Homily: Friday of the 1st Week of Lent - "Unless your holiness surpasses..."

Today we hear of an important Lenten theme: that of growth in holiness.

Unless your holiness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter the kingdom of God.

The scribes and Pharisees were admired for their zeal, concern for purity, their external conformity to the law of Moses.  How could our holiness possibly "surpass" that of the people of Jesus' day who obeyed every letter of the law?  It sounds as if Jesus has just set the highest standards in history.

Jesus is of course not talking about external conformity to the law, but internal conformity as well, that the law and commandments of God be so interiorized that it penetrates to one’s heart and leads to living according to God’s ultimate intentions.

Jesus calls for much more than external conformity to regulations, he calls his followers to wholehearted trust and obedience toward the heavenly Father that radiates God’s love to the world—total obedience to God—complete self-giving to neighbor.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus then gives six examples of what this radical interiorization of the love of God looks like.  Today we hear just one example.

If there was some family dispute it would be good to go to the Temple altar in Jerusalem in order that a sacrifice be offered for your family.  First, before that gift is brought to the altar make peace with your brother yourself.  Don’t let tensions in your relationships fester.  How many of our own families have these festering wounds that could be healed if we took the initiative to be reconciled!

Here Jesus is showing how that external sign of devotion—the gift at the altar—is not enough. We are to pour ourselves out in our peacemaking efforts.

There is an urgency to make peace, an urgency for reconciliation in Jesus’ teaching today.  What a wonderful Lenten practice it would be, for all Christians to work urgently for peace and reconciliation in their families!
We continue to seek this Lent complete and wholehearted transformation of our hearts, for growth in holiness always means growth in charitable self-giving  for the glory of God and salvation of souls.