Sunday Scripture Readings

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EIGHTH SUNDAY

IN ORDINARY TIME,

march 2

Hosea 2:16-17, 21-22; Psalm 103;

2 Corinthians 3:1-6; Mark 2:18-22

OUR GOOD NEWS: Getting ready for Lent involves purifying our understanding of God! Today's Gospel is a welcome preparation for the Lenten season, which we begin in a few days. We may be accustomed to understanding Lent exclusively as a time for rigorous penance and mortification, but our situation should approximate that of Jesus' first disciples who, according to today's Gospel, celebrated the presence of the Lord at meals rather than fasting. Jesus justified this rather shocking behavior by explaining that the Messiah is now come among them as God's final-age gift. There is nothing more to pray and prepare for through acts of penitence. "How can the guests at a wedding fast as long as the groom is still among them? So long as the groom stays with them, they cannot fast." But if we Christians celebrate, there's also a time for preparation. "The day will come, however, when the groom will be taken away from them; on that day they will fast." We are not yet privileged with the physical presence of the Lord, as the first disciples were. Nonetheless, we continue to enjoy the presence of the Lord in our midst. By withdrawing somewhat from celebration, we better prepare ourselves for Easter glory. We traditional Catholics need to be reminded that the days of fervent petition for future salvation are over. We have already been saved - forgiven our sins and reconciled with God - exclusively by what Jesus has done for us, and not as the result of our own penance and mortification. So great was our alienation from God that we were powerless to restore ourselves to God's favor. This is why we are Christians. Jesus did for us what we couldn't possibly do for ourselves. The first reading predicts as vague future event what the Lord in fact has already done for us through Jesus. The future "I will ..." can now be rendered "I was." We have already been purified ("led into the desert") and "espoused in fidelity" (through baptism). Three times Hosea promised our intimate relationship to God, which he dared compare to a marriage. Today's psalm is particularly relevant as we begin the Lenten season. Behind all the powerful images of condemnation lies our steadfast vision of God as "merciful and gracious ... slow to anger and abounding in kindness." We must never understand God's justice in a contemporary meaning of giving us what we deserve. This is the good news we must never forget, as today's psalm forcefully reminds us. Truly, the story of God is almost too good to be true. A story is told about a man having visions of God, who sought corroboration from his bishop. How could he determine the authenticity of these appearances? The bishop wisely told him to ask that the bishop's own secret sins be revealed. The man returned with the message that God had forgotten them!