she could bring nothing with her into the eternal homeland.
If at all, the only possibility for us is to work for the treasures that neither rust nor rot. This is not in any way a counsel to ignore life temporal but to have an attitude of planting our feet, one here and the other in heaven. However, between here and heaven, Jesus taught: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him take up his cross and follow me”. Peter struggled to accept that the path to Tabor passes necessarily through Golgotha. Only later did Peter come to know that Calvary was not the final stop for Jesus.
What Calvary does is to change us. It tempers our body for the life that we are all called to. The change we can appreciate is that both the phenomena of the Transfiguration and the Passion point us in the direction of the Resurrection. “For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the Saviour we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of His glorious body. He will do that by the same power with which He can subdue the whole universe”.
The promise of the Resurrection gives us a footing to stand firm in Christ. However, when faced with trials, we cave in to despair. When we feel that road we have taken leads nowhere, we are broken. But the voice that reached out to the Disciples is the assurance we need. “Listen to Him”. He who has travelled the rocky road grants us the guarantee that when we follow Him to Calvary, we will not end in defeat but victory.
The grace we desire is that momentary glimpse into a future of possibilities. It is a glance into eternity which we sorely need especially when we feel as if the weight of the world is on our shoulders and we are unable to cope. At time, it is in a situation between life and death that we catch a glimpse of eternity. These are the near-death experiences that grant a person the realisation of the futility of life and all its attendant achievements. “What gains a man the whole day but loses his soul”.
Furthermore, Jesus went up the mountain to pray. The height grants Him a perspective. Essentially, it is through prayer that one catches the fleeting shadow of God’s presence. Every Thursday the Cathedral provides the opportunity to encounter the Lord through silent Adoration. Sometimes, a retreat too. Or maybe a pilgrimage or a talk that one attends. All these are basically experiences that might allow us to catch God at work. Thankfully, we are one of the pilgrim’s centres. It gives us the possibility to encounter Christ during this year of hope. As we continue with our Lenten journey, may we experience many transfiguring events to strengthen our hope and to grant us the confidence for the life to come and the longing to reach heaven.
Right at the start of our Lenten reflection, we run smack into the phenomenon of temptations. Immediately after His baptism in the Jordan, Jesus is led or driven into the desert where the Devil tempts Him. However, the 1st Reading seems to speak of something else by reminding Israel to offer the best to God as a way to remember and to be grateful for their deliverance. How is offering to God the best connected to the temptations of Jesus?
Firstly, conversion. Secondly, relationships.
The flip-side of the temptations that Jesus underwent which we too will be subjected to, is conversion. When we think of or speak of temptations, we often assume their objective or goal lead to bad or evil actions. In other words, we are tempted to behave badly or commit acts which are bad. Overeating for example or stealing is another. But people can be tempted towards the “good” too. What does this mean? Jesus is a model of this kind of temptation.
Coming up out of the River Jordan, Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. Would it make sense for Satan to tempt Him to evil? No, it does not. Satan would not have suggested that Jesus go on a murderous rampage. Instead, he proposed to Jesus, “Now, I know that you are about to begin your journey of doing good—heal the sick, let the blind see, make the lame walk, allow me assist you. I will give you all these kingdoms. Imagine with such a great scope and capacity, how much more can you accomplish?”.
It does not help that the entertainment industry has portrayed evil as sinister, dark and malevolent. The images we have of the Devil are ugly and hideous but what Satan proposed to Jesus was not grotesque domination but rather the alluring potential to do good.
If you can, imagine the tête-à-tête or the exchange between Jesus and Satan. It was not a vicious conflict between good and evil but rather a civil conversation, an almost intimate chat on choosing between good and better. For those who are bent on self-destruction, the Devil does not have to do anything because their hearts are already hell-bent. If one were heading to Hades, no assistance is needed. But for those who are ascending to heaven, Satan will be subtle. He proposes to unsuspecting souls, ideas which on their own, look good enough. To those who are serious about serving God, Satan will appear as an angel of light. We joke about this but maybe you can appreciate why meat seems to taste better on Friday.
