Fr. Campbell, "Before the Flood"
God
wants us to change. He does! But we may have become suspicious of the
word “change” since many vote for “change” in the presidential
elections, and change is what they get, through the action of the
“change agents”. We haven’t seen the end of it yet. Some kinds of
changes we can do without.
But
our object in life is to change from what we once were – sinners – to
become holy and obedient servants of Jesus Christ. “For you were once
darkness,” says St. Paul, “but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph.5:8).
The basic change is accomplished through Baptism, when we are “born
again of water and the Spirit” (Jn.3:5), but spiritual maturity comes
only through suffering. We are gradually transformed through suffering,
if indeed we accept it in a Christ-like manner, so as to become saints.
We see that even Our Savior grew in His human nature through suffering:
“And
he, Son though he was, learned obedience from the things that he
suffered; and when perfected, he became to all who obey him the cause of
eternal salvation, called by God a high priest according to the order
of Melchisedech” (Heb.5:8-10).
Holy
Scripture speaks frequently of suffering. The patriarch Job, tried in
the crucible of suffering, becomes a wise and humble man. David, through
trial and persecution, is repentant and humbled before the Lord: “Have
mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your
compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of
my sin cleanse me. For I acknowledge my offense, and my sin is always
before me…” (Ps.50:3-6).
Change
sometimes comes through a traumatic event in one’s life. This is why
God allows disasters to overtake us, like personal trials and illnesses,
or earthquakes, hurricanes and cosmic catastrophes, so that shaken out
of our complacency and our false sense of security we might turn to Him
and be changed.
The prophet Malachias speaks of God’s refining fire and His judgment, which the world will soon be facing:
“And
who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? And who shall
stand to see him? For he is like a refining fire and like the fuller’s
herb… And a book of remembrance was written before him for them that
fear the Lord and think on his name. And they shall be my special
possession, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I do judgment:
and I will spare them, as a man spareth his son that serveth him. And
you shall return and shall see the difference between the just and the
wicked: and between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
For behold the day shall come kindled as a furnace: and all the proud
and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall
set them on fire, saith the Lord of hosts: it shall not leave them
root, nor branch. But unto you that fear my name the Sun of justice
shall arise, and health in his wings: and you shall go forth and shall
leap like calves of the herd. And you shall tread down the wicked when
they shall be ashes under the sole of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts” (Mal.3:2;16-18;4:1-3).
The
message is clear. Those who “fear the Lord and think on his name” will
become His holy and obedient servants, cleansed of their sins and with
no fear of judgment. Those who ignore the Lord’s warnings
and turn their thoughts towards sinful and worldly pleasures will be
stubble, burnt to ashes on the day of the Lord’s just judgment.
The
worldly seek to escape suffering since they see no value in it. Better
to end one’s life than to suffer. Better to snuff out the life of the
defective infant in its mother’s womb. Better to deprive the
handicapped, the old and the weak of their sustenance. Government
sponsored euthanasia, voluntary or involuntary, is just around the
corner. The Lord speaks through the prophet Isaiah:
“Behold
the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save: neither is
his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have divided
between you and your God: and your sins have hid his face from you that
he should not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your
fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lies and your tongue
uttereth iniquity. There is none that calleth upon justice, neither is
there any one that judgeth truly: but they trust in a mere nothing and
speak vanities. They have conceived labor and brought forth iniquity”
(Is.59:1-4).
Change
is only for the worse when we are under the spell of the world around
us. What we must do is turn to “Jesus Christ and him crucified”
(1Cor.2:2). If we contemplate the afflicted Christ as the saints did, we
will become one of them. This is why the Church invites us to enter
into the sacred mysteries of our salvation during Holy Week, so that we
may follow the way to Calvary with Our Lord and stand with our Sorrowful
Mother, the Queen of Martyrs, at the foot of the Cross, remembering the
words of the prophet:
“Despised
and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with
infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and despised. Whereupon we
esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our
sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one stuck by
God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our iniquities: he was
bruised for our sins. The chastisement of our peace was upon him: and by
his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, every
one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all” (Is.53:3-6).
Turn
from sin, change during this Holy Week by remembering the Passion of
our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was “wounded for our iniquities.”