Lent Prepares Us For Grace

Isaiah's lips are cleansed (Giovanni Battista Tiepolo)

    It’s a commonplace that nobody is perfect.  At the same time, it’s clear from Scripture that the God who is perfect prefers (with the exception of Incarnation of the Eternal Word Himself) to use imperfect human instruments to spread His Good News.  We are reminded of this curious feature of Salvation History in all three of this past Sunday's Mass readings, in which we see the Prophet Isaiah and the Apostles Paul and Peter all proclaim their unworthiness . . . and the Lord’s determination to use them as his mouthpieces nonetheless.

    All three use similar language.  Isaiah, after seeing the Lord on his throne surrounded by Seraphim cries out:

Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed!

For I am a man of unclean lips,

living among a people of unclean lips;

yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)

Likewise St. Peter (whom Christ has chosen to be the chief of his Apostles) says, after Jesus has miraculously multiplied his catch of fish: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” (Luke 5:8)  

St. Paul speaks in the same vein when he tells the Corinthians:

Last of all, as to one born abnormally,

he appeared to me.

For I am the least of the apostles,

not fit to be called an apostle,

because I persecuted the church of God. (1 Corinthians 15:8-9)

    It is quite true, of course, that they are unworthy, but the Lord knows perfectly well what their shortcomings are; he is happy to give them what they need to fulfill his mission.  Jesus shows his power to purify immediately after Peter’s protestation of unworthiness:

. . . there came a man full of leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and besought him, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." And he stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy left him. (Luke 5: 12-13)

We see the preparation of Isaiah more directly:

Then one of the seraphim flew to me,

holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

He touched my mouth with it, and said,

“See, now that this has touched your lips,

your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.” (Isaiah 6:6-7)

As the cleansing with a hot coal suggests, the purging of sin can be an uncomfortable process.  But there’s more: St. Paul goes on to tell us:

But by the grace of God I am what I am,

and his grace to me has not been ineffective.

Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them;

not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me.(1 Corinthians 15:10-11)

God bestows his Grace on those who consent to be tempered into his instrument.  

    

Caravaggio's "Conversion of St. Paul"

There’s a lesson for us here. Suffering comes whether we are willing or not: look at the case of Jonah, who in the course of running from the Lord’s summons undergoes quite a deal of hardship (including being swallowed by a sea monster and vomited up after three days).  God’s Will is accomplished nevertheless, but Jonah is able to appreciate neither God’s great act of Grace in sparing the one hundred twenty thousand plus Ninevites, nor His lesser Grace of sending a shade plant for the comfort of the reluctant prophet himself. The Ninevites has been saved, but we are left wondering about the salvation of Jonah.

    When I heard these readings at Mass yesterday, I couldn’t help but think of them in terms of the upcoming Lenten season. There’s a part of me that resents the (admittedly small) sacrifices and austerities of the Penitential season.  The experiences of Peter, Paul and Isaiah help to put my own life in perspective. The mild hardships we take upon ourselves during Lent are a reminder to us that our sufferings can prepare us to serve God, and that our patient endurance cultivates our hearts to receive His Grace. And as we saw above, St. Paul tells us that God’s Grace makes us what we are: who am I to refuse?