In the desert, Jesus returned to the source of all that is good, beautiful and true. He turned to God. The temptation to power is appealing because of its capabilities. Hiding behind the ability to master and dominate is the temptation of self—worship. Jesus reminded Satan that all power must bow before the Lord for He alone is to be adored.
Thus, at the heart of Christ’s temptations is the conversion in our relationships. Christ was not resisting temptations in themselves but pointing us in the right direction of our relationships. On Ash Wednesday, we were alerted to the three virtuous practices of the Jews: fasting, alms-giving and prayer. They symbolise our relationships with ourselves, others and God.
Temptations subvert the proper order of these relationships. When Jesus was tempted to turn stones to bread, He reminded the Tempter where in the hierarchy of priorities should one place material things. Pleasure itself is not our ultimate desire. God is the only one who can fully satisfy our needs. Our needs are not just material but also spiritual.
The temptation to power reminds us that while it is good to serve the poor, feed and clothed them, the greater temptation is to believe that we are gods who can solve the world’s economic crises. A globalist agenda believes that through sheer dominance, we can control diseases and disasters. The opposite is not that humanity deserves to suffer or that the poor should be neglected. The Son of God Himself made this remark that we will always have the poor with us. It is not a condemnation that the poor should accept their status quo but rather a challenge that we must never forget the poor in our midst.
The powerful are always tempted towards achieving the greater good but ultimately it is the temptation to control. We should help those who are in need but always remembering that we must depend all the more on God for the conversion of selfishness; the same selfishness that traps and prevents us from reaching out to one another and especially to the marginalised.
The last temptation by Satan to test God gives us a glimpse into how we are supposed to depend on God alone. Sadly, our idea of dependence is rather independent. Meaning? We only turn to God when we are unable to do things. How often have we turned to Him immediately in a crisis? Practically never. Remember during the Pandemic, the first thing we did was to shut the Churches. We only depend on Him when we are incapable.
We will be tempted to forget God and at the heart of every temptation is basically a forgetfulness of our relationship with God. The nature of temptation can be obscured by our conflating it with hideous and repulsive manifestations. When we reduce evil to ugliness we can lose sight of its true nature. The true nature of temptation is to lead us away from God and on most occasions, it does not lead us away with ugliness but with beauty. If you are well-intentioned, you are generally immune to choosing ugliness. Instead, you will be lured to choose the good rather than the better.
What makes temptation a difficult reality to appreciate is when we lose the sense of sin. The result of our sin-blindness is also a rise in justification or rationalisation. We explain away sin by reducing everything to just psychology. In the past, when a person sins, he or she falls sick. Today we are merely sick and because we cannot help ourselves, we sin. Pathologies excuse our sinful behaviour. Najib’s governance was labelled as a “kleptocracy”, remember? As a kleptomaniac, he could not help but enrich himself. Najib was not alone. He has a good companion in one Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Finally, I was in a country noted for its order. Everything appeared perfectly placed, right down to the minute details of life. Buses and trains run like clockwork. There was nothing to complain about. Yet when everything is planned and runs smoothly, what is unseen is a great force exerted even though outwardly there appears to be a great measure of personal autonomy. Beneath all the planned activities and even though individual freedom is exercised, there is coercion. I am not criticising organisational skills etc but merely pointing out that beyond this ability to manage or direct our destiny, there lies a greater power. The Temptation is the desert reminds us of the great power over Whom we are powerless. It is to recognise Who the real power is and He is God our Lord.
Many had left their unwanted sacramentals for us to burn. Thankfully, we managed to finish burning the last discarded Bible about two weeks ago. On Monday morning, after the Eucharist, we gathered to burn last year’s palms. The ashes have be finely “cinderised” and cooled for safe administration.
For some Catholics, today is really a big day. Similar to Good Friday. Perhaps our fascination with ashes is a good place to start thinking about Lent. “Rend your hearts and not your clothes”. Our translation says, “Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, turn to the Lord your God again”.
Christ in the Gospel mentioned the three religious practices amongst devout Jews. Firstly, it is to give alms. Secondly, it is to pray. Thirdly, it is to fast. Of course, these were spoken of in terms secrecy meaning that one should do these things minus public display. Such a counsel is rather alien to a culture bent on self-promotion. To be fair, self-promotion has always been man’s temptation. It was already there during the time of Jesus as He had preached against it too. Perhaps, it is a matter of degree in the sense that they were simply ostentatious, being a kind of show-off whereas we are just “transparent”; meaning that we are open books for all to see. Since branding is everything and we are hyper-focused on marketing, everything is optics nowadays.
