Religion of the Heart:
Memorial of St. Francis de Sales
(Heb 8:6-13; Ps 85; Mk 3:13-19)
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“I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
That sentence, and the readings today, invite us to move from sacrificial religion to a religion of the heart.
James, an Indigenous person left the Catholic Church and joined another denomination. He told me it was because of the rigid rules of the Church. He just could not live with the fear that if he missed mass on Sunday and died on Monday, he would go to hell. In the end, he claimed that religion sucks.
There is some truth to what he said. Bad religion sucks – but good religion draws people back to God and transforms their lives. In fact, the word religion (religare in Latin) means to bring back, to draw back.
It was the same situation at the time of Jesus. The first reading from Hebrews is a long complaint about what the Mosaic Law and Temple worship had become at the time of Jesus. One could say that the external Temple worship and oppressive religious system of the time sucked. The people “did not continue in my covenant” the reading states. The people had not only abused the covenant but also established a self-serving, moneymaking religious system that was just the opposite of what God intended through the covenants.
So, Hebrews can say that Jesus was the mediator of a better covenant; that the old covenant was faulty. God would establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the previous covenant, but a covenant written on their hearts. This would not be a sacrificial covenant, but a transformational covenant that would truly establish the people as God’s people, and God as their God.
The choice of the apostles in the gospel today is very significant, as Jesus goes up a mountain and appoints twelve apostles. This is a new Mt. Sinai, in a much humbler, gentler manner, without thunder, lightning and shaking of the earth. This is how God, in Jesus, prefers to work within this new covenant of the heart. The choice of twelve apostles signifies the twelve tribes of Israel, only now they initiate a new people of God who will live out this new covenant based on faith in Jesus and with power to heal and transform hearts.
The key is that this covenant would be an inner covenant, a covenant of spirit and heartfelt conviction. It will be like the covenant with David. Whereas the Mosaic covenant was based on the law, reward and punishment, God swore to David that he would be with him no matter what David did. And David sinned – lust, adultery and arranging a murder, but he repented, experienced God’s unconditional love as pure forgiveness, and became a true King of Israel who could speak in God’s name.
This covenant of unconditional love would be based on God’s mercy and forgiveness. God goes so far as to say that God would not only forgive the sins of the people, but that God would not even remember their sins – and when God forgets our sins, they cease to exist (Heb 8:12)!
Clare is a woman who had been terribly sexually abused by her father. As a result, she ran away but then got into a less than healthy relationship. To medicate her pain, she acted out in many ways, especially through the abuse of alcohol and drugs. Finally, she decided to go on a 12 Step healing journey. After she did Step 5, admitting to God, to herself and to me as a priest at that time, the exact nature of her wrongs, we celebrated the Eucharist together and placed her wrongdoings on a tin plate on the altar. After the celebration, we burned the papers, went to the porch of the house, and there she blew on the ashes, which instantly disappeared. That gesture dramatically brought home to her the truth that she had just heard that God would forget her sins; that they ceased to exist. That simple gesture truly set her free to move on with her life with much greater freedom.
The Church today honors someone who was truly good soil for God’s Word, and who lived out an intimate covenant relationship of love with God, St. Frances de Sales. A leader of the Catholic Reformation, Francis was born in France in 1567. His family insisted he study law rather than enter the seminary. After obtaining doctorates in both canon and civil law by the age of 24, Francis chose religious life instead. His family eventually became reconciled to his choice, and he was ordained in 1593. Appointed bishop of Geneva in 1602, Francis reorganized the diocese, reformed religious education, established a seminary and founded schools. He lived a life of austerity and simplicity, sharing with the poor. Wise and intelligent, he emphasized both the loving kindness of God, and the human capacity for love. Francis was beatified the year he died, 1622 – the first formal beatification to take place in St. Peter’s – and canonized in 1665. He is the patron saint of writers, journalists and of the deaf. He is a great example for us of someone who was both good soil for God’s word and also poured out God’s unconditional love on all to whom he ministered.
The Eucharist is worship according to the new covenant. We hear the Lord speaking to us through his Word and are nourished by the Body and Blood of Jesus shed for us on the cross, a perfect act of unconditional love and forgiveness.
May our celebration today lead us from any notion of earning our way to heaven by our own efforts, to a deep appreciation that all is grace, and empower us to live out a religion of the heart.
