Third of Lent of Year A
February 2008
For the last two weeks I spoke about Humility. We saw that humility is simply the truth. It is the foundation of our spiritual life.
The truth about myself and God, but also the truth about the world and the society in which I live.
To me it seems, that all over the world, every system in which we live, both political and economic, is involved, one way or another, in some sort of oppression and injustice. The welfare of ordinary people seems to be far from the consideration of the political, economic and financial worlds.
As we have seen recently; while there are cutbacks in essential services like health and education to save a few million pounds here and there, there seems to be no problem finding billions to fight a war, and in finding enormous sums (that is it? one hundred billion, fifty billion) to save a bank.
I can’t help the comparison with parents who, for lack of money they say, fail to feed and educate their children properly but nevertheless can afford fags and booze.
This sort of thing is nothing new. This is what the Bible is talking about when it compares the values of ‘this world’ with the values of the ‘kingdom of god.’
This is what is meant by ‘original sin.’
It was because Jesus of Nazareth devoted his life to opposing the ‘values of this world’ that he ended up being executed on a cross.
He told his followers; ‘If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.’
There is the ongoing battle between ‘the world’ and ‘the Spirit’ in my life.
While there is very little I can do at world or national level I can certainly do a lot at the personal level.
As Jesus tells me every day:
‘This I command you: love one another. If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.’
Giving up luxuries and fasting during Lent is an excellent thing to do, if what I save in this way goes to a worthy cause or to help the needy.