INVITED TO RECONCILIATION

IV SUNDAY OF LENT - Luke 15:1-3,11-32

In his second letter to the Corinthians (2 Co 5:17-21), Paul invites us to reconcile with God, and that reconciliation is done in Jesus Christ. And Paul goes on telling us that Christ entrusted us (the Church) with the ministry of reconciliation. Lent is a special time during which the call for reconciliation is heard.

In the parable of the father who had two sons (known as the parable of the prodigal son), Jesus presents the Father’s attitude towards his children when they sin and illustrates as well his children possible attitudes towards reconciliation.

The two sons, in spite of being quite different in character, are very similar in their attitude towards the father. Both of them feel oppressed and hope for the freedom to be themselves. Both of them ignored and despised the father’s love, and were decided to get rid of him, even though they did it in very different ways. The youngest one left home, after extorting a fortune from his father, and went in search of freedom, pleasure and happiness, eventually falling into the baseness of fattening pigs (which for the Jews were impure animals), while starving with hunger. The elder did not have the courage to leave the house, and he appeared to be compliant and obedient; yet he lived like a stranger, full of bitterness, waiting patiently for the day when he would be master of everything. He turned his back on everybody and accused his father of injustice. The elder brother looked like an obedient and responsible man and he had a very good self-image, thinking of himself as just and holy, claiming for himself the right to accuse and to judge his father. He was hard on himself and very demanding to the others. He had no time for anything, but work. Although he accused his father of not even giving him a little kid to eat with his friends, we can guess by his father's answer that he was a miser and would not spend a penny to celebrate with his friends; after all, he had no friends. And we may conclude that his pride, his avarice, and his meanness drove him away from everyone. In his heart, there was only bitterness, envy and resentment. Looking upon himself as just, he was unable to acknowledge his sin and lacked the humility to ask for forgiveness and to accept the forgiveness offered to him. And he stood proudly alone. Indeed, it is difficult to recognise the attitudes that separate us from others and from God! Being very strict to others, we are extremely lenient to ourselves. It is no surprise that many people can easily say that they have no sins.

Facing hardship, the youngest son was able to reflect upon his life and, realising the madness of the path he had taken, changed his course. Trusting his father’s good heart, he went back home, where he found unconditional love far beyond what he could expect.

Both brothers needed to reconcile with the father. However, only one recognised his sin and made an effort to change his attitude. That was made possible because he became aware of his sinfulness while being sure that his father would not reject him completely. In fact, the father did not reject any of the two brothers and appealed to the elder one to recognise his brother and to reconcile, feeling at home in the house that also belongs to him.

The parable keeps us in suspense and uncertainty. We know that the younger brother entered the house, but we are not sure about the elder one. Did accept his father’s invitation or was he so full of himself that he chose to remain outside? We may ask ourselves what is going to be our choice.

I AM HAS SENT ME TO YOU

III SUNDAY OF LENT - Exodus 3:1-8,13-15

Referring to the Old Testament, in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote that everything happened for a purpose and to serve as an example “and it was written down to be a lesson for us” (1 Co 10:11). That is one of the reasons why the Scriptures (the Bible) are appealing to so many people, believers and unbelievers alike since they find in them something valuable for their lives. Reading the Scriptures, we find everything that is human, and they become a mirror in which we see ourselves, being at the same time confronted with ourselves. As we read, we are being questioned and challenged by a voice that speaks underneath the text which we read or underneath the words which we hear. It is the voice of God addressing us and speaking to us personally and calling us forward to a relationship with him. That’s why the Scriptures are considered to be the Word of God, in spite of being so human as well. We may say that the Scriptures share in the mystery of the incarnation, a mystery in which the Son - he is the Word - became a human being. The Scriptures guide us and lead us to recognise God’s salvific presence and action in human history; they prop us in our journey through life, taking us to Christ. The writings of the Old Testament give us the key and open the horizons so that we may recognise Jesus as the Messiah and the Saviour, that is the Lord.

In this third Sunday of Lent, in the first reading, we read about the theophany of God experienced by Moses.  With his flock, Moses went to the holy mountain and, there, touched by the divine, some extraordinary thing attracted his attention. As he approached to have a look, he was warned to proceed cautiously. This double feeling of attraction and cautiousness is part of all religious experiences. However, the experience of the divine, which erupted in the life of Moses, acquired a completely new turn, when God revealed himself as a compassionate and loving God, who pays attention to the suffering of his people and is willing to intervene in history so that his people may enjoy freedom and peace. In his manifestation to Moses, God is not something, but SOMEONE who wills to establish a relationship with human beings. God is relational and he is ready to seal his relationship with a covenant, implying that he commits himself to his people in such a way that he will be always attentive to their destiny.

