THE BLESSINGS OF GOD'S PRESENCE

SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

Isa 58:9-14; Ps 86:1-6; Lk 5:27-32

The Healing Presence of God

We start the reflection today by recalling that the creation stories we read from the book of Genesis and our meditations on the stories showed that the purpose of God’s creation of the universe was to guide man and woman to himself. God created the material universe to guide them through the ladder of created things to the acknowledgment and deep appreciation of the creator and God. In other words, creation guides us to a religious awareness of God and due worship of him. We must never forget this fundamental truth, a principle of our relationship with God. Guided by this basic truth, we can judge the value of every of our religious practices. Any religious act or moral behaviour that does not proceed from our awareness of God’s presence and goodwill towards us will surely miss the mark. Without this principle, we cannot keep or fulfil the precept of charity, as Yahweh demands through Isaiah. “If you do away with the yoke, the clenched fist, the wicked word, if you give your bread to the hungry, and relief to the oppressed, your light will rise in the darkness, and your shadows become like noon. The Lord will always guide you, giving you relief in desert places.” He will guide us to accomplish only the purpose he initiates in and with us.  

All our human acts are tainted from origin by self because of original sin. Therefore, our good works fall short of the glory of God. The religious acts that will please God must be those of a God-man; that is, those initiated in us by God, sustained and brought to completion through his grace. Isaiah expresses this truth: “He will give strength to your bones and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never run dry. You will rebuild the ancient ruins, build up on the old foundations. You will be called ‘Breach-mender’, ‘Restorer of ruined houses.’ None of this can happen with human strength alone. Hence, we have presented the desire to be with God as the central motive of our Lenten observances. The desire to locate ourselves in the presence of God must motivate every form of self-mortification and almsgiving for them to be spiritually meaningful and beneficial. Our Lord excused his disciples from participating in human-motivated and directed fasting because they were attending to him. Being present to the heavenly bridegroom, they follow his initiatives and works, which are according to the will of the Father. Thus, a Christian’s self-mortification ought to be initiated and directed by the Spirit of the Lord present within him. When we feel the absence of the Holy Spirit within us, the yearning for him is his voice within calling us, the sick, to his healing presence.

The emptiness that fills our souls in the absence of the Holy Spirit of God is a constant beckoning to us, sinners, to come back to the living God. The same emptiness made Levi, the tax collector, hear the voice of Jesus Christ and follow him immediately. The same applies to the other tax collectors and sinners who gathered at the table around Jesus Christ in Levi’s house. “In his honour Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a large gathering of tax collectors and others.” Because we are all sick, we hear his voice calling us to repentance, to turn away from creatures back to God our ultimate Good. Any self-mortification initiated in response to this inner yearning is in union with him and accomplished by his grace. “If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, and doing business on the holy day, if you call the Sabbath ‘Delightful’, and the day sacred to the Lord ‘Honourable’, if you honour it by abstaining from travel, from doing business and from gossip, then shall you find your happiness in the Lord and I will lead you triumphant over the heights of the land.” The Son of God became man to call us back from doing our own thing to living and working in union with him as God-man. As Levi heard the voice of the Lord and left his sinful office to follow him, we hear the same voice through his Church calling us to repentance and works of penance. Our gathering around the Eucharistic table daily unites us with the Lord and sanctifies our penitential acts, transforming them into religious sacrifices in union with that of Jesus Christ the Lord.

Let us pray: Almighty ever-living God, look with compassion on our weakness and ensure us your protection by stretching forth the right hand of your majesty. 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.