Readings
IS 58: 9B-15
PS 82: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
LK 5:27-32
I have to say I am really loving the Isaiah readings this Lenten season! I just feel this pull back to the basics and the heart of what our Christian values preside. I feel that our current Pope is an excellent example of the kind of leadership these readings are pushing upon us. People often share their love of our pope but then claim that his ideas for the Church are often so radical, and my first reaction is to say he's not radical he's just a living witness of the Gospel. But a I reflect further I am inclined to say that in some ways he is radical just as Isaiah, Moses, and Jesus. I think the "radicalness" of their word is that they call us to be good people, without expecting anything in return. It would be easy to read these readings and assume that if you do good, you deserve good, but the problem with this sentiment is that our world and our culture does not provide an environment in which that is possible. Bad things will always happen whether it is to good or to bad people. A new thought that inspired me this time that I hadn't necessarily thought is that the "light" that is promised to us when we adopt these radical ways of loving others, feeding the needy, and helping the afflicted, isn't a promise that good with come to us, but rather is it the gift of witness of movement of Agapic love through the community. When we give of ourself to others we are working toward a better kingdom. When we do this without an expectation of reward we model the same kind of selfless love God enacted when She gave us free will.
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