Step out of your misery

Greetings on this the Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Readings: Is 58:9b-14; PS 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6; Lk 5:27-32

Notes

I saw a meme the other day that said, “May you never be so accustomed to misery that you fail to see the way out.“

The Lord says, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord, but rather in his conversion, that he may live (Ez 33:11).

Summary

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.

Jesus is a compelling person to be sure. And we think in those terms when he calls Levi to follow him. We must imagine also the misery of Levi. Tax collectors are not popular people as a rule. But the teaching of John the Baptist may give some indication of his misery: Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He answered them, “Stop collecting more than what is prescribed (LK 3:12-13).” Isolated, tolerated, a cheat (real or imagined), the tax collector was just about an outcast. Certainly eating with a tax collector would render a person ritually impure.

Reflection

In today’s gospel portion we are presented a way out of misery. Levi (Matthew) may have many creature comforts of the life of a tax collector but being isolated and miserable he did not have what matters – a healthy relationship (righteousness) with the Lord.

Personal Reflection

I don’t have the magic answer, sorry. And to be sure the Lord doesn’t propose a magic answer. It might feel like magic, but it is not. It’s a decision. “If you remove”, “If you bestow”, “If you hold back”, “If you call”, and “If you honor” are the starting points of righteousness. To which “I will”, “The Lord will”, “He will” are the blessed consequences of being righteous.

For all this to happen, you have to want to step out of your misery.

First Reading

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. If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable; Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth.

Responsorial

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

Gospel Acclamation

I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord, but rather in his conversion, that he may live.

Gospel

The Call of Levi. Cross Reference Mt 9:9–13; Mk 2:13–17.

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.

“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry