The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today use the image of the Light of God reflected by people to illuminate the action needed to achieve justice for the disadvantaged.
 |
| Light to see the need |
The passage from the Prophet Isaiah describes the authentic fasting leads to blessing and our light shall rise in the darkness.
* [58:6–12] Fasting is not genuine without reforming one’s way of life. A true social morality will ensure prosperity.1
Psalm 112 cites blessings of children, wealth that enables people to be magnanimous, and virtue by which they encourage others.
* [Psalm 112] An acrostic poem detailing the blessings received by those who remain close to God by obedience to the commandments. Among their blessings are children (Ps 112:2), wealth that enables them to be magnanimous (Ps 112:3, 5, 9), and virtue by which they encourage others (Ps 112:4). The just person is an affront to the wicked, whose hopes remain unfulfilled (Ps 112:10). The logic resembles Ps 1; 111.2
The reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians urges our response to proclaiming Christ crucified where His exalting power is paradoxically at work in the emptying, humiliation, and obedience of death on the cross.
* [2:3] The weakness of the crucified Jesus is reflected in Paul’s own bearing (cf. 2 Cor 10–13). Fear and much trembling: reverential fear based on a sense of God’s transcendence permeates Paul’s existence and preaching. Compare his advice to the Philippians to work out their salvation with “fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12), because God is at work in them just as his exalting power was paradoxically at work in the emptying, humiliation, and obedience of Jesus to death on the cross (Phil 2:6–11).3
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus uses similes of salt and light to describe our role in the world.
* [5:13–16] By their deeds the disciples are to influence the world for good. They can no more escape notice than a city set on a mountain. If they fail in good works, they are as useless as flavorless salt or as a lamp whose light is concealed.4
Molly Mattingly finds the image of light undefeated by darkness gives her hope for the Church. If we are really trying to follow the Light, to follow Christ and discern what is of God, we’ll be on the right track.
That’s what saints do. Both the psalm and the Gospel today call us to live out our baptism, our participation in the life of Christ as his Body, in a public way: not hidden, secret, or private, but not exhibitionist, either. We are called to be foci of the Light not to draw attention to ourselves, but to point others towards Christ.
As a catechist, I attempted to answer a first-grader’s question about why saints have halos in paintings. The actual question was, “Why does St. Brigid have a pizza on her head?” (It was a rather orange halo with a gold border.) I said, “Remember how we talked about the Easter candle as the Light of Christ? The halo is a way to show in paintings that the light of Christ shone through that person’s life.”5
Don Schwager quotes “The Light of Truth,” by Chromatius (died 406 AD).
The Lord has already called his disciples the "salt of the earth" because they seasoned with divine wisdom the hearts of the human race which had been made tasteless by the devil. Now he also calls them the "light of the world." For, illumined by his very own self who is the true and eternal light, they too become light within the darkness. For since he himself is the sun of righteousness, he rightly also calls his disciples "light of the world." Through them, as if through shining rays, he poured the light of his knowledge on the entire world. For by showing the light of truth, the Lord's disciples made the darkness of error flee from people's hearts. (excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 19.1.1-2)6
Suzanne Guthrie, At the Edge of the Enclosure, offers her meditation on how some people seem to embody the Sermon on the Mount... Some are like cities set upon a hill - beacons relaying hope and challenge from hilltop to hilltop - torch to torch, light to light- against the darkness. They lean into the danger of the times in which they live, giving their lives to principles larger than themselves - dissidents, truth-tellers, reformers.
How many lights to the world gutter like a failing candle through sheer poverty and want? How many salts-of-the-earth shiver in refugee camps in Europe and the Middle East and on the border of Bangladesh and the United States, or waste away by starvation in Somalia or Northeastern Nigeria or South Sudan? Or, for that matter, what blessings of hope and love diminish in any neighborhood in any part of the world for want of necessities of body and mind, soul and spirit?
Arrogance, indifference, laziness stealthily hardens the heart into its own pleasant dungeon lit by its own selfish light.
God have mercy! What can I do? Isaiah answers:
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?7
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:13-16 comments this passage might make us feel like we have to get out on a soapbox and start preaching on a street corner—right now. Of course, we should talk to people about our faith, but it’s not the only way to be a salty, light-filled, positive influence.
One of the most effective ways you have an impact on the world around you is in how you behave. Your actions speak volumes to family, friends, neighbors, even strangers. Jesus himself says that our “good deeds” help people see and glorify God (Matthew 5:16). Isaiah goes so far as to say that actions like sharing what we have and not turning our back on people have the power to turn the gloom around us into “midday” (58:10).
If you look around, you’re certain to see areas that seem dark. Gossip might be out of control in your neighborhood. At home, your spouse might be deflated by a setback at work. A child you know might be the victim of bullying. There may even be a poor or homeless family huddled just outside your church door.8
Friar Jude Winkler discusses the Scripture passages for today.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, quotes Paula D’Arcy who says, “God comes to us disguised as our lives.” While Christians emphasize Tradition and/or Scripture as sources of truth, she believes we balance them with our own experiences. We can only know God and reality within the context of our own personal experiences of time, place, culture, class, education, etc. There are as many ways of knowing as there are people who have lived! Fr. Richard reflects:
How we know and what we know are shaped by our experience. Speaking for myself, it is clear that my privilege as a white, formally educated, financially secure man (even though I am a Franciscan) influences what I see and how I understand it. My privilege also limits my perspective in many ways. While I didn’t choose to “have” while others “have not,” if I’m not actively working toward equity, even my passive participation enables systems of inequality and injustice. Jesus continually invites me to see differently by encountering and engaging with those on the bottom.
The system benefitting me was never intended to benefit all. And because the system benefits me, I don’t need to see it clearly. On the other hand, those who do not receive its benefits are required to see it for their very survival. Thus, God calls us to “not conform to the pattern of the world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds” through relationship with those who see life from a different perspective than we do (see Romans 12:2)9.
The Light of Christ reveals the world around us and makes clear our mission to join the Good Shepherd in bringing Love and Peace to the chaos that is the consequence of poor choices in our lives and those of our fore bearers.
References
No comments:
Post a Comment