by Sister Karen Cavanagh, C.S.J.
IN A HOLY Week homily, Pope Francis was re-imaging for the assembly both Luke’s Gospel of the sinful woman and the Easter scene of Jesus sensitively revealing Himself to Mary at the tomb.
The first scene is one of repentance, while the second is one of heartbreak and shock and joy. Both were ones of recognition of Jesus and of compassion. The Holy Father reminded all of us that sometimes in our lives “tears are the eyeglasses through which we see Jesus.” Although we will recall this again in next Sunday’s readings, it seems a very apropos reminder this day.
Through bitter tears, loud complaints and less loud but persistent grumblings, our ancestors wandered through the dry and lifeless desert and railed at God for what sounds like a great “Where are You? Why is this happening? Have you brought us/me out here to die?”
During Old Testament times, the times of our ancestors – the Israelites and the prophets – it was believed that God’s vengeance for their sin and/or those of their parents was upon them. It was believed that God hurled death upon us as punishment for sin. The Israelites cried, “You brought us into this desert to die.”
Total Allegiance
In today’s first reading we meet Elijah, the prophet. Earlier on, he announced that the king and his people must return to God and renounce all false idols and other gods. God wanted their total allegiance – hearts, souls, strengths and desires. Their lives had to be transformed in this return to fidelity. For this pronouncement, Elijah was driven into the desert as punishment and told to “trust in your God’s providence and care.” Deserts are an image of death as well as oppression, temptation to sin and punishment. Elijah trusted God.
This trust was rewarded by the hospitality of the widow of Zarephath and with food (oil and flour), which would not run out. It was in her home that Elijah’s actions and prayer brought her son back to life after he stopped breathing. It was in this place that the prophet refuted the belief that death was a punishment for sin and demonstrated that such incredible mercy, healing touch and compassion are the actions of God. It is God who transforms death into life. It is God Who lifts us to newness of life and calls us to proclaim God’s fidelity and presence always.
In the second reading, Paul tells us of God’s transforming power in his life – a transformation from Paul’s persecutory and destructive actions toward the Church, to his speaking boldly of Jesus as God’s revelation. It was clearly a divine transformation but ever so slowly and humanly embraced – a transformation that led to courageous witness, a transformation that led to eternal life.
In our readings today, we have the experience of two women, already widowed, now looking through tears at the lifeless “bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh,” their only sons, their hope for the future. Through their tears, through our tears, are they and we able to see God’s compassion in Elijah? In Jesus? With a word, a touch, a “weep no more,” life is restored, hope is renewed, sorrow transformed into joy. Like Elijah of old, Jesus, the Prophet, returns to the arms of a weeping woman her greatest treasure, her very life itself – the child she once carried in her womb…alive again!
Once more, St. Luke offers us the scene of a relationship restored, a compassion outpoured, a sorrow and heartbreak removed and the debt for sin or failure cancelled. Death is not the punishment of a vengeful God, but, in its time, it is, for us, a transformation into Godliness, into a life that does not end.
At every Eucharist, at each Mass, we celebrate the dying and rising of Jesus. We are invited to trust that through His rising, our lives are being restored. In the midst of our tears, our questioning, our desert-like days and our continual falling into sinful behaviors, God is there with us. When we cry out our “whys,” when we are overwhelmed with doubts, with anger, with a sense of despair, it is God Who waits to be seen through our tears. While we wonder at the goings-on of life, the compassionate healer, Jesus, our Savior, speaks, touches our hearts and dries our tears.
Today’s Gospel reminds us of the One to Whom we need to turn in our times of sickness, death, aloneness and fear. It is through the care of others and, most powerfully, through Jesus’ own words that we will be made whole and transformed anew. Every time we gather at Eucharist, we hear the promise: “I am the Resurrection and the Life … those who believe in Me will have a life that never ends.”
To this may we continue, even with tears, to proclaim, “Amen! – I believe it!”
Readings for the 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Kings 17: 17-24
Psalm 30: 2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13
Galatians 1: 11-19
Luke 7: 11-17
Sister Karen Cavanagh C.S.J., a trained spiritual director and retreat facilitator, is a pastoral associate/family minister at St. Nicholas of Tolentine parish, Jamaica.