October 13, 2021, Wednesday, 28th Week in Ordinary Time
Rom 2:1-11
Ps 62
Lk 11:42-46
In the first reading, we see that after having listed the Gentiles’ errors, St. Paul turns to the Jews. They too are guilty, because they do the same reprehensible things as the Gentiles, and of that weren’t enough, they are extremely judgmental towards them. Even if God's judgment is slow in coming, as he awaits man’s repentance, at any rate it will come, and everyone will be judged according to the good or evil done, whether Jew or Gentile, because God does not show partiality.
You, O man, are without excuse, every one of you who passes judgment. For by the standard by which you judge another you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the very same things. We know that the judgment of God on those who do such things is true. Do you suppose, then, you who judge those who engage in such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you hold his priceless kindness, forbearance, and patience in low esteem, unaware that the kindness of God would lead you to repentance? By your stubbornness and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will repay everyone according to his works, eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality through perseverance in good works, but wrath and fury to those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness. Yes, affliction and distress will come upon everyone who does evil, Jew first and then Greek. But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, Jew first and then Greek. There is no partiality with God.
The responsorial psalm is the humble man’s confident confession. Aware of his weakness, he takes refuge completely in God. The one praying feels secure, because he does not rely on himself, but rather solely on the Lord. Thus, he invites the people to trust in God and to open their hearts to him in the security of being able to count on his mercy and justice:
Only in God is my soul at rest; from him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be disturbed at all. Only in God be at rest, my soul, for from him comes my hope. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be disturbed. Trust in him at all times, O my people! Pour out your hearts before him; God is our refuge!
In the Gospel, Jesus pronounces his terrible “woe to you” four times against the Pharisees and doctors of the law, denouncing their hypocrisy:
Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others. (Lk 11:42).
Through his reproaches, Jesus declares the true values of religion: justice, love of God and neighbor, humility, the consistent witness of life:
Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces. Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk. […] And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.” (Lk 11:43-44, 46).
These reproaches unmask our duplicity and hypocrisy, and urge us to follow the invitation of Psalm 62, which we have just read: “Pour out your hearts before him; God is our refuge!”. In this true light of our misery, purified and healed by God's mercy, we receive salvation.
In the long history of Christianity there are also many cases of betrayal and infidelity! This observation should grieve us, but not discourage us, because the examples of fidelity and total self-giving are much more numerous, and they console, strengthen and stimulate the daily commitment of every baptized person, helping him to rise from any falls.
Such was the life and testimony of St. Damian de Veuster, a Belgian missionary priest belonging to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (or Picpus Fathers), a religious order that mainly dealt with missions in Oceania and in distant lands. Once he arrived in Hawaii, Damien's vocation was made even more intense by the drama of leprosy that was spreading in the archipelago in those years. All the lepers had been confined to one of the smaller islands, Molokai, and Damien gave his life to console those poor people. Damien, the apostle of the lepers, died in Molokai in 1889. Below is a letter written a year and a half before his death to his brother which shows that his greatest joy was serving the Lord in his poor and sick children.
Letter XXVIII, Molokai, November 9, 1887 (to his brother Pamphile)
My dear brother, having been informed that some of the Belgian papers had stated the death of your exiled brother, I suppose that is the reason why you do not write to me anymore. Unfortunately, Almighty God has not yet called me out of this miserable world; and here I am nearly useless now, and I do not know for how many years more; yet I am in my daily occupations as usual, since it has pleased our Divine Savior to entrust to my care the spiritual welfare of the unfortunate lepers exiled at Molokai. As you know, a long time ago, I myself have been chosen by Divine Providence as a victim of this loathsome disease.
I hope to be eternally thankful to God for this favor; as it seems to me that this disease may shorten a little, and even make more direct, my road to our dear fatherland. Such being my hope, I have accepted this malady as my special cross, which I try to carry, as Simon the Cyrenian, in the footsteps of our Divine Master. Please help me with your good prayers to obtain persevering strength, till I happily arrive at the top of Calvary.
Though leprosy has a pretty strong hold on my body, and has already disfigured me somewhat, I continue to be robust and strong, and my terrible pains in the feet are gone. So far the disease has not yet distorted my hands, and I continue to say Mass every day. This privilege is my greatest consolation, for my own sake as well as for the benefit of my numerous fellow-sufferers, who every Sunday fill pretty well my two churches, in both of which I permanently reserve the Blessed Sacrament. I have here living with me fifty orphan boys, and they keep me pretty well busy during my free time. Death had brought down the number of patients here to about five hundred, but now the Government is sending new ones by dozens every week, and it is expected that shortly our number will be doubled or even tripled, and therefore if Almighty God spares my strength, I shall have more and more work to harvest the poor souls of those lepers who obtain the grace of conversion […].
I do my best to plant and water the field that my Divine Savior has confided to me. Here and there I pull up a weed; but to obtain the true fruit of conversion, I need in a special manner the prayers of devout and compassionate souls. So, as you are not coming in person, you must assist in this exceptional mission of mine by praying and getting prayers for us.
The letter continues with the following addition
November 16
I still continue to be the only priest in Molokai. Father Columban Beissel, and quite lately Father Wendelin Mullers, are the only ones I have seen for sixteen months. As I have plenty of work, the time seems very short to me. The joy and contentment of heart that the Sacred Hearts deluge me with, make me consider myself the happiest missioner in the world. Consequently, the sacrifice of my health, which our good God has deigned to accept that He may render my ministry among the lepers more fruitful, appears after all but a slight affair, and even profitable for me. I venture to say, with a little perhaps of Saint Paul’s meaning, “I am dead, and my life is hidden with Christ in God” […]
Your brother,
Joseph Damien De Veuster
(Pamphile de Vesuster, Auguste. Life and Letters of Father Damien, The Apostle of the Lepers. London: The Catholic Truth Society, 1889, pp. 141-143)