Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Perhaps you have heard about Martin Scorsese’s latest movie, “Silence.” The movie has been in the making since Scorsese first read the book in 1966. Its the story of two Jesuit priests (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver), who leave Portugal for Japan, to find a third priest (Liam Neeson) who has gone missing while working as a missionary. The third priest is believed to have committed apostasy by stepping on an image of Jesus Christ after being tormented by the Japanese. The role of one of the two priests is played by Andrew Garfield. To play his part, Garfield actually made the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola. Originally, he did not make the Exercises in self-interest. He did it to get over his own “not-enoughness” - the feeling of not being good enough. But what happened was totally unexpected. In an interview he gave to Brendan Busse, he said, “God! That was the most remarkable thing—falling in love, and how easy it was to fall in love with Jesus.”
Of course, my aim is to connect today’s scripture readings to our life. I would like to do so through the eyes of Andrew Garfield. Before I do that, let me say this: The gospel reading today and all the way up to the beginning of Lent is from the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, we began last week with the Beatitudes, and today, Jesus addresses his disciples as “salt” and “light.” Here are my three points for today.
1. Who does God Want me to Be? Let me begin with the first provocative statement from Garfield. He said, “There were so many things in the Exercises that changed and transformed me, that showed me who I was… and where I believe God wanted me to be.” The Sermon of the Mount shows us who God wants us to be. In today’s gospel Jesus says, “Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” In the coming weeks we will hear more specifically what these “good deeds” are. But brace yourself… unless we are love with Jesus, the demands of the coming weeks will be an impossible task. To be transformed by God through the Sermon on the Mount will require that we fall in love with Jesus. Folks, I believe that all of us are in love God. But that is not what Garfield means. He means, have you fallen so deeply in love with Jesus that you willing to be transformed into who God wants you to be?
2. What is the transformation that God is looking for in us? Let us talk about the transformation that God seeks in us. Here it is: Have we fallen so deeply in love with Jesus, so that we can leave our gifts at the altar and first be reconciled with our brother? Have we fallen so deeply in love with Jesus so as to eliminate lust from our hearts? Have we fallen so deeply in love with Jesus so that our “Yes” means a “Yes” and our “No” means a “No?” Have we fallen so deeply in love with Jesus that we turn the other cheek? Have we fallen so deeply in love with Jesus so that when someone asks us to walk a mile with them, we walk two? Have we fallen so deeply in love with Jesus that have the capacity to love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us? Have we fallen so deeply in love with Jesus so as to seek ‘first” the kingdom of God? Have we fallen so deeply in love with Jesus that we dare to pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive?” Have we fallen so deeply in love with Jesus that we do not pass judgment? Have we fallen so deeply in love with Jesus that our life gives glory to our heavenly Father? People whose life reflects the life-style Jesus are the “salt of the earth” and “light of the world.” Are you and I one of those people? Or, are we so deeply love with Jesus to be transformed into one of them?
3. Turning Suffering Into Beauty. Silence is a very difficult movie to watch. It captures with great intensity the gruesome suffering of people who refused to stomp the crucifix and the utter compulsion of those who chose to do it. In his interview, Andrew Garfield speaks about his reason for choosing to act in the movie. He says, “I have been drawn to stories that are attempting to turn suffering into beauty.” “Turning suffering into beauty” — is this not what the cross of Christ is all about? How is it that a sight so gruesome is also the most fascinating sight when we enter any Church? It is not because, in Christ, God has transformed suffering into beauty. When Christ invites us to be “salt” and “light,” he is inviting us to do the same. In today’s first reading from Isaiah, we have one way to turn suffering into beauty. “Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn….” And again, “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.” Are we so deeply in love with Jesus that we can turn suffering into beauty?
Andrew Garfield’s interviewer, Brendan Busse, also a Jesuit, remarks at the end of his interview, that at the core of the Spiritual Exercises is the “personification of love, not the possibility of it.” He says, “The possibility or the impossibility of love paralyzes us. But the personification of love… is that redeems us in the end.” In other words, we are not called to debate whether we can be who God wants us to be—of being “salt” or “light” or “love” — we are simply called to be one. In a few moments from now, on this altar, suffering will turn into beauty, love will turn into a person — the one we must fall in love with, Jesus Christ.
- Fr. Satish Joseph