LITURGY AND LIFE

By Lucie Leduc

It’s easier to be awestruck than to be compassionate

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sept. 9, 2012

Isaiah 35:4-7
Psalm 146
James 2:1-5
Mark 7:31-37

On her way to work on an ordinary day, a woman encounters two men in distress. They have travelled in a van patched with duct tape from Quebec across the country for work in the western north. Their van blew a tire and they have spent their last few dollars repairing it. They have slept in their van for two days now, and have searched for shelter and food. No room at any inn, men’s shelter or YMCA. Needless to say, they appear dishevelled and smell none too good either! The woman happens upon them in the parking lot of her workplace and, as she listens to their tale, notices within her two emotional responses: fear and compassion.

“Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God.’ ” Our first reading from Isaiah for this 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time describes the transformation of life with God’s awe-inspiring coming into the world. The reading further says God “will come with vengeance and with terrible recompense . . . to save us.” There is some re-ordering of disorder implied here, or proper balance brought about after major imbalance, and the afflicted parties, the weak and wounded of our world in creation and humanity, are the beneficiaries of new life.
God is God for the poor, the tired, the oppressed and the ignored. More than this God is compassion restoring order and balance in creation and consequently in the greater universe as well. So we hear, “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. The waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water.” Humanity and creation are equally transformed!

Psalm 146 echoes the theme of this “Lord who keeps faith forever, who executes justice for the oppressed.” The psalm sings of a God who “gives food,” “opens,” “loves,” “lifts up,” “upholds” and “watches over” the most vulnerable creatures and works of God’s creation tirelessly and “for all generations.”

The second reading from the Letter of James strongly reminds us who our God stands with and for. “Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?” James describes what he sees happening among his contemporaries who seemingly profess to be believers in “our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.” James exposes the universal human propensity to create divisions, to be judgmental of others who don’t fit into what are perceived of as “proper” social, cultural and even religious norms and etiquette, and whom we are tempted to treat with repulsion and disdain. Without God at the centre, our motivations are disordered and lacking in right judgment and balance, instead of being born of the love and compassion of God.

We see our compassionate God at work and at the centre of Christ who, travelling in the vastness of the gentile region of the Decapolis, heals those who are brought to him. In this particular story in Mark’s Gospel, the people bring to him “a man who was deaf and who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him.”

What follows is a beautifully intimate description of details, where Jesus takes the deaf and mute man aside “in private” and touches the man’s ears and tongue, commanding them to be opened. The man is given a voice to speak with and hearing to listen for the wonders of God in and around him.

Jesus tells the crowd not to tell anyone. We might wonder why. It seems Jesus would rather they do as he does than go about being “astonished beyond measure” and talking about it. The crowds are impressed for all the wrong reasons. They are astonished at the incredible works Jesus has performed rather than with the compassion of his heart and a desire to be transformed into this compassion of God within. Jesus wants their transformation and conversion to thinking and acting with compassion, to doing as he does. He wants intimacy and relationship, not being removed as on a pedestal to adore him at a distance and be untouched by compassion.

As the woman continues to listen to the tale of the two men from Quebec, she chooses compassion, asking Christ to guide her in her actions. The men ask her to trust them. They will give her a post-dated cheque for an undisclosed amount of money if she will grant them this amount now. She gives them the money with an open heart, thinking to herself that she will not see the money again, but it doesn’t matter. She is to give compassion with an open heart. As she writes the cheque, the spokesperson of the two weeps tears of thanksgiving. He is overcome with emotions of joy and gratitude. She shares in the tears that silently express the gifts of joy, gratitude and, most of all, the mystery of how God’s compassion has graced each of them. (Several weeks later she deposits the post-dated cheque, and the two strangers are indeed proved to be as good as their word.)

Standing with and healing the poor, the broken-hearted, the wounded, physically disabled, weak and tired into life is the good news we are called to share in Christ. It is our co-operation with God’s non-negotiable option for the poor that addresses the imbalances and oppressions in our world, ushering in the reign of God and the joys of right relationship as the very real, concrete good news for our world.

Leduc recently moved from her position as program co-ordinator at Queen’s House Retreat & Renewal Centre in Saskatoon to take on the role as director for Star of the North Retreat Centre in St. Albert, Alta. She now lives nearer to family and grandchildren.