Today at the Cathedral, all of the Catechumens and Candidates of our diocese will be gathering together to be enrolled. Unless they decide not to, the Church intends to admit them to celebrate further the mysteries of the faith. The ceremony is called the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion. How appropriate that seems to be with today’s reading in which we see the Calling of Saint Matthew (Levi.) The focus of Lent is to pray for and journey with these men and women.
It is also a time of introspection in which we prepare to join with them on Easter to renew our Baptismal vows. That is why we pray, fast, and give alms. We don’t earn anything by doing those things. There isn’t a points system up in heaven with a scoreboard. So why do we spend our time serving God? After all, if God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present, is there anything He couldn’t do Himself? In the Office of readings this morning, Saint Iraenous gives us a compelling glimpse into the reason:
the Lord [does not] need our service. He commanded us to follow him, but his was the gift of salvation. To follow the Savior is to share in salvation; to follow the light is to enjoy the light. Those who are in the light do not illuminate the light but are themselves illuminated and enlightened by the light. They add nothing to the light; rather, they are beneficiaries, for they are enlightened by the light.
The same is true of service to God: it adds nothing to God, nor does God need the service of man. Rather, he gives life and immortality and eternal glory to those who follow and serve him. He confers a benefit on his servants in return for their service and on his followers in return for their loyalty, but he receives no benefit from them. He is rich, perfect and in need of nothing.
The reason why God requires service from man is this: because he is good and merciful he desires to confer benefits on those who persevere in his service. In proportion to God’s need of nothing is man’s need for communion with God.
From the treatise Against Heresies by Saint Irenaeus, bishop
I want to focus this morning on this phrase, though: In proportion to God’s need of nothing is man’s need for communion with God. God does not need anything. That means for us to have a proportional need of God, we have an infinite lack of Him! A God-shaped hole in our heart that can only be filled by Him. The first reading and the writing by Saint Iraneous both remind us how we do that. Service. That doesn’t just mean being an Altar Server or having a religious vocation. It means following the advice of our first reading:
If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted
If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day;
If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable;
If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice-
Prayer. Fasting. Almsgiving. Today we are reminded to give of ourselves to others and to always, in everything we do, do it for Jesus. God is calling us just as He called Levi, how will we respond? As Saint Iraenous goes on to say, it is our glory to do so:
This is the glory of man: to persevere and remain in the service of God. For this reason the Lord told his disciples: You did not choose me but I chose you. He meant that his disciples did not glorify him by following him, but in following the Son of God they were glorified by him. As he said: I wish that where I am they also may be, that they may see my glory.