20150221 CALL TO METANOIA – A CHANGE OF MINDSET
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Isaiah 58:9-14 ©
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The Lord says this:
If you do away with
the yoke,
the clenched fist,
the wicked word,
if you give your
bread to the hungry,
and relief to the
oppressed,
your light will rise
in the darkness,
and your shadows
become like noon.
The Lord will always
guide you,
giving you relief in
desert places.
He will give strength
to your bones
and you shall be like
a watered garden,
like a spring of
water
whose waters never
run dry.
You will rebuild the
ancient ruins,
build up on the old
foundations.
You will be called
‘Breach-mender’,
‘Restorer of ruined
houses.’
If you refrain from
trampling the sabbath,
and doing business on
the holy day,
if you call the
Sabbath ‘Delightful’,
and the day sacred to
the Lord ‘Honourable’,
if you honour it by
abstaining from travel,
from doing business
and from gossip,
then shall you find
your happiness in the Lord
and I will lead you
triumphant over the heights of the land.
I will feed you on
the heritage of Jacob your father.
For the mouth of the
Lord has spoken.
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Psalm
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Psalm 85:1-6 ©
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Show me, Lord,
your way so that I may walk in your truth.
Turn your ear, O
Lord, and give answer
for I am
poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for
I am faithful;
save the
servant who trusts in you.
Show me, Lord,
your way so that I may walk in your truth.
You are my God, have
mercy on me, Lord,
for I cry
to you all the day long.
Give joy to your
servant, O Lord,
for to
you I lift up my soul.
Show me, Lord,
your way so that I may walk in your truth.
O Lord, you are good
and forgiving,
full of
love to all who call.
Give heed, O Lord, to
my prayer
and
attend to the sound of my voice.
Show me, Lord,
your way so that I may walk in your truth.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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cfPs94:8
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Glory to you, O
Christ, you are the Word of God!
Harden not your
hearts today,
but listen to the
voice of the Lord.
Glory to you, O
Christ, you are the Word of God!
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Or
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Ezk33:11
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Glory to you, O
Christ, you are the Word of God!
I take pleasure, not
in the death of a wicked man
– it is the Lord who
speaks –
but in the turning
back of a wicked man
who changes his ways
to win life.
Glory to you, O
Christ, you are the Word of God!
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Gospel
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Luke 5:27-32 ©
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Jesus noticed a tax
collector, Levi by name, sitting by the customs house, and said to him, ‘Follow
me.’ And leaving everything he got up and followed him.
In his
honour Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a
large gathering of tax collectors and others. The Pharisees and their scribes
complained to his disciples and said, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax
collectors and sinners?’ Jesus said to them in reply, ‘It is not those who are
well who need the doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the virtuous,
but sinners to repentance.’
CALL
TO METANOIA – A CHANGE OF MINDSET
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: ISAIAH 58:9B-14; LUKE 5:27-32
Yesterday
the gospel gives us the purpose of Lent, which is to yearn for the
bridegroom, that is, for Christ. Happiness is to be united with
Christ our bridegroom in love. Joy is to be found in union with the one
whom we love. The objective of our Lenten exercises, especially prayer
and fasting, is to arrive at this goal. But what is blocking us
from coming closer to the Lord? What is the barrier that hinders us from
union with Jesus our bridegroom? It is our sins and, most of all, the lack of repentance.
The real
obstacle for us who are supposedly good Catholics, some even active in Church
ministry, is that we are like the Pharisees during the time of Jesus, blinded
by our spiritual pride and self-righteousness. We are not conscious of our
sinfulness. Many of us have difficulty feeling contrite in our hearts,
because we do not feel that we have committed any big sins. Of course,
“big” sins are quite relative among many of us. This is where the
ambiguity lies. Most of us are quite contented with our small sins.
So long as we do not commit serious sins, we feel quite smug and righteous
about ourselves. For this reason there is no real change of heart
because, like the Pharisees and the scribes, we think too highly of ourselves.
This is particularly
true of Catholics who are active in the ministry, or even nominal Catholics. The Book of Revelation warns
us, “I know your works: you were neither cold not hot. Would that you
were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm. neither cold nor hot, I
will spew you out of my mouth.” (Rev 3:15) It is a fact that
so-called religious people are most difficult to convert, as they think they
are good enough for the Lord and hence have no motivation to change or improve
themselves. The call to conversion falls on deaf ears and hardened
hearts. They feel that they have done enough for the Lord; after all,
they have fulfilled the basic obligations of a Catholic, even offering
themselves to the Lord in ministry.
