Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent
Today’s first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah is a perfect reading for this Lenten season. This passage is addressed to the people of God, the southern tribe of Judah and to the city of Jerusalem, and yet, Isaiah calls the people of God here, Sodom and Gomorrah, two notoriously wicked cities from the time of Abraham in the book of Genesis. These insults against the people are intended to help the people realize how sinful they have become. Isaiah is giving the people of God a wakeup call: time to repent.
Eventually Isaiah will foretell the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the destruction of the city of Jerusalem itself, and the exile of the people, which in today’s reading is only hinted at as a warning. But his message holds one of hope (both for the people of the time whose eventual restoration is promised, but also for us). The season of Lent is one long wakeup call to us: the time to repent is now!
And in our repentance, our turning away from sin and returning back to God, our taking up penance and striving onwards towards the holy cross on Good Friday, to enter into the Easter joy to follow, is our hope. Isaiah’s words of hope are for us as well and not simply his original audience.
We must wash ourselves clean. We do this at baptism, we recall this with every sign of the cross we make, every time we take holy water. But after our baptism we are most especially washed clean in the great Sacrament of Reconciliation, in confession and penance. At every celebration of Confession truly Isaiah’s words are fulfilled in us: “Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool” (1:18). Think about what is crimson red, scarlet: Blood. Blood stains, but our sins, no matter how grave, no matter how mortal, no matter how evil, can be washed away. Our souls can be like a newly baptized baby’s. We only need show up to confession with contrite spirits and confess our sins with the intention to follow God and sin no more.
Let us make a special effort this Lent to make a habit of going to confession more frequently, or, if we are already going weekly or with high frequency, let us spend time reflecting on what a wonderful gift the Lord has given us in this much-neglected Sacrament. Let us also strive to come to Mass more frequently, or for those who already attend daily Mass and should not be going more frequently, let us spend some time reflecting on what an awesome gift we have in the Eucharist. It is in baptism and confession that we are washed clean, and it is in the Eucharist that we eat the good things of the land.
- Jeff Morrow