October 12, 2021, Tuesday, 28th Week in Ordinary Time
Rom 1:16-25
Ps 19
Lk 11:37-41
The texts of the Liturgy of the Word of today's Eucharistic celebration bring St. Paul’s uncompromising faith before our eyes:
Brothers and sisters:
I am not ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: for Jew first, and then Greek. For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous by faith will live.”
St. Paul then denounces the sins of the pagans, their twisted reasoning and moral deviations being inexcusable since God's works are clearly manifest to them:
The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from heaven against every impiety and wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness. For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks.
Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.
While claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes. Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts for the mutual degradation of their bodies. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Psalm 19 clearly states that creation tells of and proclaims God’s glory:
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day pours out the word to day, and night to night imparts knowledge. Not a word nor a discourse whose voice is not heard; through all the earth their voice resounds, and to the ends of the world, their message.
The Gospel tells us about the scandal of the Pharisee who had invited Jesus: the Master had not performed the ritual ablutions before sitting at table. Jesus' indignation establishes the truth:
Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.
The uncompromising faith of St. Paul flanked against the pagans’ proud ignorance and the narrow-mindedness of the Pharisees, should challenge the way Christians today think and act.
St. Alberto Hurtado, a Chilean Jesuit who was a profoundly spiritual man, tireless in his work for young people and workers, a great apostle of joy (“happy, Lord, happy!”), helps us in this. One of his texts, written in Paris in November 1947, entitled “Elements of spiritual life”, gives us ample room for reflection:
When we compare the Gospel to the lives of the majority of us, we as Christians feel uncomfortable… The majority of us have forgotten that we are the salt of the earth, the light on the candlestick, the yeast in the mass… (cf. Mt 5:13-15). The breath of the Spirit does not animate many Christians; rather a spirit of mediocrity consumes us. There are among us active people, too active, perhaps agitated is a better word; however the causes that consume us are not the cause of Christianity.
After looking at oneself over and over and at what one finds around oneself, I take the Gospel, turn to St. Paul and here I find a Christianity that is all fire, all life, all conquering; a true Christianity that takes all of a man, that rectifies all of life, that exhausts all activity. It is like an incandescent river of burning lava that gushes from the very depths of religion.
In our time religion is turned into a worldly formality, a pious sentimentality, a peaceful police: “Don't break anything, don't let anything break!”. This is how we could express this Christianity of good taste, negative, devoid of passion, devoid of substance, devoid of Christ, devoid of God. A Christianity without fire and without love, of peaceful people, of satisfied people, of fearful people, or of those who like to command and want to be obeyed. There is no need for such a Christianity.
Fortunately, however, there are small groups of Christians everywhere who have understood the meaning of the Gospel: young people who wish to serve their brothers; priests who carry the open wound that continues to bleed upon seeing so much pain, so much injustice, so much misery; men and women who prolong for us Christ’s presence in our midst, behind a cassock, overalls or festive garb. They are bright like Christ and benefactors like Him. Christ lives in them and this is enough for us. We cannot help but love them, take them by the hand and, through them, enter this immense Body, animated by the Spirit.
These are the true Christians, those whom Christ has completely penetrated, he has taken everything in them, changed their whole life: a Christianity that transformed them, that communicates itself, that enlightens. They are console the world. They are the Good News permanently announced. In them everything is a sermon: words, of course, but also smiles and kindness, an outstretched hand, resignation, the total absence of ambition, constant joy. They always go forward, perhaps broken within, serenely embracing difficulties, forgetful of themselves, completely given to others...
Nothing stops them, neither the contempt of the great, nor the systematic opposition of the powerful, nor poverty, nor disease, nor pranks: they love and that's enough for them!
They have faith, they hope. In the midst of their pains, they are the world’s happy people. Their hearts, having expanded infinitely, are nourished by God.
