3 February 2016 - beautiful repentance

Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, 
accompanied by his disciples. 

In our day his native place is in the Church. He is present in the word proclaimed, in the gathering of the faithful, and especially in the Eucharist. And yet we often hear, "Where did this man get all this?" from our fellow Catholics when his truth is proclaimed.

And they took offense at him. 

Even we ourselves often say, "Where did this man get all this?" when we are called by Jesus to deeper conversion. When he tells us about newer and greater possibilities in our life of faith we don't listen with open hearts but instead take offense at him.

So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.

Is this how our Church seems today? Do we see cures which are few and far between but no real mighty deeds? It could be our lack of faith. We accept things as they are but we aren't really open to anything we aren't used to. We are suspicious of change and there is some value in that. But we mustn't be suspicious of the change which Jesus wants to make in our hearts to bring us closer to him.

When David numbers the people he does a very human thing according to a very human paradigm. Do I have the resources, he thinks, for my role in the world? But God is calling him deeper into faith. He is calling him to truth him more completely.

David realizes that he sins in numbering the people. But his repentance is beautiful. He does not initially rely on the LORD. But he chooses the punishment that is most directly from the LORD. He relies on the LORD because even punishment is better when it is from him. He reestablishes his trust in the LORD. With the psalmist he says:

I said, “I confess my faults to the LORD,”
and you took away the guilt of my sin.

Perhaps the LORD wants us to depend on him more. Perhaps he is calling us deeper. Maybe we've been numbering the people when we need to trust in him. Let's not take offense when he calls us deeper. Let's repent of the times when we rely on ourselves. When we do we experience his deliverance.

For this shall every faithful man pray to you
in time of stress.
Though deep waters overflow,
they shall not reach him.
You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me;
with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.