Homily -- Monday, Lent 2

Do you remember the days when flour was not pre-sifted? I have vivid memories of learning to cook in our old kitchen.
In order to measure two cups of flour, it was necessary first to sift it. I was always astonished that you could get so much more in the large measuring cup after the flour was sifted.
Then, you took the cup and shook it and banged it gently on the counter, and the flour would settle, creating more space at the top of the cup.
Then and only then could you get a "true measure:'

This is the image in today's gospel.
The Greek word Luke uses for measure refers to a standard for generosity, as opposed to a word for judgment.
The gospel is not about giving the minimum we think we can get away with, and not about making it look like a full cup of flour, even if it isn't.
The invitation is to give a full and generous measure, more than is necessary.
However, we cannot give with the expectation it will be given back "in kind:'
God's promise is that if we give generously, we will be rewarded as generously as we gave.
That reward can take many forms, but most generous people will be quick to tell you that they always "get far more than they give" from any of their charitable activities.

That is the source of the promise of God.

Practice: Does your day involve any kind of measuring? Each time you pick up a ruler or a cup, or measure out space on a document on your computer, ask yourself how you are measuring up in generosity today.

Abraham and Isaac and God

This is one of the most frightening stories in Scripture and, as such, has been the object of
a great deal of study.
In Abraham's day, it was common for the pagan people who surrounded Israel to offer their first born as a sacrifice to the gods.
These babies were often buried in the foundations of the temples.
Some scholars suggest that this story was Israel's struggle against such infant sacrifice.

The story was a teaching tool, meant to show the Israelite people in a very graphic way that the God of Israel would never require human sacrifice.
While we may never know the total meaning of the story, one thing is abundantly clear.
We can believe that God is calling us to follow faithfully.
Only when we do this will we discover what God really has in mind for us.

Sometimes, when we believe we are being called and try our best to respond, we are completely unable to accomplish the task we feel called to do.
This is the time to remember Abraham.
Maybe God has something different in mind all along.
Like Abraham, all that is required of us is faithfulness to the call, and remaining open to the surprises God sends.

Judgment Day

The face of the Son of Man, in which we shall one day read our judgment,
Already mysteriously gazes at us from every human face,
Because all are his brothers and sisters:
The pure face of the child,
the care-worn faces of the poor,
the tear-stained faces of sinners,
even the embittered faces of our so-called opponents and enemies

One day we shall have to “raise our heads”
and look into the face of him who came as the Son of Man,
for he is after all the God of eternity.
And from his countenance all will look at us:
All those around us through whom we were good or guilty.

Karl Rahner

This Lent

This Lent, which we observe amidst blood and sorrow, ought to presage a transfiguration of our people, a resurrection of our nation. The church invites us to a modern form of penance, of fasting and prayer, perennial Christian practices, but adapted to the circumstances of each person.
Lenten fasting is not the same thing in those lands where people eat well as is a Lent among our Third World peoples, undernourished as they are, living in a perpetual Lent, always fasting.
For those who eat well, Lent is a call to austerity, a call to give away in order to share with those in need. But in poor lands, in homes where there is hunger, Lent should be observed in order to give to the sacrifice that is everyday life the meaning of the cross.
But it should not be out of a mistaken sense of resignation. God does not want that. Rather, feeling in one's own flesh the consequences of sin and injustice, one is stimulated to work for social justice and a genuine love for the poor. Our Lent should awaken a sense of social justice.

(For a picture montage of Oscar Romero, click on the name below.)

Oscar Arnulfo Romero

Destiny

In the past, every icon painter began his or her career by reproducing the scene of the transfiguration, not to escape into some imaginary paradise, but to die to self by opening the self to Beauty crucified.

The destiny of every Christian is written between two mountains: from Calvary to the mountain of the transfiguration. The face of the living God is to be seen in the faces of those who listen to Christ's word and are transformed by it.

The Saint Andrew Bible Missal