Leap Of Faith

Thus says the LORD: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the LORD will guide  you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; “Repairer of the  breach,” they shall call you, “Restorer of ruined homesteads.”  (Isaiah 58:9B-14)

Today’s first reading reminds us of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 2007 publication “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States.”  How do we remove from our midst oppression, false accusation, and malicious speech?  How will the gloom become for us like midday?  How do we repair the breach and restore ruined homesteads?  Answer: By forming our consciences for faithful citizenship using the guidance as to how we should heed the call to political responsibility and deal with those who are malevolent.

Our Gospel is instructive: Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”  (Luke 5:27-32)

Especially this year, Jesus must eat and drink with politicians in need of physicians.  We hope they will follow him and heed his call to repentance.  This is our leap of faith on February 29.

Deacon David Pierce