Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

0:00Every day, Mass is celebrated at St. Dominic's Chapel at the Chanceary offices of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. The following is a recording of today's readings and homily from a previous year. A reading from the book of Deuteronomy, Moses spoke to the people and said, Now Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe that you may live and may enter in and take possession of the land which the Lord the God of your fathers is giving you. Therefore I teach you the statutes and decrees as the Lord my God has commanded me that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy. Observe them carefully for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations who will hear of all these statutes and say, This nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.

1:00For what great nation is there that has God so close to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call upon him. Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as his whole law which I am setting before you today. However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live but teach them to your children and to your children's children. The word of the Lord, thanks be to God, praise the Lord Jerusalem, praise the Lord Jerusalem, glorify the Lord O Jerusalem, praise your God O Zion, for he has strengthened the bars of your gates, he has blessed your children within you, praise the Lord Jerusalem, he sends forth his command to the earth, swiftly runs his word, he spreads snow like wool,

2:04frost he struts like ashes, praise the Lord Jerusalem, he has proclaimed his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel, he has not done thus for any other nation, his ordinances, he has not made known to them, praise the Lord Jerusalem, glory to you, word of God, Lord Jesus Christ, glory to you, word of God, Lord Jesus Christ, your words Lord are spirit in life, you have the words of everlasting life, glory to you, word of God, Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord be with you, a reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus said to his disciples, Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the

3:04prophets, I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The Gospel of the Lord, praise the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me see it for just a moment. This Gospel reading in particular, I think, is Jesus, again and again, kind of striking at the heart of the issue that he encounters, particularly when he encounters a leadership of the time, the ferrezeical attitude, and I think that word ferrezeical on its own, you know,

4:07is rooted in the ferrezees, which is kind of a harsh historical point now that this role that was supposed to be very beautiful and a part of the structure, it was very much a part of the structure of God's, the way God's people were governed and led and the way that worship was happening, now has this very negative connotation, you can't say ferreze without thinking about something negative, which is such a shame. But the reality is like what happens for something so good to become something so bad, at least to be kind of known in the same way, right? If not like the various subtle betrayal of the intention. The ferrezees were intended to be people who led, who led with humility, with discipline and with mercy. And instead, they had unfortunately fallen into like kind of a

5:08worship of the law for the sake of the law itself. And I think that we can have an understanding of it because Jesus clearly points out the mistakes that they make, but in reality like they're not just Jesus calling them out, because the Scripture is living in true, like this is Jesus' words supposed to pierce our own hearts, especially those of us here who in some way share in the mission and the work that the Lord has entrusted to His church, to be very, very intentional and cautious so that we don't fall into the same kind of pattern. So there's a lot of things that are asked of us, and there's a lot of ways that we're supposed to fulfill our obligations, our responsibilities, our work in the church. But at the end of the day, like when we pray, the question that comes forward or the kind of the point that comes forward is not like how has made me more truly, like authentically, Christ-like, how is this making me more sanctified than we're probably missing some points.

6:08We're probably missing some marks. And that's what happens when sometimes in what we're asked to do, even those of us who work in the church, when it becomes kind of burdensome or it becomes kind of overwhelming or frustrating, when the joy is kind of stolen from it, it happens that we might be crossing over into just doing the things, which is a good thing. The work must be done and it's necessary. But what impact is it having? Surely others might be benefiting from us doing the things, but what's happening in my heart? Is it transferring my heart? And that's why Jesus presents Himself as the fulfillment of the law and of the prophets, of all these things that His people were supposed to be guided by and abiding by, He says it's not just the text, it's not just the things that you are to do, it's the person. So like Jesus is presenting Himself as the antidote to that kind of cynicism or that type of way of living that might get some things done, but at the same

7:10time like it's like eating away at our joys, eating away at our kind of our intentionality or humanity even. So the point is just that. Jesus is saying like in all that I ask of you, it's not for the sake of things getting done. I mean, He can get it done. It's God that can do it, right? But He invites us on this journey precisely to set us free and to give us life. And somehow in the middle of all these tasks and these things that are part of my job, if you will, or the things that are my responsibility, like I'm supposed to find some fulfillment. And the only way that's going to happen is if what's in front of me is not just the law, the prophets, my tasks, my obligations, the things that I am supposed to do, the things that are expected of me, but if the center of it is in a relationship with the living God, with Jesus Christ Himself, I'll never be happy. It'll never be fulfilling. We may do so much, but is it going to bear the fruit that God wants it to bear? Because the fruit of all is our own holiness, right?

8:13So kind of a very beautiful, kind of sobering moment in the gospel where we're reminded, it's not just the doing the things. It's not just fulfilling and like observing the laws and hearing the prophets. It's like, what does that bring about within us? What is truly changing in us day by day? And if the answer is not much or nothing at all, don't panic. This is what this very beautiful time of grace is for. The whole church is praying for conversion. The whole church is praying that God's grace like pierces the hearts of His faithful. And so if you find yourself in that place, don't get discouraged, but rather be encouraged by the prayers of the church during this time, and by the season of grace that this is. Lent, remember, lent is a spring time. It's not just a desert. Lent is a time of renewal, of growth. And sometimes that's difficult and it hurts and it's a challenge. But above all, the intention is not to burden us or to overwhelm us or to suck the life out of us.

9:14It's to give us more life. So we have to recommit ourselves again and again day by day to everything the Lord is asking of us, being able to see it more and more as an invitation to become closer to Him, more than anything else, more than just doing the things. It's an invitation to become closer to Him day in and day out.