Making a great show of what is being done misses the point of why it is being done. A good example is alms-giving. Politicians, philanthropic clubs, prominent people, etc. engage heavily in charitable causes. Commonly they conduct mock-cheque handing-over photo-sessions to create fanfare for all to see. The question is, what happens post photo-ops? The aftermath is not as important as consciences salved. People can go back to their homes secure that they had done their wee bit and the poor have something to eat or wear.
But alms-giving is more than the usual charity directed to the poor. If we operate from a space of self-sufficiency, the default engagement with the world will be from a position of surplus. I give because I can afford but I do not really need the poor. They are simply objects of my compassion or largesse. Hence,alms-giving has to be broader than giving alms because it symbolises my social relationships. How?
Charity is linked to mercy but mercy is associated with justice. Justice is necessary because we do not live alone. As social beings, justice demands that we owe it to others and not because we have more. Instead, justice is as simple and personal as not stabbing someone behind the back. Or stealing from my employer by not fulfilling my end of the contract. Even words or notions such as personal or private are relational in nature because personal suggests that there is a reality which is inter or extra personal and a private space can only be carved out from a public sphere.
While we are highly social beings, what is personal is marked by our fasting. Thus, the act of fasting denotes the manner in which I take care of my body and soul. What sort of content do I consume from the internet? Does it include the unsavoury stuff? Porn is a sin that afflicts many but because it is so pervasivethat it is accepted as a fact of life. In a culture built upon the principle of consumption, do I over-eat or over-drink? Do I take care of my health or am I overly fearful that I have become anti-social?
Beyond our personal and social realms, we are also spiritual beings. Prayer connects us with God. Sadly, that relationship can be quite utilitarian because we tend to pray only when in need. The central question for us is not who God is. We know who He is. The question is where He is placed in our life. Do I give Him my best or do I leave Him my rest, my left-over?
Before we rush into a shopping list of what to let go of, or what we should give up on, perhaps, Lent is an invitation to be more. Jesus asking us not to look miserable is really an invitation to exude joy. Giving up can be painful, a chore that is tiring because we tend to hoard which raises the question why obesity is a challenge. When we focus not on the giving up but on the being more, then our outlook may change. Our relationships with others can be enriched by an attitude which is not just about giving but also of receiving meaning that we relate to others on a deeper plane rather than superficially. We embrace a healthier outlook in life not because we fear dying but because we honour our Creator by not giving in to crass consumption. Finally we enter into a more intentional presence before the Lord rather than sporadically turning to Him only when we are in need.
In conclusion, Lent is as much a season of seriousness as well as light-hearted joy. The ashes on our heads just tell us that it is time to be serious not just with giving up but also with growing in joyful relationships with others, with ourselves and with God. It is not about doing. Rather it is about becoming who we can be with God, with ourselves and with others.
This is the last Sunday before we enter Lent. This coming Monday, the sacred branches from last year’s Palm Sunday will be burnt for use on Ash Wednesday. The readings themselves, though not “Lenten” are tending towards the renewal represented by the season. Hence, the Gospel is centred on self-awareness and correction. The 1st Reading points out that a person’s mettle is tested out by fire. One’s true character is revealed when he or she undergoes trials. Maybe it explains the largescale pervasiveness of mediocrity. Our children have not been tested because we, the adults, have been trying to protect them from life.
The Gospel is challenging because everyone is a flawed individual. How do we judge others and how do we judge ourselves? There is a story about the Patron Saint of parish priests, St John Mary Vianney. He was sent to an obscure village called Ars and he got lost whilst travelling there. Apparently, he asked a young shepherd for directions and supposedly he said, “Young man, can you point me out to where Ars is and I will point you in the direction heaven”. The young boy, Antoine Givre did point the way to Ars and today his statue stands at the entrance to the village. However, according to another retelling, the young man’s response was rather cynical, “You cannot even find your way to Ars and you want to point me the way to heaven”?
