“Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”
[Passover] Some Greeks approach Philip – he, of course, bearing a Greek name. [A connection]
Philip in turn, approaches Andrew – he, of course, the brother of Simon. [Another connection]
And Simon, of course, uniquely connected with Jesus who nicknamed him Peter. All these
connections bring the unnamed Greeks to Jesus. And what did they finally see? Were they
changed by the sight? Did they pass over?
It’s always about connections, isn’t it? In ways large and small, formal and informal, daily we
inhabit a world of “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” So, among your connections,
how do you know Jesus? The season of Lent affords us the opportunity to examine our various
connections and the manner in which they shape what we see – and what we fail to see. Such
is the life of penance – changed horizon of vision, changed imagination, changed mind,
changed heart. Changed.
In the 12th century, Francis of Assisi was deeply shaped by his own early connections –
privileged son of a merchant and leader of a merry band of revelers. Surely, those connections
shaped his manner of seeing, his vision of glory as a storied knight of great accomplishment.
By his own account, Francis’ life of penance commenced with a startling sight, a new
connection:
“The Lord gave me, Brother Francis, thus to begin doing penance in this way: for when I was in
sin, it seemed too bitter for me to see lepers. And the Lord Himself led me among them and I
showed mercy to them. And when I left them, what had seemed bitter to me was turned into
sweetness of soul and body.”
From that point onward, Francis never did see the world again in the same way. He had
passed over, had come to see Jesus in a newly profound way – in the poor, the marginal, the
despised, the discarded and the shunned. Soon enough he was given the gift of brothers drawn
to this altered vision of both Jesus and the world. Pope Innocent III blessed the venture with
these words: “Go with the Lord, brothers, and as the Lord will deign to inspire you, preach
penance to all.”
Heirs of that mission, how might we now preach penance to all? Penance is not groveling in
guilt. Neither is it mere assertion of our will, a steely pursuit of discipline. Rather it comes
always as a gift of grace. A surprising disruption that radically changes the way we see
ourselves and our connections to others. A way of seeing Jesus in those very places and people
we are tempted to avoid because they seem too bitter to us. Penance is cooperation with the
nudge of divine grace calling forth from us deeds of mercy, charity and justice – conversion at
the very depths of our hearts and minds, so that when others approach to ask us, “we would
like to see Jesus,” we just might actually be able to help them see.
This Lent, what are the abiding connections in your life that determine so much of what you
see and what you fail to see? Are we alert to possible encounter with those lepers in our midst
we yet fail to see? Like Francis, to be healed by a leper? Connected? Changed? Would you
like to see Jesus? [Passover]
For by your gracious gift each year
your faithful await the sacred paschal feasts
with the joy of minds made pure,
so that, more eagerly intent on prayer
and on the works of charity,
and participating in the mysteries
by which they have been reborn,
they may be led to the fullness of grace
that you bestow on your sons and daughters.
Francis Gasparik, Michael Marigliano, Michael Connolly, Lake Herman and Thomas Franks