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Daily Scripture

In You, O Lord, Justice and Mercy Meet

Today’s gospel reading triggered off in my memory the number of times I have jumped the gun by passing judgment on someone before knowing all the facts — the soft data as well as the hard data. It’s clear to me now that prejudice and bias covered up by pride have a great deal to do with this jump; our comrades can do no wrong; our foes can do no right! Of course, it’s easy to meet out mercy to those we like and easier to meet out justice to those we don’t like.

The words of Isaiah introduce the theme of mercy and pave the way for the encounter of Jesus with the adulterous woman recorded in the gospel of John. The people of Israel had prostituted themselves if not in truth, at least metaphorically. God had espoused himself to them, for better or worse for richer or poorer forever. It was an irrevocable covenant that remains to this day. The people of Israel to whom Isaiah addressed these words abandoned their God and aligned themselves with foreign powers for political and economic gain. In effect, they entered an adulterous alliance and were literally carried away to a foreign land by their greed and lust for power.

In the name of their God, a disciple of Isaiah writing in his name and style reminds them of the great exodus when God led the people out of Egypt through the Red Sea into the Land of Canaan, the land they called home for centuries. In words similar to these, the prophet declares, “You think that was great? Forget about it; you ain’t seen noth’in yet! I’m about to do something even more spectacular. I’ll pave a way through the wilderness and bring you home again. I will forgive your unfaithfulness and forget your affair. Your misery will meet mercy and you will be saved.”

It has been said that pride is the worst of all sins because it distorts the truth of who we are. In fact, pride is a lie. But more than this it is a distortion of who God is. Recall that the sin of Adam and Eve was not that they wanted to be like God but that they did not recognize that they were already like God — made in God’s image and likeness.

There was another encounter taking place in John’s story beyond that of the meeting between Jesus and the woman. It was between Jesus and the woman’s accusers. In was in this encounter that justice was enjoined to the ‘trial’. “Let the one who is without sin be the first to cast the stone!” Their pride blinded them to their own sins. Jesus exposed their hypocrisy as his mercy engulfed the sinful woman.

Was he being soft on sin? Hardly. “Go now”, he said to the woman “and avoid this sin.” Might we not rightly assume that this initiative of mercy effected a dramatic change in her life? God’s saving grace was fully manifested in Jesus. Oddly enough, the same mercy resulted in the hardening of her accusers. They drifted away one by one from the eldest to the youngest but they sought another opportunity to trick him into mercy mending.

John’s story about the woman caught in the act of adultery revealed the depth to which Jesus extended himself to the sinner. “In you, O Lord, justice and mercy meet! [Psalm 85] or in the words of St. Augustine, “Misery meets mercy” in the person of Jesus.

Lent is about opening ourselves up to the saving grace of God but repentance is not something we do. It is allowing the forgiving power of God to touch our life, indeed, to engulf us and point us in a new direction. It’s about God empowering us to goodness and about our initiating a new pattern of life.

Lent is also about dropping stones and the acceptance of the humanity of others, despite their sins and failures. It is about entrusting others and ourselves to the tender mercy of God. More than that, it is about allowing ourselves to become conduits of God’s mercy and saving grace—helping others to find their way out of the wilderness of failure, sin and rejection.

“To err is human; to forgive is divine.”

At the same time, to forgive is not so much an act of the will as a disposition of the heart and in many situations, the conclusion of a very long process. We dare not be presumptuous or simplistic about it.

Forgiveness does not absolve the sinner from taking responsibility for the sin or from its consequences. Thus the mantra, “There is no forgiveness without justice, no justice without truth, no truth without full accountability.”

Here is the story that a rabbi colleague shared with me many years ago. A man went into the temple for the observance of Yom Kippur, which is the Jewish observance of atonement. As he entered the Temple, he noticed all his sins were listed on the board at the entrance. He tried to erase them but he was unable to do so. Then he went inside to participate in the penitential service. As he left the temple, he attempted once more to erase his sins but again was unable to do so. He departed and set about making amends for his sins and then returned to the temple. Lo and behold, his sins had disappeared.

This story is akin to the teaching of Jesus, “When you are bringing your gift to the altar and recall that your brother or sister has something against you, go first to be reconciled and then return with your gift.”

