Posted by The WORD in other words (2009) by Bro. Romy Abulad, SVD — University of San Carlos, Cebu
Tuesday 2nd Week of Lent
Image from Wikimedia commons
Lent is a season that calls for repentance, for a radical self-transformation, and for effecting such a change in one’s self that one literally becomes a new man. This is the joy of Lent, and this is also its pain. For change is like surgery; it inflicts wound and cuts to the point that it hurts. Change is not a painless process, especially when we speak of a radical change.
This is why Isaiah’s call seems rather loud and harsh. He likens Judah and Jerusalem to Sodom and Gomorrah. Mincing no words, he yells the voice of the Lord, “Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good.” (Isaiah 1,16) Justice, he says, should be their aim and they should redress those they wronged, such as the orphans and the widows, those they oppress and push to the margins. (Cf. Isaiah 1,17)
In a similarly harsh way, Jesus deals with the scribes and the Pharisees. “For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen.” (Luke 23,3-5a) That, exactly, is what is meant by the adjective we still use today, “pharisaical” which pertains to the Pharisees. We are pharisaical when we preach one thing and do another; in other words, we are hypocrites. To be pharisaical and to be hypocritical are synonymous. Like Judah and Jerusalem, and like Sodom and Gomorrah, “they should humble themselves and repent.”
Aren’t we all hypocrites? We try to look good in order to hide the dark side of us. In short, we perform for appearances. We seem to be good, but are we really good? The Church recommends the sacrament of confession or reconciliation at least once a year, and specifically during the season of Lent. It takes humility to admit one’s faults, and even more humility to confess it to another sinful human being like us, even if he happens to be a priest.
But the reward of such a humble act is tremendous. “Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow,” says Isaiah, “Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.” (Isaiah 1,17-18) And Jesus says something even more marvelous, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself with lots of humility will be exalted.” (Luke 23,12) A person who goes through a radical change in himself will experience something beyond what one can think of or imagine. This experience is beyond words.
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