As for You…

As for You…

December 10, 2012

Monday of the Second Week of Advent

A highway will be there, called the holy way; No one unclean may pass over it, nor fools go astray on it.  No lion will be there, nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it.  It is for those with a journey to make, and on it the redeemed will walk.  Isaiah 35:8-9

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply, "What are you thinking in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and walk?'  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins?"  he said to the one who was paralyzed, "I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home."  Luke 5:22-24

Piety

I will listen for what God, the LORD, has to say; surely he will speak of peace to his people and to his faithful.  May they not turn to foolishness!  Near indeed is his salvation for those who fear him; glory will dwell in our land.  Love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss.  Truth will spring from the earth; justice will look down from heaven.  Yes, the LORD will grant his bounty; our land will yield its produce.  Justice will march before him, and make a way for his footsteps. (Psalm 85:9-12)

Study

Our preconceived notions can condemn us to the wrong path.  The Pharisees were among the most learned people in the community.  Yet, when they witnessed the incredible scene of healing of the paralytic man, they could not cope with the WAY that Jesus performed this sign.  Based upon the context of the story, this was a day when Jesus was being met by many people who were in need of healing of some kind. 

The Pharisees may not have been paralytic in the literal sense, but their minds were closed in a manner that made them paralyzed by their prejudice.  All the others who came to the house were there because their faith opened their minds to the possibilities of healing. 

Action

"As for you…"

What if we stood before Jesus when the power was with Him for healing.  How would the Lord react to our presence and His encounter with us.  Would we approach the Lord with obstacles in our lives and minds like the Pharisees?  Or would we approach the Lord open to the pregnant possibilities of Advent overcoming all obstacles like the paralytic man floating down from the roof?

Just as the world was divided two thousand years ago, it is divided today.  The issues are different but the results are the same. 

Those Pharisees may have wound up as saints.  We do not know.  But what we do know is that saints do not usually start out as, well, saints.  They may not have always been pillars of the faith community. 

Just last month, the USCCB advanced the cause for sainthood for Dorothy Day.  Her early life was certainly not the ideal launching pad for sainthood.  But, one might ask, why should her early life hinder her sainthood any more than the early life of Saul who became St. Paul?  Or of Saint Augustine?  Despite his mother's prayers, St. Augustine wanted to sow his wild oats until he was ready for conversion. 

As Michael Gerson wrote in The Washington Post Sunday, "The most inspiring, accessible saints are not models of piety but models of grace. They provide at least a faint hope that the road to spiritual excellence might begin at any moment — even now — in our flawed and tangled lives." But what is amazing is that the altar Jesus invites us to share is large enough for both sides, for all sides. 

Gerson quotes Day:  “The mystery of the poor,” she said, “is this: That they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do for him.” He admits that such sentiment may be pious overstatement. "If true, however, we yawn at duties that should cause us to tremble. And those who take those duties literally and seriously are already saints."

Can we take our duties as seriously as Jesus did when the paralytic man was lowered through the roof for healing? Can we set aside our pharisaical attitudes and follow Him no matter where that High Way leads? So when we stand before Jesus, paralyzed by the choices we have made in life, what will He say, "As for you, Anthony…"