Ezra’s atonement

And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garments and my mantle rent, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God,

saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.

From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt; and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as at this day.

But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant, and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage.

For we are bondmen; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.  (Ezra 9:5-9)

Recently our mass readings included this passage from Ezra. To put this in proper context, though, I needed to read what preceded it. Ezra and many people from the exile have returned to Jerusalem.  While in exile, the Israelites, even their ‘church leaders’ (priests, Levites), had engaged in their secular culture to the fullest. They took wives and children from the pagan societies around them. The syncretism of pagan beliefs with the Christian beliefs, the quick forgetfulness of biblical precepts, rings true today in all faith traditions. One’s faith is weakened in proportion to the extent of which the pagan cultural values are lived. Yes, evidenced around us today is that fact that humans have not changed. Not only that, “And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.” (v. 2) How similar to today, where misinterpretations of doctrine over the past 60 years has resulted in abominations of the faith and confusion for the faithful. 

Upon learning this, Ezra’s response was to immediately pray, beg, our God on behalf of everyone. 

It made me think how often I’ve prayed in remorse for my own offenses against God, and those of others, but not ours. It might seem a trivial distinction but those trivial details are usually the most important. Ezra, who has remained holy, humbles himself and includes himself with the sinners as he prays for atonement on their behalf even though he did not participate in this sinful lifestyle. And he prayed only after first having spent the day where he “sat appalled until the evening sacrifice” (v. 4). To me, this seemed to tie to Jesus’ teaching to remove the plank from my eye before worrying about the splinter in another’s. In other words, I’m one of them. 

God’s people haven’t changed; we see this happening in His Church today as well as other faith traditions. Yet, looking around the sanctuary, what a waste of mental energy it is to be thinking about their lack of respect for Jesus, reading their iPad during the homily, drinking a beverage as if they were sitting in a park, miniskirts & revealing necklines, and the lot of it. Those thoughts might be born out of love for God but aren’t directed towards Him. Coming to mind is St. Ignatius’ teaching to “not build a nest in a thing not ours” (Sp. Ex.). His point was that God permits desolation and attacks to weaken our pride. This idea can and should be applied to all aspects of our life.   

What if instead we prayed for their increased understanding in the Real Presence, and for them to have the joy of a deep relationship with Christ? And give thanksgiving that they are even in church, in His presence? Do we trust Jesus in the Eucharist to be stirring their soul? Examining this with the 3-part awareness, you’ll find you are physically not as tense (a clue of change), your thoughts are ordered towards God (a humble posture), and the interior darkness is lifted. Thus, the better choice. 

We are called to evangelize by showing love to others—real love, grounded in our doctrine not popular agendas. We can hope to see our churches filled with people whose souls are responding to the call but don’t yet know Jesus. He’s not the gay man popularized by Elton John & Madonna but, rather, the Divine Son of God asking us to trust in Him and live within the natural order as we were authentically created to be. He wants them and us to know their inherent dignity, that they are too valuable to give themselves away like a damaged product on the store clearance shelf. He wants them to embrace their beauty and protect it with a chaste lifestyle. And to see that same dignity in others; in the unborn, the elderly, the disabled and weak, the poor. Allowing each person in any state of life the opportunity to live the moment with their Creator. 

“God has created me to do him some definite service; he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission – I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I have a part in a great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.” (St. John Henry Newman)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam 😊

Ps. I highly highly highly recommend…

• October begins the month of the Holy Rosary, and SpiritualDirection.com invites you to join them live for the contemplative rosary with Dan and Stephanie Burke October 1 6:30pm CT https://spiritualdirection.com/rosary25
• And more,,, prelaunch access to their new (FREE) series, The Perfect Prayer: The Mass is available. The 9-part series features Christopher Carstens (liturgical expert) and Fr. Bonafice Hicks (spiritual formator) provides fascinating teaching that is easy to understand. Free materials for small group studies are also available. Register at https://spiritualdirection.com/perfectprayer for immediate access.

…and the series provided at DiscerningHearts.com are also outstanding. The Seven Attitudes of a Discerning Heart are 3 min. audio clips for meditation or examination of conscience.

(Image by Gustave Doré, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)