No strings attached

Readings and meditation for Thursday, September 17, 2009
Memorial of St. Robert Bellarmine, S.J.
1 Timothy 4:12-16
Psalm 111:7-8, 9, 10
Luke 7:36-50

The gospel provides such a dramatic and beautiful picture of God’s love for us.

It’s easy to imagine this woman - probably with hair to her waist or longer - weeping at Jesus’ feet in sorrow for her sins. She demonstrates such humility in her actions, to use her tears and her hair to wash the dusty, dirty feet of someone who has been walking in sandals on unpaved roads and paths, through the market places and in the fields.

Last Sunday, during my rounds to distribute Holy Communion to the sick at the hospital, I had to don a gown and gloves before I could enter one of the rooms and I was instructed by the nurse to try to avoid touching anything and to be certain that I removed my special safety apparel in the trash can before coming out. These procedures, although necessary to protect both the patient and his visitors, made me feel somewhat “distanced” from my brother in Christ—until I was able to remind myself that God resides in that individual. Then I felt humbled by His presence just as the woman in the gospel was and, despite my protective gear, the “distance” disappeared.

Another lesson I see in this passage relates to forgiveness from the perspectives of the one forgiving and the one being forgiven. We often hear in the gospels about the infinite love and forgiveness that Jesus demonstrates, but it can be really difficult to believe just how forgiving He is. We certainly do not “deserve” that kind of love. In our society we generally feel that the recipient of our love has to be deserving of that love and that we have to be deserving of the love that we receive. How rare and unusual it is to see love given with no strings attached and how difficult it can be sometimes to trust and accept God’s infinite love and forgiveness. Yet it should be so simple to be like the woman in the gospel to recognize this gift and to treasure it as she did.