We just heard on today’s
second reading that The Jews demand signs
and the Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling
block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles[1].
So many times we
make the same mistakes that the Jews and Greek: we look for signs: “Lord, give
me a sign of what I should do, what school I should go to, who I should marry,
what career I should embrace. Give me a sign if we should move or not, etc.
etc. I don’t need anything too major–maybe just a word or two in my alphabet
soup: Go here, do that.” Or we look to
our own intellects, and we are satisfied with just rationalizing a choice. This
is all bogus; it is a waste of time. As Catholics the sign that we have is the
sign of Christ crucified. The wisdom that we need is the wisdom of God. When we have to make a decision, we need to reflect
on Christ on the Cross. We need to reflect on sacrificial love, and how we can
best apply His love in our lives. Instead of worrying about our wants, we have
to consider another’s needs and how our decision can best bring God’s love to
another.
And we have to
have the courage and humility to put up with people calling us fools, whether
they do this to our face, or, usually, behind our backs. “So, you are going to
have another baby, how foolish.” “So, you are going to skimp to put your child
in a private school, how foolish.” “So, you are going to be the only one in
school, at work, in the neighborhood, who is not living for his or her own
pleasure, how foolish.” “So, you are going to be the perpetual designated
driver and conscience for your friends, how foolish.” “So, you are going to
wait until marriage, how foolish.”
If sacrificial love means that we are foolish in the
eyes of other people, so be it.
Too often we
seek the applause and recognition from others, and expect a reward. Very often
we want our name on the wall of a church, in one of the benches, even the
Archbishop to notice us.
My brother, my
sister, the good does not make noise,
and noise does no good. Love, when is true and is sacrificial is full of
silence. We cannot seek the applause of others or that others notice the good
we're doing. The words of the gospel of Ash Wednesday are very clear: do not let your left hand know what your
right is doing[2].
A few weeks ago
the Archbishop gave an award to a lay person from each parish in the
Archdiocese. The ceremony was at St. Dominic Parish; the information
is in Today’s Catholic newspaper. The person in our parish who received the
award is a parishioner unknown to most of the parishioners, is a person who
performs cleaning, service and a great attention to others. A person who never
sought recognition and applause, a person who does not gossip, a person who is
always at the service of his brothers and sisters. Of course I will not mention
the name; I just want to use this example in our meditation today.
We must learn to
go unnoticed, not to seek the applause of others and do well without being
noticed. On the other hand, we must learn not to ask for special signs of God.
God speaks through His Word, through the celebration of the sacraments, and through
daily events. If we cannot read the messages of God in all this is perhaps because
we are too superficial and frivolous, and because we need to increase our
spirituality. Lent is a good time for this. Sunday Mass is a good time for
this. We will use the time. We are in the middle of Lent. We return to the Lord
and we learn to hear his voice, and let's say with all my heart the words of
the psalm today: Lord, you have the words
of everlasting life ■
