Today’s readings remind us of the need for reminders. Saint Paul summarizes the kerygma in his letter to the Corinthians: Christ suffered and died for our sins, rose from the dead, purchasing our salvation and freeing us from the clutches of Satan. He reminds us to hold fast to this salvific message of the Gospel and the promises inherent therein. Saint Luke presents the encounter between Jesus, the sinful woman and the self-righteous Pharisee and we hear these compelling words of Christ:
So, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little. Luke 7:47
Forgiveness and Love
Jesus is invited to dine with a leading pharisee. As he quietly reclines at table, a remarkable scene unfolds. A woman weeps copiously and washes the feet of Jesus with her tears, then proceeds to dry them with her hair. And in a final act of love, she lavishly anoints his feet with aromatic nard, a costly ointment which Judas values at three hundred days’ wages.
Jesus praises the woman and forgives her many sins at the outpouring of contrition and love she demonstrates. The Pharisee is chastised for his self-righteousness and paucity of love.
Friends, humans, and citizens of the world, with whom do we relate in this story?
Are we like the penitent woman, mindful of our many sins that cause us to fall at the feet of Jesus, weeping as we profess our deep love for Him, to whom we owe our life and our soul? Or are we heedless like the Pharisee, puffed up with pride, imputing faults and failings to others while ignoring the deathly wounds of pride, envy, sloth and avarice that hasten our headlong hurtle toward perdition?
The gospels elevate but also convict. Our need is clear, deep, dire, profound and immediate!! Let us hasten toward the confessional to greet our Lord with sincere contrition like the sinful woman in the gospel and do it early, often and repeatedly.
First and Foremost
But it shouldn’t end there. If we truly, truly believe in the kerygma, our lives should be suffused by it. Christ should be the bright light around which our lives and our actions revolve. And like Saint Paul, we should fervently strive to proclaim the kerygma to all we meet.
According to St. Paul, whether it be him or others, there is a clear and pressing need to proclaim the stunning news that we are saved by Jesus. He, who exchanged His divinity for our humanity in order to save us from a fate worse than death. Without this proclamation, how would we believe? And the cycle goes on throughout salvation history, down to our times and beyond. Unless we in turn do the preaching and teaching, the good news will not be proclaimed to every remote corner of the world as Christ directs in His Great Commission.
Thank We Now Our God
The psalm dishes out another timeless reminder for us:
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Ps 118:1
The psalm is replete with praise and thanksgiving to God from whom all blessings flow. For it is through the goodness of God that you and I live, thrive, survive and revive. Every good gift and every manageable cross comes from his hands. The Lord gives and takes away, he chastises, heals and redeems. To whom shall we turn?
This psalm gives words to our innate faith, hope and ultimate trust in God and expectation of Salvation despite the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
Modern man is condemned to success, says Father Jacques Philippe. Inflated by this success, he strives to make this world into a utopia and seeks to save himself. He places his trust in wealth and human institutions. And, in the powers and principalities of the Earth. But ultimately, although they glitter brightly, our lives on this Earth are but a jot on the vista of eternity. And our concerns should soar beyond the fleeting happiness of this brief moment of our eternal reality. None of the means at our human disposal can deliver our ultimate promise, save one, the Maker of Eternity. Jesus alone makes the astonishing claim that it is only In Him, With Him and Through Him that we are saved.
So, let us heed the reminders of Saint Paul and cling firmly to Our God who saves us. For, as he reminds us, It Is of First Importance.
