Friday of 1st Week in Lent

 

Personal Responsibility — Eucharist and Reconciliation

Often we blame the community and “the system” for the evils of society and for the sins we commit. This shrugging off of responsibility is a timeless device of escape. Christ dealt with it and so did Ezekiel before him. Ezekiel tells us: you are personally responsible for your sins and you must repent; if so, God takes you back in his love. Jesus tells us: not the law but your personal attitude and intention counts. True worship does not consist in private,  religious practice but in being committed to Christ’s task of reconciliation and service of people.

 

First Reading: Ezekiel 18:21-28 

 “But a wicked person who turns his back on that life of sin and keeps all my statutes, living a just and righteous life, he’ll live, really live. He won’t die. I won’t keep a list of all the things he did wrong. He will live. Do you think I take any pleasure in the death of wicked men and women? Isn’t it my pleasure that they turn around, no longer living wrong but living right—really living?

 “The same thing goes for a good person who turns his back on an upright life and starts sinning, plunging into the same vile obscenities that the wicked person practices. Will this person live? I don’t keep a list of all the things this person did right, like money in the bank he can draw on. Because of his defection, because he accumulates sin, he’ll die.

 “Do I hear you saying, ‘That’s not fair! God’s not fair!’?

“Listen, Israel. I’m not fair? You’re the ones who aren’t fair! If a good person turns away from his good life and takes up sinning, he’ll die for it. He’ll die for his own sin. Likewise, if a bad person turns away from his bad life and starts living a good life, a fair life, he will save his life. Because he faces up to all the wrongs he’s committed and puts them behind him, he will live, really live. He won’t die.

 

Gospel: Matthew 5:20-26 

 “Trivialize even the smallest item in God’s Law and you will only have trivialized yourself. But take it seriously, show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom. Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won’t know the first thing about entering the kingdom.

 “You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.

 “This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.

 “Or say you’re out on the street and an old enemy accosts you. Don’t lose a minute. Make the first move; make things right with him. After all, if you leave the first move to him, knowing his track record, you’re likely to end up in court, maybe even jail. If that happens, you won’t get out without a stiff fine.

 

Prayer

God of mercy and compassion,
you challenge us to be responsible
for the good and the evil we do
and you call us to conversion.
God, help us to face ourselves
that we may not use flimsy excuses
for covering up our wrongs.
Make us honest with ourselves,
and aware that we can always count on Jesus Christ
to be our guide and strength on the road to you,
now and for ever. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Be reconciled

Today’s gospel gives us some practical guidelines on the path of fraternal love. This fraternal love and relationship with a brother/sister cannot be separated from our relationship with God. As far as the Scribes and Pharisees were concerned, the only way to relate with God consisted in the most scrupulous observance of every detail of the Torah, the Jewish Law. They taught the people that, the more perfect the observance of the letter of the Law, the better chances to be close to God.

We find similar attitudes among many in our Church communities today. There are many who are very anxious to know whether a certain action “is a sin” or not. For example, many are worried, if it is a sin to eat meat on Fridays of the Lent. But such an approach leads only to fear of God’s punishments. Thus, God becomes a menacing shadow ready to strike at our smallest wrongdoing.

This passage comes from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus contrasts the demands of the Law with those of the Gospel. The commandment not to kill for example, implies even hatred and anger often expressed by abusive language. A physical killing is only an outward expression of the killing that one has already committed in his heart. How often do we piously go to Mass when we have deeply hurt another person? We cannot have one set of relationships with God and another set with people.

When anger is allowed to build up, it leads one to commit more serious mistakes. The Word of God reminds us not to come before the Lord in worship until we are at peace with one another. How can we share in the Body and Blood of the Lord if we are at enmity with a brother or sister who is also a member of that same Body?

The Whole eucharistic celebration is also a moment of reconciliation. We begin the Mass, asking forgiveness from God and from the people of God. Before the offertory, we are reminded to get reconciled with one another before we make the offering. While preparing to receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we repeat the Lord’s prayer, promising the Lord that we have forgiven our offenders. And we make the sign of peace with those around us as an expression of our forgiveness to everyone.

But the question is, if this sign of peace has become an empty gesture, like a nod of the head, with very little meaning and, for the most part, made to someone whom we do not even know. Let us put the meaning back into the ritual and be reconciled with one another.

 

Video available on Youtube: Be reconciled