The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate how our attention to the situation of those around us can help heal some of the despair and loneliness they may experience.
Listening and healing
The reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah offers the promise that our light shall rise in the darkness when we care for others.
* [58:6–12] Fasting is not genuine without reforming one’s way of life. A true social morality will ensure prosperity.* [58:13–14] Sabbath observance becomes a cornerstone of postexilic piety; cf. 56:2, 4, 6.1
Psalm 86 is a supplication for help against enemies.
* [Psalm 86] An individual lament. The psalmist, “poor and oppressed” (Ps 86:1), “devoted” (Ps 86:2), “your servant” (Ps 86:2, 4, 16), “rescued…from the depths of Sheol” (Ps 86:13), attacked by the ruthless (Ps 86:14), desires only God’s protection (Ps 86:1–7, 11–17).2
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus calls Levi and heals the loneliness of the rejected.
* [5:28] Leaving everything behind: see note on Lk 5:11.3
Andy Alexander, S.J. comments that it isn't easy to turn that desire by God for us into a Lenten practice, without some careful reflection. We aren't accustomed to reflecting upon acting justly as part of our Lenten journey. It isn't often part of our practice to do an examination of the systemic patterns of injustice of which we are a part.
Imagine if every family were to agree that this Lent we will begin by being kind to each other, in ways beyond our normal patterns. Imagine if we got together and talked about how we would intentionally try to listen to each other more, respond to each other with compassion and affirmation, and look for ways to surrender "my way" to make life easier for someone in my family. And imagine - I know I'm sounding crazy now - that we might agree to spend some time each week in a conversation about ways we recognize and feel sadness about the injustices around us and share our feelings of compassion and reinforce them in each other.4
Don Schwager quotes “Our All-powerful Physician,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 AD.
"Our wound is serious, but the Physician is all-powerful. Does it seem to you so small a mercy that, while you were living in evil and sinning, he did not take away your life, but brought you to belief and forgave your sins? What I suffer is serious, but I trust the Almighty. I would despair of my mortal wound if I had not found so great a Physician." (excerpt from Sermon 352, 3)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Isaiah 58:9-14 comments that we make no mistake; God is calling us to serve him by caring for the people around us. But he is not asking us to do it alone, and he certainly is not expecting that we go unrewarded. As we put his love into action, he promises to pour his blessings into us. As the Prayer of St. Francis says, “It is in giving that we receive.” So let’s take a look at some of the ways God may be calling us today.
Help the “oppressed,” “hungry,” and “afflicted” (Isaiah 58:10). You can be God’s eyes, ears, and hands for his beloved poor. The work may be challenging. It may take you out of your comfort zone. But know that each time you reach out like this, you are doing more than just offering food or money. You are bringing God’s own love to someone in desperate need. As you do, God will reach out to you and give you a deeper empathy for people who may not be like you. He will expand your ability to love as Jesus does.6
Friar Jude Winkler notes the text from Trito-Isaiah is a continuation from yesterday and it presents the horizontal and vertical dimensions of our action toward others and God. Like the Pharisees, we sometimes fear the contagion of sin. Friar Jude underlines the loneliness of sin that Jesus takes action to heal.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that the natural world has so much to teach us about God, ourselves, and our connection to one another. Scholar and artist Alexis Pauline Gumbs shares wisdom from South Asian river dolphins who look with their voices.
What I want to say to you . . . requires me to reshape my forehead, my lungs. It requires me to redistribute my dependence on visual information. So I will close my eyes and say it: Here. Here I am. Here I am with you. Here is all of me. And here we are. Here. Inside this blinding presence. Here. A constant call in a moving world. Here. All of it. Here. Here. Humbly listening towards home. And here. And here. Right here. My poem for you. My offered presence. This turbid life. Yes. Here you go.7
As the Spirit prompts us to listen to the needs of those we encounter on our journey, may we be moved to action to heal loneliness and division.
References
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