The point being that how can we expect a blind to lead another blind. If we are to get away from our blindness, perhaps there may be two areas which we ought to look into. They are firstly, self-awareness and secondly, authenticity.
By and large we have forgotten sin or the reality that there is sin. A “sinless world” or rather, a “sin-insensitive” or “sin-indifferent” world is not a better one. It is a ruthless and a dangerous one. We aim to be colour-blind or race-blind or religion-blind but the result is that we have simply become “sin-blind”. But it is a weird kind of blindness. The explosive prevalence of electronic devices is indeed a blessing for so many of us. Parents find them such a great help to raising children. Let them watch You-Tube whilst eating. It is painless. We do not need to carry heavy books because everything can be downloaded. All our pictures are safely stored and readily available at the touch of a finger. When it is dark, we rely on the torch on our phone. Best of all, we can attend Mass online or read the Gospel on our devices. At the same time, tell me that you have never received unsavoury contents on you social media and even if you are not into them, you may have inadvertently watched them through the same device without thinking twice. So, one minute soft-porn and the next minute the same device is used for praying the Divine Office. The frightening truth is that nobody seems to feel that there is anything wrong with that. Perhaps you appreciate why I do not allow the Readings or the Gospel to be read or proclaimed from an electronic device because we do not know where the screen has been to.
Of course, we are sin-blind when it comes to ourselves but we are not blind to sin in others. In fact, our eyes easily spot and note weaknesses in others. If you were part of an organisation, you might be familiar with this illustration. The boss points out the short-comings of some employees and in your head, you would be searching for a name to pin the sin on.
There is a joke about the Jesuits, the Dominicans and the Franciscans. According to the legend, St Ignatius said “Let the Dominicans be famous for their intellectual learning. Let the Franciscans be known for their poverty. But let the Jesuits be known for their humility”. So, when one of the Regional Superiors spoke of disobedient Jesuits, I was young once upon a time and immediately in my head, I would have worked out the names and faces of Jesuits whom I deemed to be examples of disobedience. Now in my waning years, I look at myself and feel the awkward shame that I had failed to see myself as an example of disobedience.
We have been taught not to be judgemental, right? The truth is, when we are sin-blind, meaning that we no longer see sin, then, the result can only be that there is really no standard at all. There is nothing to “measure up to” but the very fact that we dare to “judge” others, which if you reflect on it, actually points us to the reality that there are standards that we should live up to. Objectively, we can judge if a person has fallen short in his or her behaviour. But subjectively, this is where authenticity and credibility come in.
Authenticity does not mean we never judge. Authenticity just means that we must become what we proclaim. The truth remains that there will always be a gap between our belief and our behaviour. That gap is called sin. We will and we frequently fall short in our behaviour. To be credible, each one of us must take responsibility for his or her actions or failures to act according to our beliefs.
St Paul in the 2nd Reading reminds us of sin and its reality. As we are about to enter into Lent with its penitential focus, we might want to take time to reflect and examine our conscience. This is why the Sacrament of Confession is so important in the lives of Catholics. The more we desire to receive Holy Communion, the more we should want to go for Confession too.
These two Sacraments go hand in hand. The fact that few frequent the Sacrament of Confession, is not only revealing but possibly, it is proof of our sin-blindness. Lent has not begun but it is never too early to start our penitential pilgrimage with a resolution to go for Confession.
We are not done with the Sermon on the Plain yet. It feels as if what Jesus said last week continues to this Sunday. “Blessed are you when people persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you”. Here Jesus is asking us to forgive and also to bless those who hurt us.
This is by far one of the most radical teaching put forth by Jesus. And it is a daunting challenge to our human nature. The Christ who emptied His divinity to assume our humanity is inviting us to be divine like Him.
When we consider the topic of forgiveness, we may conceive of it as a feat which we struggle with, at best, to accomplish or at worst, we are plainly unable to do so. As such, how often have we come up with justifications like “I can forgive but I cannot forget” or “I can forget but I cannot forgive”. The ability to forgive is a gargantuan task. Often enough we are a tangled mess of emotions that simply overwhelms whatever will or “voluntas” we may have.