To Moses, God revealed his personal name - the Holy Name of God, which in Hebrew is written with only four letters - YHWH (since the vowels are not written), probably being pronounced Yahweh. Driven by a deep respect for the name of God and fearing to utter it in vain, the Jews ceased to pronounce it, replacing it with Adonai, which means Lord. To Moses God presented himself as a God who relates and who wishes to establish an alliance of friendship with human beings. He has a name - YAHWEH, meaning “I-am-who-I-am”, or simply “I am." This name expresses much more than God’s essence since it implies a presence - the loving presence of someone who always accompanies us. "I am" the One who is always by your side to defend you, protect you and set you free. Yahweh is the name of the saving and liberating God. To carry out his plan of liberation for his people he called Moses and entrusted to him a mission. God goes on calling us and entrusting a mission to us - to mission to set his people free.

THIS IS MY SON, THE CHOSEN ONE. LISTEN TO THIM.

II SUNDAY OF LENT - Luke 9:28-36

In the first reading, God makes a promise to Abram and he sealed that promise with an alliance, meaning that God committed himself to friendship with Abram and put himself as the guarantor of the alliance, to which he will remain faithful forever. The promise and the alliance made to Abram were extended to Isaac and then to Jacob and to all his family. With Abram, a completely new type of religious experience, signified by his new name Abraham. With him, the great journey of faith begins. His relationship with the divine was no longer guided by a magical attitude but was instead a personal relationship with God, initiated with a call to which he responded with faith and trust. This relationship was reinforced by a promise and sealed by an alliance, which implies a mutual commitment between God and Abraham. With Abraham the story of salvation began, that is, the story of God's interventions in human history, which demonstrate His commitment to humankind. All who walk in life guided by faith and are descendants of Abraham, the first believer.

In the Old Testament, God chose Abraham and then Isaac and Jacob. Jesus also made his choice, taking Peter, James, and John with him for them to have an extraordinary experience. Some may ascribe to Jesus a discriminatory attitude, forgetting that God chooses those whom he wills. And when he chooses, he chooses them for the benefit of all, by placing the chosen ones at their service. 

The divine glory of Jesus was manifested during prayer and was contemplated during prayer, a prayer that is mediated by the Word of God, made present and active by the Prophets and the Torah (law). The divine glory of Jesus manifested momentarily, is linked to his death on the Cross. On the mountain of transfiguration, the word of the Father is heard again: This is my Son, my Elect: listen to Him!

There is a Zambian proverb that says: “Ubumi bwa muntu buli mu kutwi” (“Life is in the ear!”), that is, the ability to listen makes it possible to hear and understand. Speaking, we are able to understand each other; however, communication becomes extremely difficult without listening. And in traditional societies, where knowledge was transmitted orally, people were much more aware of the importance of listening; it was a question of survival, since the law, the commandments, the counsels for life as well as all the technical knowledge and all the professions were learned by ear. Our world today is very much dominated by noise, making it much harder to hear and understand. It even seems that we do not need the others and that, by ourselves, alone, we can find out what is essential in life. We may forget that listening is essential for any kind of human relationship. Our refusal to listen is a sign of contempt for the other, who feels humiliated. Listening is a statement of the importance of the speaker. If we read the Scriptures, we realize the fundamental importance of listening to the Word of God. Jesus is the Word - the Word made man. It is by the Word that God pronounces himself, reveals himself and calls us by name. Hence the importance of listening to this Word that is loving presence and action. The Father reveals the secret of Jesus: He is the Son, the Chosen One. Hence, the commandment: Listen to Him.

JESUS’ TEMPTATIONS ARE OUR TEMPTATIONS

I SUNDAY OF LENT - Luke 4:1-13

In the first Sunday of Lent, we are presented with the temptations of Jesus, so that it is made clear for us what are our big temptations, or the false values that easily seduce us and carry us away from the path of righteousness.

The gospel tells us that, immediately after baptism, Jesus went to the desert for a time of reflection and searching. It was during that time that he was confronted by a set of proposals which would make of him a rich and powerful man, feared, respected and followed by multitudes of people. However, following them, he would be one more in the big list of men who have gone down in history as famous through their exploitations and their conquests. They may have done great things to be remembered, but they did not bring peace to this world; they changed the world, but the world did not become better. The three great proposals presented to Jesus have become, throughout the ages, a snare by which everybody has been entrapped. Enlightened by the Spirit, Jesus recognised in them the same deceptive path that led others astray, turning them against God and against each other. Since the beginning, human beings have become slaves of their inner and vain desires, which lead them to enslave everybody else.

