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March 2, 2019Jesus was a powerful preacher and his words have changed the world. Those who have listened to his words have found true freedom.- “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…” Lk. 6 Could you imagine Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement if most, if not all, of our country could not grasp his imitation of Christ. There were other black and white leaders who counseled a much more violent approach.
- “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well…” Lk. 6 The story repeated on the Internet about Mother Theresa is the one about the rich man she asked for help for the poor in her care. He spat in her face. She said, "thank you for that, now would you give something for the poor."
- Detachment from Wealth “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” Lk. 6 Detachment is the intentional refusal to be owned by your stuff or, for that matter, the next piece of stuff you can acquire.
- Detachment from our appetites “Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.” Lk. 6 Detachment is the refusal to be mastered by your appetites.
- Detachment from emotion “Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.” Lk. 6 How happy you are if you are not addicted to your emotions but are free to serve God. If you reduce your relationship to God or others purely to your emotions, you are never free to love and serve as you are always seeking to please yourself.
- Detachment from honor “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude and insult you and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.” Lk. 6 Blessed are you when your desire for approval of other humans is less important than your desire for God's approval.
Sirach: Talk reveals
Our actions do speak loudly, but that doesn’t mean that our speech is unimportant; our speech reveals who and what we are. Sirach demonstrates this in three clear images.- The act of speech is like sifting wheat through a sieve: as the sifting sorts out the husks, so our speech exposes the otherwise hidden faults of our character.
- And just as the hot fire of a kiln tests the craft of the potter, so the give and take of conversation tests the integrity of the interlocutors.
- Finally, just as the quality of a fruit tree indicates the care of its cultivator, so our speech reveals everything that has gone into our formation.
“A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of the store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45).
Jesus builds on Sirach by linking the way we speak to the way we act. (Luke 6:2049). His Sermon on the Plain urged his disciples to embrace simplicity and detachment from over concern about other people’s approval. He then urged urged love of enemies, nonviolent responses to the logic of anger, selfless giving, and a compassion imitative of God's own mercy. What we say reveals who we are and then forms who we are. Our power to imitate Christ, is not our own. It comes from the power of speech and thought lifted up to God in prayer. It comes from the gift of the Spirit given in prayer, which in turn enables us to become one of those who listen to Jesus’ words and acts on them. But speech must be matched by a discipline that forms us. Our interior life and actions must sync with the Gospel.
Ash Wednesday and Forty Hours
We begin Lent by once again repenting of the rotten fruit we have produced or the faulty ways that our life, like broken pottery, is molded. We match those words of repentance with deeds of Lent:- Fasting and Abstinence: we practice detachment from our hunger.
- Alms giving: We practice detachment from our wealth.
- Prayer: We direct our speech to the true source of freedom.
