It was the Alleluia antiphon that stayed with me as I sat in the chapel seeking inspiration for the Scripture readings today. “Let your countenance shine upon your servant and teach me your statues.” In other words, let your face be seen by me and teach me. The prophet Ezekiel was so blessed. God used him to let a rebellious people know that their rebellion was about to end in captivity and exile.
Peter was the beneficiary of a similar moment when Jesus let his face be seen and voice heard. Peter had asked Jesus how many times do we need to forgive. In response Jesus proceeded to tell Peter about the servant who was forgiven greatly yet when asked to forgive another, he did not. He was ungrateful.
In telling Peter there was no limit to forgiveness, Jesus was reminding him to let his countenance shine upon others and allow others to see in us faces with concern and compassion, men and women who have taken to heart the teachings of Jesus.
This has been a week filled with examples of men and women whose countenance shown upon them and who were taught by Jesus: Saint Dominic, St Theresa Benedicta of the Cross, Saint Lawrence, Saint Clare today and tomorrow, Saint Jane Frances de Chantal. To think that light that shone upon each one of them is still shining brightly through them today.
When God told Ezekiel, get out there in public, take little with you, let the people see you and get the message that their exile is about to begin, I thought of Saint Clare and her exile that she willingly undertook in obedience to the will of God. When God’s countenance shone upon her, she left her parent’s home in Assisi and arriving in San Damiano on the outskirts of Assisi, she went from riches to rags and donned a rough smock, the first habit of the Poor Clares.
Saint Francis, her contemporary, made her the head of the order of women who devoted themselves to Eucharistic prayer and joyful poverty in imitation of Christ. The Poor Clares are with us still and God’s countenance continues to shine upon them and through them.
At our baptism, that countenance shone upon each one of us. A possible invitation for us today is to leave fear behind and let his countenance be seen through us in the midst of what God called a “rebellious house.”
“Let me always give my neighbor the benefit of the doubt so I may forgive him from my heart.”
Mother Angelica, once a Poor Clare sister
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