The Scriptures set the tone not only for our Lenten journey but also for our life long journey. Our destiny is not Jerusalem the earthly city but Jerusalem the heavenly city. Mercy is our mission but we must first pass through the gateway of justice and truth. In you O Lord, justice and mercy meet and when they do, reconciliation is complete.

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'B'

Sunday February 1, 2009

Is there a prophet in your life?

God reveals himself in stages and only over time do we get it right. And it is clear that God has revealed himself time and time again through prophets and prophecies, both ancient and new.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say about prophets and prophecy: “Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation in the expectation of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts. The prophets proclaim a radical redemption of the People of God, purification from all their infidelities, a salvation that will include all the nations. Above all, the poor and humble of the Lord will bear this hope. Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith and Esther kept alive the hope of Israel’s salvation.” [Part I, Chap 2, n 64] It’s interesting that the Catechism names only women as “holy examples” rather than all the Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Minor Prophets, among them: Daniel; Josiah, Micah and Malachi among others.

We experience many conversions in life some more dramatic than others, many of which are triggered by an official or unofficial prophet.

The ‘official prophets’ are those who speak with the authority of a legitimate church or religious body. Some Catholics might list among them figures such as John XXIII, for sure!! John Paul II and now Benedict XVI, the Dali Lama or Billy Graham. But there are other official ‘maverick’ prophets within the ranks of Church officials – even some bishops such as Bishop Tom Gumbleton who has frequently stepped out of the ranks to challenge both his colleague bishops as well as Catholics and citizens at large to a more consistent application of the Gospel of life to war and capital punishment and most recently to the issue of greater justice and charity toward people of same sex orientation. His brother is gay. He has also been an outspoken advocate for victims of sexual abuse by clergy. A priest in high school abused him. His prophetic statements have resulted in his mandatory retirement but his weekly homilies are available on the Internet courtesy of the National Catholic Reporter.

But there is a host of other prophets, men and women, who although they may not speak with the authority of a religious institution, nevertheless speak with great credibility even to Church authorities. They are worthy of our attention. Some of them are members of a religious community or institute though they may not speak for that community. Erie Benedictine, Sr. Joan Chittister is a well-known irritant to many official church ‘men’ and not a few folks in the pew. Priest and moral theologian, Charles Curran must surely be listed among the most well known prophets in both the Catholic and Protestant traditions and has unnerved not a few Vatican Officials with his writings on sexuality. He too was dismissed from his theological chair at Catholic University and now holds a teaching position in Southern Methodist. Yet, he remains a Catholic priest and engages a wide audience among Catholic scholars and ordinary folks like you and me.

Some people consider Andrew Greeley a prophet.

The ancient prophetic tradition was essential to Judaism and was an ever-present corrective to both kings and religious leaders. Unfortunately, religious institutions have done away with the role of the prophet or at least have tended to dismiss prophets as dangerous to the institution.

Of course Thomas Merton was and remains one of the greatest contemplative prophets of our time.

Politicians – congressman among them—can serve as prophets. However few and far between, they are the ones who stand tall not only as statespersons but as men and woman of the highest moral caliber in a wasteland of moral compromise and ineptitude. I’m not referring to those who use their office to evangelize or use their religion as a subtle obstacle to suppress the free exercise of religion by those of a different religious persuasion.

But there are still more unofficial prophets among us – editors, columnists, reporters, sociologists, ecologists, human rights activists, physicians, attorneys, counselors, college professors, high school teachers, and of course, seasoned grandparents of every persuasion.

Even pastors and preachers can be prophetic on occasion but they too often pay a high price for speaking the truth. Martin Luther King was a prophet for sure!

“This I Believe II – More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women” edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman in association with NPR is a marvelous little common sense book for the common man and woman. It is a series of very short essays that touch on the ordinary with an extraordinary twist. I dare say that these simple self-disclosures are having a significant impact on the lives of many readers.

Prophets get us to think and to do our homework. They do not think for us or tell what to think. Prophets prick our consciences and call attention to the moral dimension of every issue be it political, social or institutionally religious. They demand our attention and call us to integrity. They often inspire but can also get under our skin. Some pay a high price for speaking the truth but ultimately, they direct our attention to what is noble and good for us as individuals, as a community of faith and as a nation.

Is there a prophet in your life?