The temptations presented in the gospels are like a summary of the great temptations which Jesus faced throughout his life. However, guided by the Holy Spirit, and relying on the Word of God, Jesus chose the path of total surrender to the Father, rejecting wealth, power and glory as guides and supports in the fulfilment of his mission. 

the enticing proposals

1. Going through difficulties and encountering suffering, the immediate reaction is to do anything in order to overcome that situation. It is an instinct of self-preservation, by which we care for ourselves and our well-being. And nothing else matters. We become the centre of everything else, putting everything at our service, becoming extremely selfish. Jesus “was hungry” and his body was craving for food. Anyone in a position of power would use his power to find relief and satisfy his hunger. Everybody would see that as normal and would proceed likewise. Jesus saw that as an attitude of selfishness and act of abuse of his position for his own benefit. While wandering in the desert, the people of Israel attributed to God evil intents and accused Moses and his God of deception: while pretending to liberate them, they were, in fact, leading them to starvation. Jesus put all his trust in the Father and he would teach his disciples to do the same (Mt 10:29-31).
2. b)Wealth and power were always appealing, convincing us that with them we can overcome all problems and find all solutions. With wealth and power, nothing seems to be impossible, since we will be able to transform the world and to put it at our service. We live in times of plenty, and we behave as if the wealth of the world were ours. Our society has become hedonist and has to try everything that might satisfy us and fill us with pleasure. Consumption is fuelled by unbridled pursuit of profit, making the accumulation of wealth the supreme value by which everything is measured and valued. In order to buy more and more, new needs are created, so that we end up giving our money to the lords of this world. Major decisions within companies are primarily aimed at maximising profit and economic policies are decided with this objective. However, the gap between rich and poor widens, leading to the exploitation of labour. There has never been so much material well-being, which is turning the world into a dumping ground, filled with our waste. Our world, this world we live in, is getting poisoned and has already started vomiting that venom in our face. The unbridled search for wealth and power leads to the substitution of God for false idols that end up oppressing us.
3. Filled with ourselves and making us into the centre of the world, we may think that we have a right to force God to protect us from dangers which result from our stupid and unnecessary search for vain glory. What purpose would serve to throw himself down the pinnacle of the temple? It would a useless show off, just to get people’s applause. And it would be the use of the God’s temple and of God’s name to get fame and glory. God can never be at the service of our foolish desires. If we do it, then we are putting God to the test, a test which he will not answer; in the end, we are the losers. We cannot use the name of God to get a following and to become popular.

Jesus made the right but not the obvious choices. He preferred to put all his trust in the Father, leading his life by his word. Indeed only God is God and we must put ourselves at his service, being always ready to accept his will. May the Holy Spirit fill us with the strength to make the right choices like Jesus.

WORDS OF WISDOM

VIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 6:39-45

In this Sunday’s gospel, Luke puts together a few sayings of Jesus, which became guidelines for the behaviour of his disciples. The first is self-evident: a blind man cannot guide another blind man, otherwise, both of them will end up falling into a pit. So we must pay attention to what kind of people we choose as role models. There is a Bemba proverb that conveys similar wisdom: “Uwenda na ngoshe, apyana no busungu” (the one who travels with the mamba, inherits the poison) or “Uwenda no ulwele pa mutima, alambukilwa” (Who travels with a sick person, catches the sickness). Nowadays, there are plenty of famous people who are followed and imitated in their behaviour and in their ideas, even in their likes and dislikes. Some become like gods who are worshipped and obeyed. However, many of them are blind leading the blind, and it will be too late when we realise that we were being misled. Jesus is the only true role model, he who told us: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6).

The following saying is about seeing the splinter in the other’s eye while ignoring the plank that is in mine.  We are very quick at noticing even the small mistakes made by other people and we are ready to judge and to condemn them in the harshest way while presenting ourselves as upright and just. We must practice self-examination and become aware of our own failures. If we do that, we will become much more understanding to the others and we will be able to create a surrounding which will enable the others to improve and overcome their failures, while they will give the same kind of support to us. If we live in glass houses, we should not throw stones at the others’.

The third saying gives us the scales to weigh ourselves and others: a sound tree is known by its fruits. So we should examine ourselves and see what kind of fruits we produce. What comes out of our heart is it full of goodness or is it full of evil. If our hearts are full of evil, then the fruits that we produce are poisonous fruits. This is the rule we should use to choose our role models. If we do that, then the tree of our heart will be pollinated by trees full of goodness and we will produce delicious fruits. The first reading advises us to pay attention to the language used by the ones who speak to us since the words they use and the way they speak reveal what is in their hearts.

“The orchard where a tree grows is judged on the quality of its fruit,

similarly a man’s words betray what he feels.

