Making a Joyful Noise through Lent – 04/07/2014
“The good news is the joy of the Father
who desires that none of his little ones be lost, the joy of the Good Shepherd
who finds the lost sheep and brings it back to the flock. The Gospel is the
leaven which causes the dough to rise and the city on the hill whose light
illumines all peoples. The Gospel has an intrinsic principle of totality: it
will always remain good news until it has been proclaimed to all people, until
it has healed and strengthened every aspect of humanity, until it has brought
all men and women together at table in God’s kingdom. The whole is greater than
the part.” (Pope Francis, Evangelii
Gaudium: The Joy of the Gospel)
Pope Francis’ words remind us of the
value of the Gospel today. It is “Good News” for all people, not just those we
think are worthy, not just those who conform to the law, not just those who do,
see and think the way we do. The Gospel heals, strengthens and brings joy to
all. Like Jesus and Susanna we might be judged by appearances, we might be
judged falsely but we should not fear because the Good Shepherd is always with
us.
“You judge by appearances….” Often our
judgments of people are just based on appearances. It is either the color of
their skin, their ethnic background, the language they are speaking, the
clothing they are wearing, the god they believe in, the part of the world they
come from that we use to decide who people are. We have not bothered to stop
and talk with them or listen to their story or understand what they believe and
value. We just judge them, we put them into a box from which they will never
escape.
For me an interesting thing about our
Gospel (John 8: 1-11) story today has always been that it is only the woman who
is brought before Jesus. She was caught in the act of adultery so there had to
be a man there but only the woman is dragged before Jesus. It gives you a sense
of the injustice that was present in society at that time. Women were pieces of
property along with children, not treated in an equal way. She is judged by her
appearance and the fact that she is a woman. She has been place in the box of
judgment.
Jesus however has a different way of
looking at life and society. Perhaps he sees the injustice and responds to it,
or perhaps Jesus just sees every person as someone created in the image and
likeness of God. Perhaps he sees someone who has made a mistake yet deserves
another chance. Perhaps Jesus sees life were the crowd sees death. Perhaps
Jesus sees the possibility for change and newness of life and the crowd sees
only the law and punishment.
Jesus has always been judged by appearance
by the religious leaders of his time. He cannot escape the box they have placed
him in no matter what he does and says or how hard he tries. The problem is
when people are judged in this way, those who do the judging lose. The
religious leaders lose because they missed the presence of God in their life.
God was standing in their midst and they didn’t see God. God can be standing in our midst, perhaps not
as dramatically as Jesus, but God is still presence in others and if we judge
them by only appearance we lose.
Susanna (Daniel 13: 1-9, 15-17, 19-30,
33-62) was judged unfairly and what we learn from her story is that unfair
judgments always catch up with those who do the judging. The truth always finds
its way to the surface. It can be a difficult process and at times we need
people like Daniel to point out the flaws in our judgment but truth will always
win even though it may take time, sometimes a life time.
As we go about our day let us not judge
by appearance. Let us look for the truth, look for the presence of God in all
we meet. Let us be guided by the Light of the world.
Have a blessed Monday everyone and don’t
forget to make a joyful noise with your life today!
Daily Lenten Prayer: Loving God, you
are our light and life. Grace us with the wisdom to recognize the many works of
your hands today. Help us to be your light in the world today by the way we
live our life. Enable us to turn away from the desire to judge and to trust in
your presence in everyone we meet. Make us instruments of your love, your joy
and your peace so that we never walk in darkness but only in your light! Amen!
A Runner’s Thoughts: As we run today
let us receive God’s blessings through every breath we take. We breathe in the
presence of God and we exhale all our struggles, all our faults, all our failings.
With each breath let us allow God to create something new within us as we run.
Enlivening us with the breath of life, the breath of grace, the breath of God!
Daily Blessing: God’ blessings
upon your Monday everyone! I hope you had a great weekend or at least a good
one! I pray that your new work week has started off well with a morning without
any issues or problems. If that is not the case I pray that God will bless you
with a day that gets better as you go along!
We will begin the mission here at St.
Mary’s this morning with the 9:00 am mass and with our evening service at 7:30
pm as always your prayers for the faith community of St. Mary’s and their
preacher are greatly appreciated.
Blessings upon everyone today, may your
day be productive, life-giving and gifted by God’s presence. And unlike the
religious leaders of Jesus’ time may you recognize the presence of God in your
day! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul
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