March 12, 2011
Saturday After Ash Wednesday
If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. Isaiah 58:10-11
After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Luke 5:27-28
Piety
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! (Isaiah 58:6-9)
Study
In chapter 58, Isaiah encourages us to make sure that our external actions mirror our internal piety. Action fulfills piety and piety informs actions. And vice versa.
Not only as we looking for the correlation between what we do and what we pray, but there also is a congruency between what we do and how the Lord will provide for us. If we follow the Lord’s ways instead of our own, then the Lord will provide for us even if we are in the desert of despair.
Isaiah’s prophecy foreshadows the actions taken by Levi. The Lord beckons Levi and right there in the public square, Levi leaves his role as a tax collector and follows Jesus. Levi inspires us to leave behind our goals in this holy Lenten season and pick up on the goals of the Lord.
Action
Isaiah could never have envisioned nor predicted the kinds of images we saw on television today when news of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan reached us through the media. Cars floating like boats. Boats on land overturned like toys. Water stretching six miles inland!
Reflect on the symbolic words of the prophet Isaiah about being like a “watered garden” or like a “spring whose waters never fail.” The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt.
Are we ready to be a repairer of the breach? Are we ready to step up and be a “restorer of ruined homesteads?” Then we must make our actions meet our internal piety.
The web site Network for Good is a portal for sending relief to the victims of the earthquake. Visit the site at http://www1.networkforgood.org/help-survivors-pacific-quake-tsunami and learn about some of the organizations already mobilized to help you help others.
Another site which aggregates the work of charities is from the organization Aidmatrix. You can visit the site http://vad.aidmatrix.org/vadxml.cfm?driveid=5046 to see how to quickly send money to help with food, medical supplies, building supplies and more.
Finally, you also can learn more about the humanitarian relief through this article (http://philanthropy.com/article/Charities-Respond-to-Pacific/126706/) in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Restore. Rebuild. Renew.
