Word to the Wise
Friday, February 8, 2008 - FRIDAY FOLLOWING ASH WEDNESDAY
[Isaiah 58:1-9A and Matthew 9:14-15]This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn.....
Does anything on our list of Lenten resolutions or observances include anything on Isaiah's list? Hmmmmm........! That's a hard question, but it's one we need to ask. The Lord speaks those words to Isaiah after criticizing hypocritical fasting. I mean, after all, don't we "give up" things, and maybe go to Mass everyday, and try to be nicer for 40 days? Don't those things count for something? Yes, but........ What is on the list in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 25 at the scene of the Last Judgment? "When I was hungry, you gave me to eat; when I was thirsty you gave me to drink, etc.?" Remember those? Religious devotions that are divorced from love of neighbor are not going to "count" for much if Isaiah is right! In an election year, we might hear of promises from candidates to do what Isaiah is recommending. We know that campaign promises have a very short life! We don't need to wait for an election year to ponder how we are going to meet the huge needs represented by Isaiah's words. In fact, if we look at the statistics we can get very discouraged. What can one person do? Actually a lot if he or she just gets underway and is not daunted by the size of the suffering. To paraphrase Tip O'Neill: "All suffering is local!" I love to tell a story I read once about a sparrow that heard the sky was going to fall. So he laid down by the side of the road and put his little legs up and strained with all his might against the sky. A rider passing by sees the sparrow and calls out: "Sparrow, what are you doing?" The sparrow responds through gritted beak: "I heard the sky is going to fall and I'm holding it up with my feet!" The rider snorts and says" "Sparrow! Do you seriously think you can hold up the sky with your spindly little legs?" The Sparrow responds: "One does what one can!" Adding something from Isaiah's list to our own and then doing what we can may not be just Lent-transforming but life-transforming! AMEN
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