Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Have you ever listened to a good homily, or convicting speech? From the outside it was apparent that you were listening attentively. You looked at the speaker, your head bobbed along in silent affirmation. Internally, you really paid attention, you took in the speaker’s every word. But every word passed through a filter that identified the person in your life who would benefit the most from hearing what you heard. Not a single word got past your mental mail sorter who filled up crates assigned to friends, family, and colleagues, while your mail tote remained empty. You walked from this event without the slightest indicator that it impacted your life, but with plenty of “notes” that you couldn’t wait to share with everyone in your life.
What I described above comes from personal experience. I find myself constantly succumbing to the breach between “me and them.” I deflect admonishment directed at me like a mirror deflects light and mentally assign a new target of my own choosing. I even found myself doing this with today’s first reading.
I distanced myself from the ‘you’ found in Isaiah’s words today, “If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday.” Instead of allowing these words to convict me, admonish me, or even comfort me, I immediately began sorting through the mail. I assigned malicious speech to one person, care for the poor to another, and the promise of light arising in darkness to yet another person. I had some base presumption that God wanted to share these words with everyone in the world, except me.
So my challenge today is to repair the breach between the “me and them.” We might be tempted to read scripture or listen to Father’s homily tomorrow as if they were intended for everyone but us. Instead of doing that, take the time to allow these things to be addressed to you first. They can all be shared, but how much better to share them after we’ve allowed them to take root in our own life.
- Spencer Hargadon