Do not praise a man before he has spoken,

since this is the test of men.” (Sirach 27:6-7)

FORGIVENESS AND RECONCILIATION ARE THE ROAD TO PEACE

VII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 6:27-38

Saul and David were quite different in their character and their approach to life. Being a king, Saul would like to be recognised as the best in everything. All the others should live in the shadow of his glory and no one else should try to excel in his presence. When the young David offered himself to go alone against Goliath (1 Sam 17), using an easy and clever way to defeat him, the crowds rejoiced and sang his praises. Saul, instead of rejoicing with the achievement of the young man, was filled with resentment and, in a moment of rage, he tried to murder David. Filled with jealousy, Saul could not find peace and started living in a semi-permanent state of depression. David had to run for his life, being able to find companions, organising with them a small army to protect themselves and he became the enemy which Saul went after with his army. However, as a former shepherd, David knew well the mountains of Judah and was able to escape. It was in this seek and hide, that an extraordinary event took place, which reveals David’s character. Saul decided to set camp with his army and overconfident in his power, neglected his own security, making it possible for David to approach him. His deputy Abishai wanted there and then to strike down Saul, but David would not allow it. David had put all his confidence in the Lord and preferred to leave his vengeance in the hands of the Lord. Revenge leads to violence and destroys the pursuit of justice. Forgiveness is the only way to reconciliation, not only at the personal level but also between communities and even between states. Saul allowed himself to become a violent man, which led to his self-destruction. 

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of a love so strong that gives us the strength and the wisdom to love the enemies. Such love becomes possible only if we learn from God and allow ourselves to be guided by his Spirit. The story of the relationship between Saul and David is a very good introduction to Jesus’ speech on a forgiving love. 

In the book of Leviticus, God proposes to his people an ideal which is a rule of life: "Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy" (Lev 19: 2). In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus actualizes this ideal by telling the disciples. "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48). And in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus becomes even more concrete, stating the implications of this ideal: "Be merciful, as your Father is merciful." This means that it is impossible to be holy or to reach perfection without being merciful. And being merciful means being willing to forgive and reconcile with the enemy. Jesus gives concrete indications of how to be merciful: Judge not! Do not condemn! Forgive! If we call ourselves and are children of God, we must be like Him, He "who is good even to the unthankful and the wicked." It is as if Jesus left us an impossible task, but we can find everywhere people who bear witness that forgiveness and reconciliation are the only way to peace. And there are politicians who have understood that.

Let us not forget: "the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.”

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO PUT THEIR TRUST IN THE LORD

VI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 6:17,20-26

In this Sunday’s liturgy, the first reading is like an introduction to the gospel. Jeremiah speaks of two possible attitudes towards God, with completely different consequences. We may put our trust in the Lord, thus being blessed and always bearing plenty of fruit or we may rely on the things that surround us and put our trust on our human capacity and our human endeavours, ending up in disaster. Jeremiah doesn’t beat about the bush, but hits the nail on the head:

“A curse on the man who puts his trust in man,

who relies on things of flesh,

whose heart turns from the Lord.”

Before God, we become aware of our own weaknesses and shortcomings, but we do not lose hope since we know that God is by our side and we experience his love and his care. If we turn our backs on God, then we are left to ourselves and soon will come to our wits’ end, in such a way that “if good comes, he has no eyes for it”.

Putting all our trust in human intelligence, we become confident that science will solve all problems and will bring in the fulfilment of all our dreams. However, this optimism may be followed very soon by pessimism, because as it solves a few problems, it creates bigger ones and we may end destroying ourselves and the world we live in. It is as if we curse ourselves when we turn our backs to God and concentrate our gaze on our navel.

In the gospel, Jesus presents two situations with two completely different destinies.

How happy are you who are poor: yours is the kingdom of God. Happy you who are hungry now: you shall be satisfied. Happy you who weep now: you shall laugh. Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven. This was the way their ancestors treated the prophets.

Alas for you who are rich: you are having your consolation now. Alas for you who have your fill now: you shall go hungry. Alas for you who laugh now: you shall mourn and weep. Alas for you when the world speaks well of you! This was the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.’

These two different destinies are the result of our choices in life and we make our choices according to what we value. All of us long for happiness and are ready to try different kinds of recipes so that we get it. Soon we will discover that there are no human recipes. Riches and power will not bring it and going after all forms of pleasure will not satisfy us. Only the search for truth and goodness, done with trust in the Lord will make life worth living.

Psalm 1 puts it very clearly:

Happy indeed is the man

  who follows not the counsel of the wicked;

nor lingers in the way of sinners

  nor sits in the company of scorners,

but whose delight is the law of the Lord

  and who ponders his law day and night.

In which way are we going to live our lives? Let us put our trust in the Lord.