A proof of this mess is how we slip with ease into a victim mentality. Firstly, there are genuine victims and there are people who are persecuted because of their orientation or preference, their race or skin colour, their class or social status, their political beliefs or their religious persuasion. Persecution is real. Or one is simply an unfortunate victim of crime, robbed or scammed. But how often have we looked at an instance or an event which is unfavourable and immediately conclude that it was a racist incident? Our interpretative lens is heavily tinted by our preconceived labels.
When we have preconceived ideas such as being a victim, it is easy to blame everyone instead of taking responsibility for our own actions. When one is a victim, forgiveness will always feel like a losing proposition. A person, who believes himself or herself to a victim, is already disadvantaged, and for this person, hatred, dislike, gossip can be a security that one holds onto. In such a situation, to forgive would be to lose that one advantage a person has. Furthermore, this victim culture also has an ugly step-sister and it is the outrage industry. When we accept our victimhood, we can be easily triggered.
However, instead of approaching forgiveness as an achievement we might want to consider it from the perspective of result and a fruit. How? In general we have lost the long-term perspective that allows us to hold contradictory emotions together. Our quick-solution tendency is to try to get rid of pain because we are unable to deal with a less than perfect situation. Pill-popping and numbing narcotics are easy solutions to this inability to cope with the contradictions arising from natural imperfections.
After all this is a valley of tears and no matter how perfect a world that we hope for and desire, it often falls short of perfection. Such an imperfection becomes a burden when we lose sight of the Resurrection. If we are unable to see beyond death to the Resurrection, then we will always be driven to exorcise our discomfort, which is a kind of imperfection that belongs to this temporal reality.
After each day of creation, God saw that it was good. Yet it whatever He had created was not the perfection of heaven. Imperfection is not a sign of God’s lack. Rather, it belongs to the natural order of creation. Thus, we need to consider forgiveness from the perspective of heaven or our desire for heaven. What Jesus taught becomes relevant to our effort to forgive. “Blessed are you when people persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you” becomes an invitation to bless even those who persecute you. From the perspective of heaven, the fruit of blessing is forgiveness.
Try blessing someone whom you really dislike and watch how the hatred that grips your heart gets loosened. Blessings and curses cannot belong together. You cannot in all in sincerity ask God to bless and at the same time curse a person. It just does not work that way. How often have I wished I were a mutant like Magneto. I would have the power to crush terrible drivers in their cars andfeel the glee of disposing of them like ragged dolls. But to what avail? Whereas, when we bless others, even bad drivers, we free ourselves and we allow ourselves to look for ways to reconcile. It may not be that we forget but we will definitely not look for ways to harm another person.
When Jesus taught us to forgive, He did it to both the Disciples and the crowd in Matthew’s Gospel. Whereas, in Luke, He addresses only His Disciples. This is such a fundamental call that it raises Christianity to a noble calling. Luke holds such a high standard for the Disciples to imitate God.
Indeed Christian life is not for the faint-hearted. It is not the weak who forgive because they have no choice. Rather it is the strong who forgive because they choose to. Ultimately, the blessing we invoke on others will make us walk through this valley of tears not unharmed but with confidence and hope in the Lord.
Forgiveness is like the air we let go of in a balloon. Unforgiveness is like the millstone around our neck which does nothing but drags us down. It weighs upon and drowns us. It is energy-sapping because it takes a lot of energy to be angry and to hate. On the other hand, it takes less energy to be joyful.
In the 1st Reading, David was badly wronged by Saul and yet David spared Saul’s life. Our victim-society is an existential reality from which we cannot escape. Therefore, we must deal with the reality that there are a lot of victims but the question is not “How do we deal with being wronged by others?”.Rather, the question is “How not to live as victims and despite our victimhood, how can we be freed from the oppression of unforgiveness?”.
Sometimes, it feels good that we can get even especially when misfortune befalls our enemies. Like being Magneto but the thrill of schadenfreude is always short-lived. Ultimately, it leaves us empty even if we should get even. As they say here, “padan muka” or “serves you right”. It feels good but after that, what? Are you happy or satisfied? What frees us is when we are able to bless our enemy and at the same time, to leave it to God to exact justice the way He sees fit. This is trust and such is the grace that we are invited to this Sunday.
