HUMILITY ACCOMODATES GOD

SATURDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT

Hos 5:15-6:6; Ps 51:3-4,18-21; Lk 18:9-14

Humility as the Purpose of Mortification

As we bring our reflections on the general theme of the week to an end, which we focussed on the sacred name of God: ‘I Am who I Am’, we try to highlight the critical points of the reflections. First is that the revealed name of God speaks volumes about the presence of God and his desire to be in communion with us. The holy name of God reveals God to be the consecration to himself and his creatures. Second is that the consecration, which God is, demands the corresponding sacrifice of ourselves to him. Hence, our sins arise from our failure to be present in the presence we call God. Third, all the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual afflictions he sends to us are to evoke the sacrifice we must make of ourselves to God. The words of the prophet Hosea are explicit on the divine purpose. “They will search for me in their misery. ‘Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us; he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds; after a day or two he will bring us back to life, on the third day he will raise us and we shall live in his presence.” God’s infinite wisdom, justice, and mercy direct every affliction that comes to us, not for our destruction but for the destruction of sin in us. In his justice, he strikes us in a manner measured by his infinite wisdom, his mercy bandages us, and his love raises and restores us to live in his presence and communion.

The mystical meaning is evident, referring to our corporate suffering in Jesus Christ, our mystical head. He was struck down for our sins, died for our redemption, and was raised on the third day to bestow spiritual and heavenly life on human nature; he ascended to establish our lives in the presence of God forever. The three days of our dwelling in the darkness of the tomb of afflictions refers to the length of time it takes to admit our sins, humble ourselves in confessing them to God, and pray for forgiveness and deliverance. For this reason, the prophet urges us to seek the knowledge of God that will restore us to light from darkness. “Let us set ourselves to know the Lord; that he will come is as certain as the dawn his judgement will rise like the light, he will come to us as showers come, like spring rains watering the earth.” God wants us to be present to him in love, for he has communicated his loving presence to us in his Eternal Word. To refuse the Word, who is God, is to reject his love. The punishment is eternal damnation, which follows our refusal to take correction in our temporal afflictions. “This is why I have torn them to pieces by the prophets, why I slaughtered them with the words from my mouth, since what I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.”   

The sacrifice God wants from us is to be present to His Word, who shared our nature to be with us in love. We develop this loving awareness of Jesus Christ by listening to his words, meditating, and contemplating the divine mysteries as we draw closer to our celebration of the paschal mysteries. Our Lord warns us against pride as we get used to active and external mortifications. We can become pleased with what we have become by our self-mortifications and other observances and count them as justification before God. The bodily mortifications help us understand our sinfulness and need for God’s grace and healing. If we fail in our chosen self-mortification, we should acknowledge our weaknesses and sins before God. God sometimes permits us to fail in their observances, to have us call out to him in recognition of our abject spiritual poverty. The parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee, who went to the Temple to pray, teaches us this truth. Our Lord commended the tax collector over the Pharisee. “The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not.”

Let us pray: Rejoicing in this annual celebration of our Lenten observance, we pray, O Lord, that, with our hearts set on the paschal mysteries, we may be gladdened by their full effects. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.