“Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD; as
certain as the dawn is his coming, and his judgment shines forth like the light
of day! He will come to us like the
rain, like spring rain that waters the earth.” Hosea 6:3
Jesus addressed this parable to those who were
convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. Luke 18:9
Piety
Let us use our remaining
Lenten Journey to research and examine our ways in order to return to the
LORD. When we admit our inside sins, He
will heal us and bind our wounds – be they physical, emotional, mental or
spiritual – so that we may live in his presence. Amen.
Study
St. Luke gives us a new Beatitude
today. “Blessed are those who are convinced of their own righteousness and who
despise everyone else.” That kind of
attitude – be it one which expects that we are entitled to some benefit or one
that passes judgment upon others – is not a disposition which will get us
closer to walking with the Lord.
Our “study” or people and
our environment reveals countless stories of people who put themselves second
and others first. In the sad stories
coming out of Oso, Washington, one such story was on the man who admonished his
rescuers to leave him alone and to go to save his wife. Unfortunately, she had already perished in
the mudslide. Think also of the
frustrated participants in the massive search in the south Indian Ocean who
have been looking in vain for more than three weeks to spot any remnants of
MH370. Every few days, a new radar clue
changes the field in which they are searching.
They fly out in the cold dark morning hours, scan the blindly similar
ocean waters all day, only to return as frustrated as the disciples in their
boat with empty nets. This morning’s
newspaper reveals some promising clues but still nothing definitive.
Action
Maybe some of the attitude
about self-righteousness is a clue to the political and ideological divisions
which plaque our environment. Perhaps if
we all adopted an attitude that puts the emphasis on Catholic Social Teachings
rather than cable-television driven thinking, we could accomplish more together
to serve those who truly need help.
When a disaster like the
mudslide or the MH370 flight occur, people respond to the emotion and immediacy
of the news. However, the silent and
more pervasive needs in our society (hunger, homelessness, poverty, and
unemployment) linger killing multiples of the number of victims of the mudslide
and planeloads of passengers. These
muted killers do not get weeks upon weeks of coverage in the agenda-setting media.
How can the remaining two
weeks of Lent bring about an attitude adjustment for us to serve those who
truly need help?
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