Word to the Wise
Tuesday, March 4, 2025 - Tuesday in the 8th Week in Ordinary Time
[Sir 35:1-12 and Mark 10:28-31]In works of charity one offers fine flour, and when he gives alms he presents his sacrifice of praise. To refrain from evil pleases the Lord, and to avoid injustice is an atonement. Appear not before the Lord empty-handed, for all that you offer is in fulfillment of the precepts. [Sirach] Peter began to say to Jesus, "We have given up everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house of brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life inthe age to come." [Mark]
The late onset of Lent this year has us looking at scriptures that address Lenten concerns before Lent begins, especially on the themes of "giving up" or "offering up" as the Gospel According to Mark and the Book of Sirach present to us today. Prayer and almsgiving are two of the three forms of behavior that Jewish tradition had developed by the time of Jesus. The third is fasting. The difference between Sirach and Mark, however, is the difference between contribution and total commitment!
The Gospel According to Mark assures early Christian missionaries (and us, too) that giving up everything dear to us to preach the Gospel will mean that we acquire a community of life that will replace what we have given up. Earlier in this gospel, when Jesus' family, out of concern for him, try to seize him [Mark 3:20-21], he points to those who listening to him as his family. Material security was the obstacle to the man who, in yesterday's gospel scripture, asked Jesus what he needed to do to have eternal life. It might be a useful Lenten exercise to make a list of the material/human security that we have and how "attached" we are to those. This could aim at more than 40 days of symbolic inconvenience. It could aim at a whole new way of living our faith. AMEN