HOPE

HOPE – 3rd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year C

            There is an awesomeness about an assembly of God’s people listening reverently to God’s Word and weighing it against their own lives. Two emotions and two reactions are usually stirred in the people at these times. All experience both sadness and joy. Sadness is experienced because when we hear the law of God, we can become aware of our failures to live according to God’s law. Joy is experienced because we come to realize the beauty, power, and life in the law of God. We all become aware if we keep the law in a fuller way, we will be happier and more fulfilled with greater hope. We know that Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Levites told the people: “Today is holy to the Lord your God. Do not be sad, and do not weep – for all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law”.

            Many of the Scriptures on the law can lead us to sadness first, but then to joy as we listen and change our hearts and lives. The law is a source of hope and life for us, and therefore never intends to leave us sad, but to lead us into hope and joy. Only if we don’t listen and follow the law do we remain in sadness. Psalm 19 and the Book of Nehemiah describe what happened when Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly. He read and explained the law from daybreak till midday. The atmosphere was one of attentive listening to the law. As the people saw how others were reacting and receiving the law it influenced them and impressed on them its importance. The people responded with assent as Ezra blessed the Lord. They opened the scrolls. They waited with anticipation as he opened the scrolls. They wondered what God was going to say to them. They were ready to hear the Lord speak through Ezra’s reading and explanation of the law.

            “Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life. The Law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul…The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.” The law brings joy when we are keeping it or intend to begin keeping it. Simply by keeping the law we already know, we begin to grow in joy. We all know more of the law already than we keep it in its fullness. We know keeping the law of God increases our joy and assures our hope. “…the command of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eye…the ordinances of the Lord are true, all of them just.”

            Trying to keep the whole law of God leads to greater life, just as keeping all the health laws leads to greater health. Any breaking of the law of God in any area of our life can eventually harm the whole moral and spiritual structure. We know if we could make each member of our body take responsibility for the rest of the body, we are going to be healthier. If we could keep the body exercising, our whole person would function more efficiently. If we feed our spirits on the truth of God’s Word and law, and the treasures of the Tradition of the Church’s wisdom and prayer, we become more whole and balanced.

            St. Paul translates these truths over to the Body of Christ, which is made up of the believers in Christ given life by the Spirit. The way each of us lives out the law of Christ affects the health of the whole Church. Paul teaches in First Corinthians: “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit”.

            We hear humanly with others more than we do when alone (words, news, movies). Likewise, we hear the Word of God differently in the assembly than we do in private. There seems to be a different dynamic in experiencing news whether human or divine with others rather than just with ourselves. There is a different grace and atmosphere. Of course there are times when the private hearing is better for us.

Jesus’ words in the Diary of St. Faustina (1485)

“My mercy is greater than your sins and those of the entire world. Who can measure the extent of my goodness? For you I descended from heaven to earth; for you I allowed myself to be nailed to the cross; for you I let my Sacred Heart be pierced with a lance, thus opening wide the source of mercy for you. Come then with trust to draw graces from this fountain. I never reject a contrite heart.”