March 8th

By: Bill Dykstra

OPENING PRAYER

As you begin, take a moment to become aware of God’s presence in your midst. Slowly breathe in and out.

READING

Gospel : Luke 5:27-32

27 After this he went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ 28And he got up, left everything, and followed him.

29 Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax-collectors and others sitting at the table* with them. 30The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 31Jesus answered, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; 32I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.’

REFLECTION

Just over one month ago on February1st, Pope Francis spoke to The Neocatechumenal Way, a Catholic initiative that describes themselves as “an instrument in the parishes at the service of the bishop to return to faith many of those who abandoned it.”. During his audience Pope Francis had these words: “I encourage you to bring everywhere, even in the most de-Christianized environments, especially in the existential peripheries, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”. To which any of us would respond: “Woot”.

None of us would argue that this statement is at all a distraction from the tone of Pope Francis’ papacy. It is in direct continuity with any other homely or mercy-filled commission he’s enacted, all of which we laud him for. However, are we truly realizing the gravity of his words? It’s not so much we have a Pope who’s willing to challenge the status quo of our time, but are we willing to place ourselves into the equation? If we did, if we sincerely reflected on the logical consequences of the words and actions of the Holy Father, perhaps we wouldn’t be so quick praise him, but instead, react in a way that’s perhaps more authentic to our cultural apathy: discomfort, fear, and possibly outrage.

So often do we treat our Faith as a means of justifying that we are, indeed, good people: “I go to Mass. I go to Reconciliation. I’m doing it right.”. Don’t get me wrong, these are very good things; Pope Francis would certainly agree, however if “showing up” to the sacraments is exclusively the means of how exercise our faith, our Pope would argue we have vastly misunderstood them.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus confronts Levi the tax collector, someone, who in that time, would be considered a usurper of the people. He certainly is someone who has abandoned their cultural heritage and the faith of his people in order to serve a foreign occupying power. However in this scene Christ does not lay the smackdown, as it were. He says to Levi “Follow me.”. He doesn’t say “Levi, you’re an idiot.”, he doesn’t say “Levi, you’re going to hell.” but the meaning of His words, if I can be so bold, is “Levi, I see the good in you. Follow me.”. For the people of the time, Levi would likely be on a hit list rather than one of whom the Messiah would call to greatness. And if we know our faith well, Levi also goes by another name, St. Matthew the Evangelist.

When we believe we “have it together”, to put it mildly, we are living according to the punchline of a joke. If we wish to be authentic Christians, if we want to see the world in 20/20 vision, we aught to meditate on Christ’s words: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.”. According to this example from scripture, if I want to follow Jesus, I aught to recognize how I’m not like Jesus. I aught to see how I, just like Levi, have abandoned the heritage of my faith in order to fulfill the wishes of a foreign, dominating power.

When we realize our own deficits of character how more likely will we be to, like the psalmist says, “remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil”. How can we judge others when we ourselves aught to stand trial?

Catholic French Philosopher Jacques Martian said: “We do not need a truth to serve us, we need a truth that we can serve.“. Our Christianity cannot be a means for us to applaud our own achievements, but rather something that recognizes the diminished state of our lives, and despite it, calls us to holiness. It is through this realization that to exclusively attend “Church events” is in reality a devaluation of the gift we receive in the Eucharist.

Our experience in Mass doesn’t, it simply can’t, begin and end within the walls of our Churches. To follow Jesus means to accompany him to seek out the lost. Jesus did not come into the world so we could imprison him in our hearts. There’s a song by Christian folk musician Derek Webb that goes “May the bread on your tongue leave a trail of crumbs to lead the hungry back to the place you are from.”. Jesus Christ cannot redeem our society if He is locked inside the Tabernacle. He is received by you, by a human body, so he can walk and reach out to those who are starving and are in need of grace.

MEDITATION

• How does your pride overcome your Christianity?
• Who do you see as least likely to be called by Christ? Who do you see as least likely to respond to Christ?
• Where are the “parched places” is he calling you?

CLOSING PRAYER

We pray for those who, by means of our own pride, may have been deemed enemies of the faith: for those who experience same-sex attraction, for those who advocate for abortion, who those participating in the industry of pornography, and anyone else in our lives whom we are called to love as children of God, despite any short comings. May we, following the example of Christ Himself, show them His love and mercy, welcoming them, and inviting them to holiness. May all of those named be embraced in love by Christ and His Church.

AMEN