Fri Mar 11, 2022

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Conversion of heart is the key to Kingdom living – this is the message I take away from today's readings. In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel tells us that God takes no pleasure in the death of a wicked person. He desires to share His gift of eternal life with all His children. Those who lead a life of virtue will receive this gift; those who persist in wickedness or turn away from virtue for wicked pursuits will not. I believe God is grieved when His children die with hearts hardened to goodness and love. God wants so much more for us in this life, and in the next.

A line in the psalm response (Ps 130) often comes to my mind: “If you, O LORD, mark iniquities, LORD, who can stand? But with you is forgiveness, that you may be revered.” God is good and forgiving; by His forgiveness through Christ, we stand justified and worship (“revere”) Him. All of us fail to live perfectly by the virtues we profess. All of us need conversion of heart. Accepting Christ Jesus as our Saviour through repentance justifies us before God. This is the way to salvation and peace with ourselves, with our neighbour and with God. The psalm continues:

“I trust in the LORD; my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the LORD more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
Let Israel wait for the LORD.”

We embrace God's forgiveness and worship Him, trusting in His word as we work and live, relying on Him for everything we need.

Today's Gospel reading (Mt 5:20-26) begins with a call to a greater righteousness than what is found in the Scribes and Pharisees. These two groups are constantly at war with Jesus' Gospel of the Kingdom. They are experts in religion, but their righteousness and virtue are superficial. They will not repent for the contradiction between the faith they profess the way they live. The Second Vatican Council referred to this “split between professed faith and daily life” as “among the more serious errors of our age.* The fact is, none of us lives up to what we profess. This is why Jesus called for repentance as the necessary step to entering His Father's Kingdom. This implies settling with persons who have a legitimate case against us for having offended them.

There is no place in the Kingdom for name-calling or slander. The Lord tells us we “will be liable to judgment” for these things, that we will pay for them in the afterlife if we do not repent of them. If we reject God's offer of mercy through repentance, we must satisfy divine justice to “the last penny.” I believe God in His loving goodness much prefers we do the former.

Lord, give me Your wisdom to make good choices, and the courage to admit when I'm wrong. For with You is fullness of redemption in Christ Jesus. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.

Link to Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031122.cfm

* See Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), No. 43. https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html

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