Yet, the gospel makes it
clear that Jesus came for sinners, not the healthy. “It is not the
healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance.” He had come for people who are conscious of
their sinfulness, as in the case of Levi the tax-collector. He, like the
rest of his kind, knew what it was like to be marginalized and be hated by
their fellow Jews for colluding with the Roman conquerors in taxing their own
countrymen. What was worse, they often over taxed them as well, making
extra money for themselves. Despised and rejected by their fellowmen, it
was therefore unimaginable for Levi to be accepted by Jesus. This explains why
Levi, who was so overwhelmed by Jesus’ condescension to call him to be his
disciple, invited Him to a “great banquet” to celebrate with his friends. Levi
must have wanted so much to let his friends meet Jesus so as to experience the
compassion and mercy of God.
The truth is that we are
all like Levi. We are no better than him because we also make use of
people for our selfish gains. We are also self-centered and we
collaborate with those whom we think can make our lives happier, or when we
have something to gain from them. In short, we are sinners, as St Paul in
Romans said, we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We
might not have committed big sins but certainly our so-called venial sins, such
as gossiping, lacking in charity, unconcerned with those in need, etc have hurt
our neighbors. Today, we must examine ourselves in the light of today’s
first reading, whether we are truly charitable in our words and deeds towards
our fellowmen, and ask whether we have kept the Sabbath, that is, our
relationship with the Lord.
However, as the Prophet
tells us, it is not even sufficient to think that if we have not committed
sins, we are walking in the way of the Lord. Avoiding sinful acts is
not tantamount to doing good. Rather, as Isaiah exhorts us, not only
must we “do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and
malicious talk” but we must also spend “ourselves on behalf of the hungry and
satisfy the needs of the oppressed.” Only then, Isaiah says, “your light
will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”
We are called in a special way to be reconcilers and peacemakers. “Your
people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old
foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets
with Dwellings.”
In other words, awareness
of our sins requires that we take positive actions in correcting them, not just
by ceasing to do evil but also learning to do good. Levi, when called
upon by the Lord, left everything, his trade, his old way of life and his
luxuries to follow Jesus the itinerant preacher. The evangelist wrote,
“Levi got up, left everything and followed him.” He gave up his future to
follow Jesus to the passion. The genuineness of his conversion is
demonstrated by what we call, metanoia, which is more than just contrition for
one’s sins but a 180 degree change in the direction of life. Instead of
following the way of the world, we are now called to turn against the world and
follow Jesus instead. As the lyric of a popular hymn has it, “I have
decided to follow Jesus …. No turning back …. The world behind me, the cross before
me …” So, repentance, or metanoia, means a change of mindset, putting on
the mind of Christ in looking at the world. St Paul says, “Do not be
conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that
you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and
perfect.”
If we are honest with
ourselves, we will acknowledge that we are all hurt and broken in many ways. Even if we are not physically
sick, we are all spiritually and emotionally sick. Many of us are still
nursing grudges in our hearts. Our wounded memories continue to haunt
us. We are still resentful and lacking forgiveness towards those who have
hurt us. Like Levi too, we are still ruled by the world and by the
temptations of the flesh. So what are those areas in our lives that we
need to come to the Divine Physician for healing, since He promises us that His
purpose for coming is to heal the sick, not the healthy? If you think you
are healthy and do not need healing, then you will miss the healing grace that
Jesus comes to give us. We must be like Levi who made himself available
to healing by the Lord.
So, like Matthew, we
must recognize ourselves as sinners and sick, without giving any excuses but
simply accuse ourselves so that there can be a real metanoia in our
lives. Let us take up the response seriously, asking the Lord to show us
the way so that we can walk in the truth and find life. This was the
response of Levi to Jesus’ invitation, “Follow me.” So, too, during Lent, we
must become disciples of Jesus by following Him on His way to Jerusalem, the
place of His passion and glory. If we follow Jesus as Levi did, then as Isaiah
says, God will shine in our lives and we will live fruitful lives.
Indeed, those who are ready to follow the Lord by giving up their old
lifestyle in exchange for His will, as the prophet says, “your light will rise
in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday … You will
be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. You
will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of
the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” The
season of Lent with all the Lenten exercises therefore are not meant to take
away the joy of living but set us free to live the fullness of life.
If we want to celebrate
like Levi with Jesus in the heavenly banquet of love and life, then let us
renew our love for the Lord and ask the Lord to give us a contrite heart.
Without a contrite heart, we cannot speak of true repentance. This is our
plea today in the response at the responsorial psalm, “Teach me your way, O
Lord, that I may walk in your truth.” We need to beg the Lord to
teach us His way, enlighten our minds so that we can walk in His truth and find
life.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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