Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent
As a priest, some of the best examinations of conscience I have are hearing confessions. A penitent’s sorrow over transgressions that I too easily dismissed as trivial can become a question to my own standard of judgment. For priests, teachers, and parents, we bear the responsibility for forming others in the faith. Challenge and accountability can be humbling, but surely it is necessary for spiritual growth – both our own and for those we teach.
Today, Jesus says that while He often found the added laws of the scribes and Pharisees burdensome, He will fulfill and not abolish the Law given to Israel. Yet His very coming among us in the flesh was to fulfill in His own person what no one of could do by our own lights. Thus, when we find ourselves coming up against the law, virtue, and the witness of other people and failing, we should not beat ourselves up or resort of giving up. Instead, we turn over to the Lord to perfect us and sustain us in our weakness that will always be present. Over time, though, we will see how God’s grace, and not our many efforts, will transform us.
True humility means admitting our weakness in fulfilling the standard, but also not dispensing ourselves too soon from it. Nothing is impossible for God. Nor do we do anyone favors, states Christ, if we tell others that the rules are unattainable. To do the little you can with grace to perfect will make you the greatest in the kingdom, and encouraging any attempt to build the kingdom of heaven according to God’s ways makes one the least. Charles Cardinal Journet wrote: “There must be every sort of thing in God’s garden, not only all the different flowers but grass, too, and pebbles in the paths. And, after all, it is a fine thing to be only a pebble in the paths of Paradise!” (The Meaning of Grace).
Reflection by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB
Posted in Articles for Lent, Daily Reflections, Lenten Resources