“O my people,
what have I done to you, or how have I wearied you? Answer me! For I brought
you up from the land
of Egypt, from the place
of slavery I released you.” There is a deep poignancy about those questions in
our first reading. Why do they sound familiar? We hear them in the liturgy for
Holy Week and Good Friday. They represent God confronting his people, reminding
them of all the love he has lavished on them, and asking why they have not
responded.
A representative
of God’s people answers his plaintive questions with some questions of his own,
asking what kind of response the Lord is looking for. “With what shall I come
before the Lord? … Shall I come before him with burnt offerings? … Will the
Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with myriad streams of oil? Shall I
give my first-born for my crime, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
-- a reference to human sacrifice, practiced by some of Israel’s neighbors.
Then comes
God’s answer. “You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord
requires of you: Only to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with
your God.”
How would all
that sound today? If God were speaking to us modern Catholics, he would say
something line this. ‘Why, my people, have you responded so poorly to all the
love I have lavished on you? You think you must earn my forgiveness and love by
piling up Masses, rosaries, and prayers to the saints? No! I am your loving,
heavenly Father. You have my love and my forgiveness already. Your worship and
prayers are your grateful response. But
I’m looking for more: doing right in your dealings with others, loving the good
in them – goodness which you often fail to see because you are so centered on
yourself; and walking humbly with me, aware that without me you can do nothing
good.’
Is that a tall
order? You bet it is. But never be discouraged. The Lord who looks for all this
from us isn’t interested in how often we stumble and fall. He is interested in
one thing only: how often, with his help, we pick ourselves up and continue
journeying onward to him.
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