By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
THE WORD IN LENT – Monday, First Week
February 19, 2024 – Leviticus 19: 1-2,11-18; Matthew 25: 31-46
Through the desert, God leads us to freedom. Reflecting on this message for this lent, we said already that the desert, although a significant place for growth, is not a place to remain. It is a place to cross over—”through the desert.” This week the Word is going to illumine for us the right and Christ-like ways of going through the desert. And the first lesson offered today is: we go through it, with the Other.
The Other is a fundamental consideration in our Christian way of life. As Pope Francis reflects on the first two questions asked by God to humanity in Genesis, he already explains this well: Where are you? And where is your brother? It is a simple and clear declaration that as people of God, children of a loving God, our self-identity has to be necessarily defined in relation to the Other – where is your brother! That reminds us of the responsibility that we have towards the Other!
The Word today offers us a concrete way of doing this, as the book of Leviticus teaches the true ways of holiness: you must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart – not even in the heart! That is the concreteness of the teaching. It goes on to say, that we need to tell the other of their offence, speak to them, clarify, and even reprimand but not bear grudge or judge them in secret. This is such a wonderful way of life, in love for the other, isn’t it?
Jesus follows the same teaching and makes it more concrete and compelling, saying it is the love for one’s neighbour that will convert itself into true love for God. There is an eye-opening paradigm that is presented by the Word today. We are called to cultivate within us an Other-centered thinking, for when we keep the other in the centre, even without our consciousness of it, we shall be doing so much good to ourselves.
That is why it is presented as the way to holiness. On the contrary, if we possess a self-centered thinking, that is when we think of everything with ourselves and our own good at the centre, we will end up always distancing ourselves from God and from holiness.
The message is very clear and concrete, the way out of the desert is, with the Other!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He holds doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.