They are the Church that is born among us. They are Christ who lives among us and it is from him that their nobility comes, from Him, to whom they gave themselves by giving themselves to their less fortunate brothers and sisters. Understanding that others were also children of God, brothers of Christ, made them grow. Between them, God, Christ and others there is now a definitive bond. They understand that their mission is to be a bridge to the Father, a bridge for all people. Everyone together, all the Father’s children, carried by the Son Jesus Christ, who all reach the Father through him, and this happens through our action, the action of each one of us. All of humanity working in this task, helped by yesterday's activists, who have already received their reward as their work comes to an end.
How can it happen that we no longer live in this perspective? Knowing that we are consecrated to God, we cannot continue to live turned in on ourselves, nor on our merits and not even on our sins ..., but we must instead imitate our energetic and sweet Savior, who having loved his own, loved them to the end (Jn 13:1).
A Condition
A condition for Christianity to take hold of our entire lives is to know Christ intimately, his message, and to know the men of our time to whom this message is directed. Few apostles, priests or laity, are prepared for the modern apostolate. Their action does not penetrate, but remains on the surface. Who has not felt within themselves ardent desires which, once communicated to others, produce only superficial results in them? Our clearest thoughts do not easily find the way of intelligence or even of the heart to reach others.
We preach a sure doctrine. We repeat the Gospel, the Fathers, St. Thomas, the encyclicals, ... however the contact is superficial, our dynamism has not moved those we wanted to move.
But there is more: if we go from those who seem to be great guides of men, to those who have been successful in their social or civil action, to those who have managed to create a little more justice and happiness in the world, and if we ask them if they are happy with their action, they will reply that they are perfectly aware that they have only managed to touch the problem on the surface, that society always escapes any moralizing and, even more, sanctifying action. It would take geniuses and saints to remedy such deep evils ... and even these must be persevering!
When an apostle turns to action too quickly or stops his formation work, he suffers the consequences. In apostolic action one remains at the level of his true value. Only the saint sanctifies, only light illuminates, only love warms.
Usually, easy groups allow themselves to be penetrated easily by an apostle’s action: children, religious, pious souls ... Apostles, especially in front of men, are as if disarmed, because they only have ready-made formulas for them, abstract or worn out, textbook answers ... They do not even know how to use encyclicals, because they do not know the setting in which they apply.
Many modern-day apostles fail because they set out too early, or because they were satisfied right away with their science, experience, virtue. They felt complete too soon.
The laity… has remained mediocre activists, without real training. The priests, always out of touch with life, out of touch with reality, maladjusted or misunderstood, have always repeated the same clichés in front of their easy clientele, while the immense mass still continues to ignore that there is God and that Christ has come ..., without there being anyone to remind the powerful, leaders, as well as the humble about their duties, nor anyone to show the way in critical times.
It is necessary to know with the knowledge of Wisdom, which is richer and deeper than simple science: to know men and to love them passionately as Christ’s brothers and God’s children; to know our sick society, as the doctor does by examining it. How many are there who take the time to study the complex web of our social life, its intellectual currents, its economic mechanisms, its legal empires, its political tendencies? To act with prudence one must know. The price of our conquest must be using all our energy to collaborate with grace.
Deep knowledge of Christ: theology encapsulated from a dissertation cannot be enough. Wisdom imposes itself. The gaze of the humble man who approaches God’s face by strength of his purity; the contemplative's gazing upon Christ, in whom everything is summed up, who is the hope of our salvation. The apostle must integrate his action into Christ's plan for our time; he must know Christ well and know our time well in order to approach them both with love. Everything is here (and this presupposes that immense humility which is what makes us able to receive graces from above).
Healthy spirituality, which does not consist only in pious practices, nor in sentimentality, but in those who let themselves be taken entirely by Christ who fills their lives. Spirituality that is nourished by profound contemplation, in which one learns to know and love God and his brothers, the men of one's era. This spirituality is what will turn the Church into the yeast of the world.