Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time / Msgr. Owen F. Campion
The Sunday Readings
The Book of Sirach is the source of the first reading for Mass this weekend. Sirach does not appear in the King James Bible or other translations used by most Protestant communities. So, Catholics are sometimes asked why Sirach “was added” to their version of the Old Testament. The better question would be “Why did the persons responsible for your translation take it out?”
King James I of England (who was also King James VI of Scotland) was a Protestant and the only child of Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic. He commissioned a translation of the Bible that could be used by the people, in the liturgy of the Church of England.
While ecumenical councils in the past had affirmed that Sirach was inspired by God, the biblical scholars in James I’s employ preferred to use an ancient Jewish listing of inspired Scriptures. They set Sirach aside.
So, many Protestants are not familiar with a version of the Bible that includes Sirach, which is also sometimes called the “Book of Ecclesiasticus.”
As for this reading itself, its meaning is obvious in the examples of shaking a sieve, molding clay into a vessel and tending a tree until it bears fruit. Many circumstances in life do not just happen. Human activity deliberately shapes them. We create the reality of our lives by who we are and by what we do.
St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians gives the second reading. The pagan, greedy and licentious atmosphere of the great city of Corinth challenged Paul again and again. No one who reads the two epistles he wrote to the Church there can miss the difficulty, disappointment and exasperation that St. Paul felt in dealing with the Christians of Corinth.
He urgently and relentlessly stressed that Christian discipleship requires a radical conversion, a change of mind and heart, that sees death not as the end, but as the beginning, not as defeat but as victory. It is not about talking the talk. It is about walking the walk.
For the Gospel reading, the Church this weekend provides a passage from St. Luke’s Gospel. The readings include a series of statements of Jesus. None leaves its meaning vague or obscure. The statements are clear and straightforward.
In Paul’s day, blind people needed guides who could see, as they do today. To extend the fact, modern automobiles have headlights so that people can drive them at night. People wear eyeglasses or contact lenses in order to see well.
People own what they do, what they say and the consequences. Pointing to the faults of others neither excuses nor erases the effects of our sinfulness or foolhardiness. We must face facts and correct faults.
Finally, sick trees do not yield rich fruit. Anyone today with an apple tree in the yard knows this.
Reflection
Next Wednesday, the Church will observe Ash Wednesday, initiating the season of Lent. The ultimate purpose of Lent is for each of us to celebrate Easter authentically. Easter is not simply the anniversary of the resurrection of Jesus after death, as majestic and glorious as it is in the entirety of human history. Instead, Easter is a personal experience of ourselves rising from the death of soul that is sin to life with the Lord.
Clay pitchers and goblets do not just suddenly spring into being. Neither does genuine union with the Lord. The clay with which we work is in our hearts and minds. With the crucial help of God’s grace, we must mold ourselves and allow God to mold us in the pattern of the Lord.
We cannot succeed by relying on hunch, guesswork, wishes, excuses or on our blurred human vision. We need a plan with a guide. We need the Lord. He is the guide.
The process requires determination, but it is far more than good intentions. We must radically, actively, commit ourselves to holiness, despite the world around us, and must cooperate with God’s ever-present grace. Hence, we approach Lent. †