| March 2nd, 2007
Loyola Hall, Gladstone Road, Nassau
Ezekiel 18:21-28
Psalm 130:1-2,3-4,5-7,8
Matthew 5:20-26
Beloved in Christ,
We have spent a week of evenings together. We have journeyed together this first week of Lent hearing the word of God proclaimed and explained. We have been given to ponder the need for Reconciliation in each of our lives.
As we gather in around the table of God’s word tonight, we hear from the Prophet Ezekiel. Prophets are among the most fascinating persons in the Bible. They are faithful and they are fearless. They each have a message to deliver. It is often a message that is hard to take because it is true, and truth often hurts. Still they delivered that message wherever, whenever and to whomever it needed to be told. Prophets were the original ones who spoke the truth to power. Fear of consequences was not even an afterthought for them.
There was often a price to be paid for this kind of courage. There still is. That is why prophets, like saints, are few among us. And what is it Ezekiel has to say to us as we conclude our Mission and continue our journey through Lent? Thus says the Lord God, “If the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just, he shall surely live, he shall not die.” (Ezekiel 18:21ff)
As our passage concludes Ezekiel repeats his message. If the wicked turns away from all the sins he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Now our liturgy, the order of our worship, which is our primary catechism picks up this theme. It gives us a verse before the Gospel which says:
“Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed,” says the Lord. “And make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.”(Ezekiel 18:31)
Those words too come directly from the prophet Ezekiel. He it is who speaks of God’s gift of a new heart and a new spirit.
“I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them. I will remove their stony hearts and replace it with a natural heart. Thus they shall be my people and I will be their God.” (Ezekiel 11:19ff)
This is covenant language.
He is talking about restoring old relationships, binding up old wounds, burying the hatchet and not marking the spot. In short he is talking about reconciliation. And that has been our theme for the week.
If, for a minute, we were to look back in gratitude we may recall that on this occasion last year Archbishop Burke was among us for a brief visit. Since that time he has had some serious challenges to his health. Just before Christmas he learned that he had cancer in the lungs. I recently received an e-mail message from him. It says:
Dear Brother in Christ:
I returned recently from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston with the report that the recent scans show that, compared with the previous scan, the cancerous nodes in my lung are either reduced in size or have been resolved, i.e., gone.
Thanks for your prayers and support.
Let us continue to remember him in our prayers.
This Mission which we conclude tonight had its origin in the early 1980’s. It began in a place called the Poinciana Arena. It was located on Bernard Road, though I do not think it exists any longer. Then the Mission moved to the Church of God Auditorium on Joe Farrington Road. There were some who never made peace with that location. Now we find ourselves in these pleasant surroundings, and it is our own. The purpose for the Mission, in the first place, was the felt need for a major diocesan gathering event, a Catholic community-building exercise. Many felt that we needed an event where we could come together in large numbers and deepen our confidence and strengthen our identity as a Catholic community.
Our confidence and our identity as Catholics are fashioned and supported by many things. Among them: worship, doctrine and a common memory. That common memory is passed on from generation to generation mainly through stories. You know many such stories which edify us by the good, even saintly, example they depict. So do I. By way of example, I will share one such story with you.
On one of our Family Islands, I went to celebrate the Eucharist for the parish. After Mass, a gentleman began to recall his youth. He said, in those days when the priest came to have Mass, he would go with the priest and serve. On one occasion only he and the priest showed up for Mass. No one else came. Afterward, they went to the homes of all the parishioners to find out why they had not come to Mass. They all had the same story. Things were so tough they did not have any shoes to wear. From that day, until the day the priest left for a new assignment, he never again celebrated Mass there with his shoes on. It is a simple story but it is a true story. Most importantly, it is a fine example of faith alive in our Catholic community.
Perhaps you can match that story many times. Lent is a good time to tell stories like that to the next generation. That is but one way we deepen our confidence and identity and faith as Catholics. This is important, for our faith is often challenged. The challenge may come from within our own life experience.
We experience hurricanes, acts of brutality, tragic accidents, setbacks in our health and our finances. We face marital breakdown. We give our children the best, at great sacrifice to ourselves, and they still disappoint us. We are moved to ask, if God is all powerful and if God is good, then why do these bad things happen – even to good people?
Our faith may also be challenged from other sources. Last year the movie “The Davinci Code” was released. It presented a tale about Jesus which our faith has for centuries assured us not to be true. After that came “The Gospel of Judas.” Now of late, there is some media event about the discovery of the tomb and bones of Jesus. It is all baseless, unfounded nonsense.
Our confidence, our identity, our faith have to be firm enough not to be shaken by these passing fads.
Lent is a time when the Church seeks to renew itself both in membership and in spirit. In the first instance, all those preparing for Baptism and full communion with the Church are now in a special time of preparation for the waters of Baptism and the oils of Confirmation at Easter.
If you know one of these persons offer them a word of encouragement. Warmly welcome them into the community of faith. Lent is also a time for the Church to be renewed in spirit. That is why we spent so much time reflecting on reconciliation this week.
The need for reconciliation is captured for me in this simple story. A farmer had a watermelon patch. The local kids would steal his crop from time to time. So one day the farmer put up a sign. “One of these watermelons is poisoned, guess which one.” He went away and returned a few days later to find not one melon missing. But next to his sign was another sign. It said, “Two of these melons are poisoned, now you guess which ones.”
What we now have is a stalemate born of mistrust, anger, fear and expecting the worst. The only resolution is the gift of reconciliation. That gift is as old as sin and as noble as the Gospel. That is why we find those words in today’s Gospel which says: “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother and then come and offer your gift.”(Matt. 5:23-24)
Our liturgy, which is our primary catechism, teaches this. That is why we always begin the Eucharist with a Penitential Rite. The Gift of Reconciliation is as bold as the prophet Ezekiel. He brings God’s message to say, “I will remove your hearts of stone and give you hearts of flesh. You shall be my people and I will be your God.”
This message is good news, not bad news. Bad news travels at the speed of gossip. Good news is ignored like the amber traffic light. For this Lent let us gossip the Scriptures.
Beloved, we have come to the end of our Lenten Mission for this year. The season of Lent is still full before us. Let us seek to live the message of reconciliation not merely in words but in action. No we are not angels. We are not saints. Yet the degree to which we seek to live the message of reconciliation could well be prophetic.
Let it be so!
Let it be so!
May God remain with us as we continue these precious 40 days of Lent.
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