2013-06-13
Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
Scripture Readings: Second Samuel 12:7-10, 13; Galatians 2:16, 19-21; Luke 7:36-50
Everyone has his or her personal weaknesses and failures, what traditionally is called sinfulness, but God's mercy is boundless, overcoming all sin. This is the message of the story of David in today's first reading for Mass and also of the sinful woman in the Gospel for this Sunday.
Humble confession of guilt receives a ready response of mercy and forgiveness from our God. This was David's experience and that of the sinful woman of the Gospel as well.
When any of us stops and thinks, we should realize that God showers blessings in abundance on all of us, yet we easily take blessings for granted and forget where good things originate: not in ourselves, but in God.
Neither King David nor the sinful woman in the Gospel put forward excuses about their wrong doing, but simply and humbly confessed their guilt and failure to respond adequately to God's blessings, and expressed their need for God's mercy in their lives.
"I have sinned against the Lord," expresses beautifully the confident attitude toward God who has the power to forgive sins. In accusing and not excusing oneself, mercy is obtained from the God who is always ready to forgive and to bestow life, as shown in the Scripture readings at Mass this Sunday.
In the second reading, Saint Paul wants to stress that no human effort or mere observance of the law and commandments assures us of salvation. Too often perhaps we think of salvation in terms of, "If I do this, God will do that."
Salvation, though, is a free gift from God, granted to those who through faith and love dedicate themselves to God. Observance of the law and commandments are indeed part of the bigger picture, but it is always "God who awakes and God who slakes our thirst," as the Catholic philosopher Baron Von Hugel expressed it. Only God can fulfill the deepest longings of one's heart.
Salvation is not about earning God's attention and favor, like a child jumping up and down in order to gain its parent's recognition. Rather, God loves us all and always, never withholding love and compassion.
We are of course called to renounce sin, but we are likely to be frail and sinful to some extent our entire life. That is no reason to give up or to despair of God's mercy. We are meant to be a "new creation" by the fact that Christ dwells within us and is leading us from darkness to light.
Like the sunflower, we are meant to constantly turn toward the source of light and life, our God, who is like the bright and shining sun that causes the sunflower to rotate toward it.
Jesus was accused of being a friend of sinners. Certainly he was a friend to all, saint and sinner alike. In this Sunday's Gospel passage just such a sinner commanded the Lord's attention. Clearly the woman was repentant and humble, even in her sinfulness. A ray of light dawned in her heart and she boldly approached Jesus, washing his feet with her tears and drying them with her hair.
These actions expressed a deep longing on the woman's part, of hope in obtaining pardon and peace in her life. Only God can give that and she knows it fully.
Jesus allows her to carry out her action and to allow it to be a lesson for all. And what is the message, but that the apparent outcast is in fact very much one who loved, intensely and chastely, with sorrow and gratitude. Simon, the host of the party, only receives Jesus with polite formality and nothing more. In contrast, the woman shows sincerity and faith which lead her to God's mercy.
In our daily lives we are constantly confronted with choices and opportunities to show our sincerity or our lack of it. How do we approach God and others, with real repentance and humility, or with a sense that we are the center of the universe and that life is "all about me"?
May the Lord help us always to be more like David and the sinful woman, not in their sinning, but in their repentance and readiness to meet the living God, asking God to take away sins and whatever separates us from God and one another.
Fr Christian Leisy, OSB, Monastery of Christ in the Desert, Abiquiu, New Mexico
Scripture Readings: Second Samuel 12:7-10, 13; Galatians 2:16, 19-21; Luke 7:36-50
Everyone has his or her personal weaknesses and failures, what traditionally is called sinfulness, but God's mercy is boundless, overcoming all sin. This is the message of the story of David in today's first reading for Mass and also of the sinful woman in the Gospel for this Sunday.
Humble confession of guilt receives a ready response of mercy and forgiveness from our God. This was David's experience and that of the sinful woman of the Gospel as well.
When any of us stops and thinks, we should realize that God showers blessings in abundance on all of us, yet we easily take blessings for granted and forget where good things originate: not in ourselves, but in God.
Neither King David nor the sinful woman in the Gospel put forward excuses about their wrong doing, but simply and humbly confessed their guilt and failure to respond adequately to God's blessings, and expressed their need for God's mercy in their lives.
"I have sinned against the Lord," expresses beautifully the confident attitude toward God who has the power to forgive sins. In accusing and not excusing oneself, mercy is obtained from the God who is always ready to forgive and to bestow life, as shown in the Scripture readings at Mass this Sunday.
In the second reading, Saint Paul wants to stress that no human effort or mere observance of the law and commandments assures us of salvation. Too often perhaps we think of salvation in terms of, "If I do this, God will do that."
Salvation, though, is a free gift from God, granted to those who through faith and love dedicate themselves to God. Observance of the law and commandments are indeed part of the bigger picture, but it is always "God who awakes and God who slakes our thirst," as the Catholic philosopher Baron Von Hugel expressed it. Only God can fulfill the deepest longings of one's heart.
Salvation is not about earning God's attention and favor, like a child jumping up and down in order to gain its parent's recognition. Rather, God loves us all and always, never withholding love and compassion.
We are of course called to renounce sin, but we are likely to be frail and sinful to some extent our entire life. That is no reason to give up or to despair of God's mercy. We are meant to be a "new creation" by the fact that Christ dwells within us and is leading us from darkness to light.
Like the sunflower, we are meant to constantly turn toward the source of light and life, our God, who is like the bright and shining sun that causes the sunflower to rotate toward it.
Jesus was accused of being a friend of sinners. Certainly he was a friend to all, saint and sinner alike. In this Sunday's Gospel passage just such a sinner commanded the Lord's attention. Clearly the woman was repentant and humble, even in her sinfulness. A ray of light dawned in her heart and she boldly approached Jesus, washing his feet with her tears and drying them with her hair.
These actions expressed a deep longing on the woman's part, of hope in obtaining pardon and peace in her life. Only God can give that and she knows it fully.
Jesus allows her to carry out her action and to allow it to be a lesson for all. And what is the message, but that the apparent outcast is in fact very much one who loved, intensely and chastely, with sorrow and gratitude. Simon, the host of the party, only receives Jesus with polite formality and nothing more. In contrast, the woman shows sincerity and faith which lead her to God's mercy.
In our daily lives we are constantly confronted with choices and opportunities to show our sincerity or our lack of it. How do we approach God and others, with real repentance and humility, or with a sense that we are the center of the universe and that life is "all about me"?
May the Lord help us always to be more like David and the sinful woman, not in their sinning, but in their repentance and readiness to meet the living God, asking God to take away sins and whatever separates us from God and one another.
Fr Christian Leisy, OSB, Monastery of Christ in the Desert, Abiquiu, New Mexico