Monday of the Second Week of Lent

Today's Mass Readings

One of the strains of Jewish theology found in the first part of the Old Testament is known as the Deuteronomic Principle. The basic notion is that if an individual or the people as a whole are faithful to the ordinances of the Lord, one or corporately they will receive blessings corresponding to obedience. (This does not account for why bad things happen to good people, and thus the Book of Job tries to grapple with faithfulness in spite of suffering.)

In the gospel, Jesus says that if we give gifts, then God will give us gifts. It sounds very much like the Deuteronomic Principle. In the Sermon on the Mount Christ says, “give to anyone who asks of you” (Matt. 5:42). The founder of a Catholic missionary organization spoke to our seminarians recently and he stated that this is a hard saying. Additionally, he said, it was impossible: one cannot give to everyone, and in some cases, it would enable bad behavior.

Notice, however, that Jesus links generosity to being nonjudgmental. Again, the missionary told us that one cannot give to everyone; one should, though, get to know one person well and help that one. This is how we overcome judgment at large: we see the humanity and dignity of an individual before us. As the questionable priest-protagonist of Graham Greene’s novel The Power and the Glory puts it: “When you visualized a man or woman carefully, you could always begin to feel pity…that was a quality God’s image carried with it… When you saw the lines at the corners of the eyes, the shape of the mouth, how the hair grew, it was impossible to hate. Hate was just a failure of imagination” (p. 177).

Almsgiving, mercy, and learning to forgive are all a part of relationship. God does not just love us – He likes us! And we are called to like our neighbors more this Lent.

Reflection by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB