These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye. (Lk 6:39-45)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022722.cfm
This last Sunday before Lent reminds us about our own hypocrisy. As we pray for Ukraine, may God’s compassion help us to see ourselves and others as God sees us—as God’s beloved children. Today's picture is of Ukrainian children taking refuge in a bomb shelter, while we hear the Jesus Prayer sung in Ukrainian: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.
Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the Church, and they should pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. (Jas 5:13-20)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022622.cfm
We come to the end of the Letter of James, and we hear the tender instruction about the Anointing of the Sick. God touches us through the hands and the prayers of the community and raises us up! Today as we continue to pray for our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, we have the Ukrainian Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos (Mother of God). The icon is the Mother of God, Light in All Darkness.
Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another, that you may not be judged. Behold, the Judge is standing before the gates. (Jas 5:9-12)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022522.cfm
Stop complaining about one another . . . why do we have all these little commands throughout the Scriptures telling us how to get along in the Christian community? We have them, because we need them—especially when it comes to complaining about one another. I remember during another pandemic that people were complaining about my ministry to those living with HIV/AIDS and to those who were caring for them. I had to remind my parish community that it would be the Lord who would judge me and my ministry . . . not them.
Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire. Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. (Jas 5:1-6)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022422.cfm
Material success is no gauge of spiritual success. The so-called “prosperity gospel” is a lie, it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. The writer of the Letter of James reminds us that God sees the world and everyone in it through different eyes and with different values. Justice is not optional. We pray for Ukraine.
Beloved: Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit”– you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears. Instead you should say, “If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.” But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (Jas 4:13-17)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022322.cfm
When I was in language school in Cuernavaca, Mexico, my Mexican Madrecita was horrified when I told her about all the things I was going to do, and talked about my plans for the future. She was always adding “Primero Dios” (God first) or “Si Dios quiere” (If God wants). In the South we used to hear “God willing” a lot more, but these days, not so much. My Mexican Madrecita had a point, just like the Letter of James . . . sometimes we act like we own the whole world, doing whatever we please. Perhaps we all can use a friendly reminder that only “If the Lord wills it (Si Dios quiere or Primero Dios).” Saint Polycarp was a bishop of the primitive church. He was martyred in the year 155.
