Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent
Quite often, it takes considerable reflection to discern the message of the daily readings. Today is not one of those days. Direct and convicting, today’s passages challenge us to shed our hypocrisy and live as God would have us live. This is not to say that today’s passages ignore the difficulties and mistakes we make along the way. Instead, they help us understand that these difficulties and mistakes are in fact difficulties and mistakes. They are not just the normal way of things. In turn, our response ought not be a simple shrug and wink at the impossibility of perfection. As the poet Samuel Beckett once wrote: Every try? Every fail? No Matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
These passages help us see that our failings are in fact failings. At the same time, by helping us see these things, they can help us fail better.
The first reading, from the prophet Isaiah, calls us to cleanliness and justice. The passage, “Come now, let us set things right,” is beautiful in its simplicity. Very often we fail to set things right, perhaps because it is too painful, perhaps because we just don’t want to deal with it. “Come now, let us set things right” is such a simple statement. It is such a difficult thing in practice. We may fail at the attempt. However, it ought not be for lack of trying.
The second reading, from the gospel of Matthew, calls us on our hypocrisy. Again, “practice what you preach” is beautiful and simple. Again, it is a difficult thing to practice. We preach the gospel. Most of us do not preach the gospel from a pulpit. We preach it in our actions and in our everyday life. For myself, this preaching consistently fails. I consistently fail to live up to the love that was freely bestowed by our true Father and Master. However, if you know that love, then you also know that it was given at a cost. I also consistently fail to pay the cost: to serve with humility, to perform good works without the need for recognition. “Practice what you preach” can be a source of conviction as much as a piece of advice.
This is not meant to be discouraging because Christianity is ultimately a comedy. We may try and fail. Grace ever succeeds. As we fail better, we grow in grace.
Today let us ponder in our hearts how we might “set things right.”
- Adam Sheridan