Monday of the First Week of Lent
March 2, 2020
Today, in Mercy, we are invited to be like God:
The LORD said to Moses,
“Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel
and tell them:
Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.
Our first reading goes on to tell us how: be a decent person.
- Don’t steal, lie, or cheat
- Pay just wages
- Respect and help those physically burdened
- Be impartial and just
- Defend life
- Don’t slander, hate, take revenge, or hold a grudge
Basically, the message is about kindness … deep kindness, the type that comes from realizing how infinitely kind God is to us.
Leviticus, after a long list of practical examples, sums it up:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
I am the LORD.
Our Gospel tells us what happens when we make the choice to take the Old Testament advice — or not.
We are all familiar with the parable of the sheep and the goats. And we all hope our scorecard gets us in the right herd “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him …”
Basically, in this parable, Jesus puts the advice of Leviticus into practical form for his followers. But he adds one dynamic element that not only invites but impels our wholehearted response:
Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me.
Leviticus invites us to become holy as God is holy. But Jesus reveals the secret that this Holy God lives in the poor, hungry, homeless, imprisoned and sick. By embracing these most beloved of God, we find the pattern of Holiness.
Music: The Least of These – Karl Kohlhase
