Jesus Christ is clearly "the face of the Father's mercy," yet he doesn't fool around when it comes to hypocrites.
"Oh, you Pharisees!
Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,
inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools!
Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?"
(Lk 11:39-40)
Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,
inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools!
Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?"
(Lk 11:39-40)
This Lent, it's time to ask how my often pharisaical ego exasperates the Lord. Jesus clearly has no patience for hypocrites who hide behind appearances or worldly conventions. , So what are my true motives when I give alms or perform pious acts publicly (Mt 6:1-6, 16-18)? The "optics" may work as show for outsiders, but Jesus asks the more fundamental question of where I am really standing in relation to the Maker of my inmost self.
If my heart is conflicted, divided, even hardened by ego-centered motives, the Lord himself says that I have already received my reward--that is, I'm stuck with me, myself, and I. Dare I pray the words of the penitential Psalmist this Lent, "A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me" (Ps 51:12)?
The Lord doesn't expect me to clean the inside on my own, let alone heal myself of my original wound. But the question is whether I will encounter the merciful Savior as one who admits that I need mercy, as one who acknowledges my own brokenheartedness.
The simple reminder here is that Jesus wants me to be more honest about my motives. He wants my intentions to be more pure. This way, I can better conform my life to him--better align myself to his Person:
- When I share the material goods which I have on loan from God, will I do so in response to Jesus’ mysterious presence in my neighbor? As Pope
Francis observes, “our brothers and sisters are the prolongation of the incarnation
for each of us” (EG,n. 179).
- In my daily prayer conversation with our heavenly Father, will I unmask my various false selves and allow myself to be vulnerable--sharing my joys and sorrows?
- In my sluggish efforts to fast from various forms of self-indulgence, will my approach be one of embracing a spiritual exercise rather than another self-help initiative?
As long as I "don't play" with deceptions of self-importance and worries about the opinions of others, I trust that my "Father who sees what is hidden" will repay me (Mt 6:1-6, 16-18)!
