Humility again. Integrity also. Last week from Zephanyah, this week from Isayah.
There are so many of us in this world who like to grandstand, to parade our poor little abilities – or perhaps our great talents – before the masses. It’s an easy thing to do in a world of mass media, with these little videos that everybody can create these days with their own telephones and so on. But we at least still live in a former-Christian society, and some important things linger for a while. The best of the magic-makers on television for example will showcase some extraordinary work and then be genuinely humble about it, explaining how they spent decades of dedication to some craft to build an absolute wonder.
We like genuineness, don’t we? Generally in society, I mean… the Bible calls that integrity. We find superficiality and double-facedness loathsome. In our first reading today, the prophet Isaiah talks about true and genuine charity, that comes from the heart. From the richest philanthropist, whose quiet work we may discover in a small obituary when he/she has gone, to the ordinary man/woman on the street who happily volunteers at a charity shop, or provides little treats to brighten faces on a cold day… the prophet declares that your light – and this is the reflected light of the Holy One – your light goes forth like the dawn in a world of darkness.
“Share thy bread with the hungry, give the poor and the vagrant a welcome to thy house; meet thou the naked, clothe him; from thy own flesh and blood turn not away. Then, sudden as the dawn, the welcome light shall break on thee, in a moment thy health shall find a new spring; divine favour shall lead thee on thy journey, brightness of the Lord’s presence close thy ranks behind. Then the Lord will listen to thee when thou callest on him; cry out, and He will answer, ‘I am here at thy side.’ Banish from thy midst oppression, and the finger pointed scornfully, and the plotting of harm, spend thyself giving food to the hungry, relieving the afflicted; then shall light spring up for thee in the darkness, and thy dusk shall be noonday…”
Prophecy of Isaias, 58: 7-10 [link]
Isn’t it nice to hear an ancient voice say this about our little efforts: your integrity will go before you, and the glory of the Lord behind you… It puts a smile on my face, at least.
I would happily exchange a street of hairdressers, cafés and manicurists for one with every type of charity shop with smiling faces in it. But the world is changing. We must treasure Christian charity and genuine kindness where it still exists, and try to teach it to our children and our grandchildren.
And then there is the reward for humility and integrity: cry and God will reply at once, I am here. He was already there, of course, for God is Charity. As we used to sing in the Latin, Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Wherever there is charity and love, God is there…
But when I mentioned grandstanding and showboating earlier, I was thinking of our second reading as well, where the learned S. Paul – a great pharisee, who knew the Law of God perfectly… where this man says to his Corinthians that although he could have exhibited all this vastness of knowledge, eloquence and piety to the new Christians of Corinth, he chose instead to tell them simply about a God Who humbled Himself to the point of being crucified for the sins of the people He loved. Paul says that he was determined to not rely on his own human abilities, immense those these were, but to make Christ the focus more perfectly, and allow the power of God to speak instead.
“So it was, brethren, that when I came to you and preached Christ’s message to you, I did so without any high pretensions to eloquence, or to philosophy. I had no thought of bringing you any other knowledge than that of Jesus Christ, and of Him as crucified. It was with distrust of myself, full of anxious fear, that I approached you; my preaching, my message depended on no persuasive language, devised by human wisdom, but rather on the proof I gave you of spiritual power; God’s power, not man’s wisdom, was to be the foundation of your faith.”
First letter of S. Paul to the Corinthians, 2: 1-5 [link]
Let’s use the gospel story this weekend to bring together the other readings that we have. Christ says to us in His sermon on the mount, at the beginning of the gospel of S. Matthew, that we are to be the salt of the earth, but if that salt should lose its savour it should be tossed aside.
We know some salts that have no savour; they sit at the bottom of our kettles. And we know the salt which has preserved our food for centuries, that enhances its taste. Should not our lives of Christian virtue – cultivated with charity, humility, integrity, etc. – should these not be constantly charged, bringing joy to the world around us? We should serve up an excellent soup of Christian virtues to a bewildered world that is forgetting what Christians virtue is.
The Lord says that this light that burns within us should be on a hill-top, or (practically speaking) on the streets outside, not seeking its own glory, but the glory of the God Who is its source. We may know very much and have much ability, like S. Paul, but if we cannot bring it to use for the bettering somehow of the lives of the people around us, what good is it?
“You are the salt of the earth; if salt loses its taste, what is there left to give taste to it? There is no more to be done with it, but throw it out of doors for men to tread it under foot. You are the light of the world; a city cannot be hidden if it is built on a mountain-top. A lamp is not lighted to be put away under a bushel measure; it is put on the lamp-stand, to give light to all the people of the house; and your light must shine so brightly before men that they can see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Gospel of S. Matthew, 5: 13-16 [link]
\We could perhaps end with that psalm that is sandwiched so well between the readings. It is simply another version of the Isaiah reading. A light shines in the darkness for the upright. That light is undoubtedly Christ, but His light shines also from the hearts of His Christians. Be the light of in the darkness for men and women in your time. As the psalm went on to say, the righteous and honourable person fearlessly works for the poor, a light in the darkness, God his foundation.
“A blessed man is he, who fears the Lord,
Psalm 111 (112)
bearing great love to His commandments.
Children of his shall win renown in their country;
do right, and thy sons shall find a blessing.
Ease shall dwell in his house, and great prosperity;
fame shall ever record his bounty.
Good men see a light dawn in darkness;
his light, who is merciful, kind and faithful.
It goes well with the man who lends in pity,
just and merciful in his dealings.
Length of days shall leave him still unshaken;
men will remember the just for ever.
No fear shall he have of evil tidings;
on the Lord his hope is fixed unchangeably.
Patient his heart remains and stedfast,
quietly he waits for the downfall of his enemies.
Rich are his alms to the needy;
still his bounty abides in memory.
The Lord will lift up his head in triumph;
ungodly men are ill content to see it.
Vainly they gnash their teeth in envy;
worldly hopes must fade and perish.”
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 