Thursday, September 18, 2008

In today's Gospel, Simon the Pharisee may not have had any big ticket items on his debit sheet with God, but Jesus listed his omissions one by one, all adding up to a kind of contempt--or at the very least, indifference toward Jesus. (Kind of reminds me of the accusation hurled (!) in the book of Revelation toward the tepid.) And he looked with more than indifference toward the woman at Jesus' feet. Now she was someone Paul could relate to--and in a way, he does "relate" in the first reading. It's the scene of the "woman who was a sinner" washing Jesus' feet with her tears. Jesus says that this woman, because she was forgiven much, showed great love. St. Paul could, and did, say the same thing in his own regard: "I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant, but I have been treated mercifully...and the grace of God has been given me in overflowing measure...and this grace has not been fruitless in me. The love of Christ controls us with the conviction that because one died for all, all died..."

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