20240217 REPAIRER OF BROKEN WALLS
17 February 2024, Saturday after Ash Wednesday
First reading | Isaiah 58:9-14 © |
You will be like a spring whose waters never run dry
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.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 85(86):1-6 © |
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.
Gospel Acclamation | cfPs94:8 |
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!
Or: | Ezk33:11 |
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!
Gospel | Luke 5:27-32 © |
Jesus comes not to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance
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.’
REPAIRER OF BROKEN WALLS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ISAIAH 58:9-14; PS 86:1-6; LUKE 5:27-32]
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” How touching are these words spoken by our Lord. He has come for the sick and for sinners. This is a God who cares for us in our brokenness and in our sinfulness. He came to heal us, body and soul. He not only came to take away our infirmities but He came to take away our sins. He came precisely for the tax-collectors and the sinners. He came for the outcasts. This is the reason for Jesus’ coming. He is as what the first reading says, “Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” Jesus came to reconcile us with God and with each other. He came to repair our souls.
Levi the tax-collector was called by the Lord. Jesus could have chosen better apostles and disciples to join Him. But He came to call everyone, irrespective of position and wealth. Levi must have been moved by the Lord’s choice of him. He was totally unworthy but the Lord counted him worthy. This is how the Lord regards each one of us. He wants us to follow Him. No matter what our past was and our sins, the Lord is ever ready to forgive us and make us a new creation. In His eyes, we are just ignorant and foolish. He knows we are not conscious of our real identity as God’s children.
Hence, we should not be afraid to let go and allow Him to take over our lives. This was what Levi did. He “got up, left everything and followed him.” Levi gave up his business and his security. We can imagine the risk that Levi took in following Jesus. He was giving up what sustained him all these years. To give up one’s security and place our security in Jesus requires courage and faith. Levi did that. When the Lord called him, he responded without hesitation and left his past and his security, his wealth and position to follow Jesus. We, too, if we want to find new life, we must be ready to let go of our past and false security. Many are not willing to give up their sins, their worldly pursuits and their pleasures because they think these give them happiness. In fact, these are creating problems in their lives. When we live in sin, we hurt ourselves and our loved ones. When we are not living an honest life, there is no peace, joy or real security in this life.
The outcome of being loved and accepted by God is the feeling of joy, freedom and generosity. We can imagine how Levi must have felt to be accepted by God. All his life he was despised by his own people and condemned as a sinner by the Jewish leaders. Although he was making money, he had no friends. He was considered an outcast and marginalized. But with Jesus, he felt loved and accepted again. This calls for a celebration. Any man who is in union with God is always joyful and at peace. He wanted to celebrate. For this reason, he called for a big banquet.
But Levi was not only celebrating for himself, he wanted his friends to celebrate with him. So “Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.” Levi wanted very much to share his new-found joy and freedom with the other tax-collectors. Having been reconciled with the Lord, he became become a “Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings”; a bridge builder and a reconciler. This was the same feeling of St Paul when he wrote, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor 5:18-20) We who have been healed and reconciled must now do the same for others by reaching out to those who are alienated from the Lord. We must be reconcilers.
How can we be reconcilers during this season of Lent? Firstly, we must be reconciled ourselves. We cannot bring peace to others when our hearts are not at peace. We must therefore make ourselves available for the Lord to heal us. He wants to cure us, especially of our pride and selfishness. The religious leaders could not find healing and they were not at peace within themselves because they were hypocritical. They found Jesus to be a threat to their insincerity. So, before we can be reconcilers, we must humble ourselves to look for the divine physician. We must be ready to admit that we are wrong and that we need healing. As Jesus reminds us, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” So in all humility we must come before the Lord to seek forgiveness.
For grave sins, the Lord will say to us, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Many do not avail themselves of this sacrament of reconciliation because of pride. They know that they need to hear the words of forgiveness from God’s representative because they are human beings. So let us not allow pride to imprison us. We must not allow shame to have a hold over us, for that is what the devil uses. We all need assurance from those appointed by God to know that our sins are forgiven. We also need to unload and speak about our past and our sins so that we can be healed. What is unknown and unspoken cannot be healed. So we must prepare ourselves so that with a contrite heart, we can make a good sacrament of reconciliation. With courage and confidence, and with humility, we must pray for the grace of a good confession. Find a good confessor and unload all your sins and you will find a peace and freedom that only God can give.
Secondly, we must be like Levi who became a bridge builder. We must bring others to Jesus or bring Jesus to them. Many are like the friends and colleagues of Levi. They are lost, rejected and lonely. Their lives are without meaning and purpose even though they might have all that they want. We must find opportunities to introduce Jesus to such people. We can be sure that many of Levi’s friends must have been touched by the Lord. We, too, can be the link between Jesus and those who are searching for the Lord. If we have discovered Jesus and the difference He makes in our lives, it is only natural to introduce Him to others. The failure to speak about Jesus to them means that we are not too sure whether Jesus can make any real difference in the lives of others. Introducing them to Jesus is not proselytizing but just an offer, just as we tell people about a product that we bought and found to be good.
Finally, we can become healers of souls and bodies when we become the light that “rise in darkness.” More importantly, we are now called to be living the life of Christ. This means that, like Levi, we must live a new life of justice and charity. The Prophet Isaiah says, “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” Instead of doing evil, oppressing people and blaming people for our woes, we should focus less on ourselves but on those who need our help. Reaching out to those who are suffering will help us to identify with their pain and also to appreciate the blessings that we have received. Charity covers a multitude of sins. (cf 1 Pt 4:8)
By doing good works, we help ourselves as much as we help others. As we do good, our capacity to do more good will increase. He will increase our capacity to do more. “The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” So let our prayer be that of the psalmist, “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. 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.” With Levi, let us seek to follow Jesus and give glory to our God. “If you call the Lord’s holy day honorable, if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord.”
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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