Reading 1 nm 24:2-7, 15-17a
Responsorial
Psalm ps 25:4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9
Gospel
mt 21:23-27
As I was prepping for Mass this morning, my nephew came up
to me, really proud of this Lego contraption that he told me was a dragon –
which I’ll take his word for. It
reminded me of the inherent ingenuity we have a humans beings of building
things. We build things for different
reasons, but always for a reason – for my nephew, it was for fun. For some people like architects, it is for
improving living standards; for artists, it is for expression.
The thing that we are all good at building are walls. But these walls are not brick and mortar;
they are not physical things that we can point to and admire. Actually, they are meant to be subtle; in fact,
they’re meant to be covert. They are the
walls we erect like ramparts around our hearts.
We tell ourselves that it is for protection: they keep people from knowing too much about
us, in case they’d use that knowledge against us. They keep others at a distance, allowing them
to only see what we want them to see.
The longer these walls are up, they begin to look more real
than what we have shut out. We begin to
believe them and the lies they project, namely that we aren’t connected to our fellow
brothers and sisters; that we really can’t to be in relationship – true, honest
and vulnerable relationship – with anyone but ourselves. They begin to take
away our ability to be honest – with ourselves, with others, and even with God.
In the Gospel, Christ tells the chief priests and elders that
if they are honest with him, He will give the answer they seek. But because they cannot bring themselves to
reveal the little bit of truth they have, Christ finds them unable to receive
the fullness of truth that he offers.
The words of the Old Testament prophet Balaam show us the importance of
being honest with God. When we are
honest, the barriers between us and the Almighty fall away, allowing us to be
united with Him. It is only then that
our “eyes are true,” because we will “hear what God says, and know what the
Most High knows;” we will “see what the Almighty sees, enraptured, and with
eyes unveiled.” (Num. 24:15). Because we
are honest and vulnerable before our God.
Today the Lord asks us if we can have the courage to be
honest with him; honest with our joys and sufferings; our virtues and our
sins. Will we take up the tools He gives
us today in His Body and Blood to begin the process of tearing down our spiritual
walls? Will we acknowledge His authority
to work the miracles in our lives that we so desperately need?
We can; we must; our salvation depends upon it.
