A Humbled and Contrite Heart"
Today's Mass Readings
The theme of today’s readings can be captured in the Psalm response: “A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn” (Ps 51.:19). Contrition, repentance, conversion are words that summarize this theme. However, to understand this theme we first need to understand the rationale for the call to repentance in both the readings. The call to repentance is highly relevant in the context of sin and its consequences. In other words, if there was no sin there would be no need for repentance. The best way to understand sin to use the archery imagery. An archer who fires an arrow aims it on a certain precise point. But not all arrows find their mark for various reasons. Some arrows end up far away from the target. Similarly, sin is often defined as “missing the mark.” All of us as human beings often lose direction or lose our target (godly lives). Repentance is call to each human being to evaluate the direction his/her life is moving toward. Repentance is the willingness a person shows to redirect his/her life in the right direction – life with God.
Now let us return to the readings for the day. Since the first sin of Adam and Eve (they lost their direction), God has been calling humanity to reorient itself toward God. The first reading from the book of Jonah is a call to a foreign nation to find its way toward God. And surprisingly, Nineveh recognizes its sin and comes back to God. In the gospel reading, on the contrary, God’s own people reject the call to conversion. Jesus’ frustration with his own people is expressed in the words, “At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here” (Lk 11:32).
Lent is an opportunity to for us to repent. But why should in repent, if I do not have serious sin in my life? Simply because repentance is not merely about confessing my sins! Repentance and conversion is about making sure that each day in the choices I make my life I going in the right direction. Repentance is about recognizing the many other directions that I can be pulled toward – materialism, individualism, agnosticism, indifferentism, unethical and irresponsible capitalism, godless secularism and other isms. Repentance is about keeping the arrow of our lives on target – on God, on community, love, service, justice, forgiveness, humility, peace, faith, and God’s kingdom.
Let us use this Lent to re-orient ourselves. Let us use the Psalm suggested for today as a prayer to end this reflection. Psalm Prayer
- Fr. Satish Joseph