Homily, 3-25-24; Monday of the 6th Week in Lent:
Jesus reminds Judas: “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” Jesus cares for the poor, but He didn’t come to earth to solve the issue of material poverty. He came because of spiritual poverty which He cares about even more. Whether we are rich or poor in material goods, Jesus wants eternal salvation for all of us. And the poor are probably in a better position to attain what is really important. Losing eternal salvation is infinitely worse than the most severe earthly poverty. Our material riches and comforts can be great obstacles to our salvation if we become prisoners to them and refuse to share them in mercy with those less fortunate.
Isaiah’s prophecy in our first reading tells us that Jesus would come: “To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.” Jesus did come and performed miracles to give sight to the blind, but what is more important is that He came to open our spiritual eyes, our eyes of faith, that through His light we might see the right path to follow Him. We are to follow Him by His example of humility as servants, not crying out or shouting. He came to conquer the darkness and free us from our slavery to sin and our attachment to material treasures. We should no longer live in a dungeon of our sinfulness and greed.
The Lord is our light and our salvation and thus we should have nothing to fear. We have nothing to fear if our eyes of faith are open to receiving His light. If we live in that light, despite the troubles and hardships of our earthly existence, God will lead us on our journey. We will have peace in our hearts.