As Christians we are to be the “light of the world”. By our love for God and others we are to be
lights shining on those around us. You
could say that each of us is supposed to be a light-bulb. You have probably noticed that some
Christians shine brighter than others.
When we look at our own life, we can probably see that at times our
light has been quite dim, at other times more bright. It is as though we are connected to one of
those “dimmer switches”. You know, those
light switches that allow you to control the intensity of the light in a
room. In today’s gospel, Jesus seems to
be explaining how we can adjust the dimmer switch in our spiritual life. He is
explaining how we can increase the intensity with which we love God and our
neighbor. There seems to be a few steps
to turning up the dimmer switch on our Christian life.
The first step is to acknowledge that we are
sinners. If we do not recognize that we
are sinners then our dimmer switch is forever off. Each one of us has done things that have
damaged our relationship with God and others.
For example, in the first reading we heard about King David, a man who was
specially chosen by God. Even with all his gifts and accomplishments, David was
a sinner through and through, he was an adulterer and a murderer and he
acknowledged this. Even the great saints
recognized they were sinners. Mother
Teresa had a wonderful expression that highlights this. She would say that before going to
confession, she entered the confessional “a sinner with sin”. After the confession she left the
confessional “a sinner without sin”. She
always thought of herself as a sinner. The reality is that we are all sinners
and we should just acknowledge this fact.
The second step is to realize that the damage done by our
sin has been repaired by Jesus. St. Catherine of Sienna had a great analogy
to describe the effects of sin on our life and how Jesus has remedied the
situation. She explained that because of
our sin there is a great chasm that separates us from God. In between this abyss there flows a mighty
river. Whatever we try, we cannot on our
own do anything to cross the river and get back to God. Our sin has caused damage to our relationship
with God that we cannot fix. Because of
our sin we owe God a debt that we can never repay on our own. How then do we cross this abyss to be unified
with God? St. Catherine explains that it
is only on account of Jesus’ sacrifice.
The Cross of Jesus is the bridge that connects us back to God. Jesus has paid the debt we owe God. The damage that sin has caused to our
relationship to God can only be repaired by Jesus.
We love God to the extent that we realize how much He has
done for us, that he has paid our huge debt in full. The woman in today’s Gospel loved Jesus so
much because she realized how much she required His mercy. If our love for God
is a light-bulb, then our dimmer-switch is how much we recognize the gift God
has given us. The other day I was in the
kindergarten class during the class’ Father’s day celebration. I will be honest; I went because I heard
there would be ice-cream. The students
were all there doing activities with their dads. It was awesome to watch how the kids
interacted with their fathers. They all
had so much love and appreciation for their dads. For each student no one in the world could
compare with how great their dad was. I think the kids love their dads in this
way because they realize all that their dads have done for them: how they always provide for them, care for
them, are there when they need them.
Somehow when we get older, we lose this appreciation for our
fathers. We forget their many
sacrifices. We run this same risk with
the way we view our heavenly Father. Do we realize how much our Heavenly Father
has done for us? That He sent His son to
die for us. The more we let this truth
sink in, the more we appreciate what God has done for us, the more we will love
Him.
The more we realize how generous God has been in showing
us mercy, the more we will show mercy to others. If the mercy and compassion we show to others
is a light-bulb, then our dimmer switch is how much we realize that God has
first forgiven us. The Pharisee in
today’s gospel is so quick to judge the woman because he does not see himself
as a sinner in need of God’s mercy.
Because he does not realize that God has forgiven his debt, he is unable
to show compassion to the woman. Though
we should never approve of sin, we need to show patience and compassion for
those who struggle with sin. Just think
of how patient God is with us. When we
are generous in showing mercy and compassion to those who struggle we help lead
them closer to Jesus. When I was at the
seminary, my spiritual director was an old monk who has since passed away. He often repeated a saying that struck
me. Whenever he would talk about people
who have fallen into sin, no matter how great, he would always say “there go I
but for the grace of God”. He showed
such great compassion to those who sinned because he was so aware of how much
mercy God had shown Him throughout his life.
The more we realize how much we have been forgiven by God, the less
stingy we will be in showing mercy to others.
Today we have the opportunity to look at our life and see
if we are truly being a light to others.
How brightly does our love of God and others shine? Are we compassionate and merciful to others
or are we judgmental? If our bulb is a
bit dim, perhaps we need to increase the intensity on our dimmer switch. Today let us do this by turning to our
heavenly Father with great gratitude for all the mercy and forgiveness He has
shown us, especially by sending us the gift on His only Son.
