Friday of the 1st
Week of Lent
February 27, 2015 8:30am Mass
The term “minimalism” –
“minimalism” – describes a certain kind of art.
“Minimalism” is an artistic
movement that tends to extreme simplification of forms and shapes.
It tries to capture just the
object being portrayed as an object.
It tries to eliminate any feeling
or any personal dimension.
From this effort comes the word
“minimalism.”
One of the members of the
minimalist movement is credited with the saying, “Less is more.”
The background to today’s gospel
passage is a religious minimalism.
This minimalism basically said
that if you obey all 613 precepts of the Mosaic Law, you can feel okay.
Your obligation toward God has
been fulfilled and there is nothing else you have to worry about.
And right here lies the deficiency
in that approach.
It was minimalist.
In other words, I am to observe
the letter of the law and do exactly what the law says – no more, no less.
With this, I can feel that I am
okay.
To that, Jesus says: Wait a
minute.
He takes the precepts of the old,
Mosaic Law and says that they are just a beginning.
They just scratch the surface of
our moral living and moral obligation.
For example, the law says that
killing is wrong.
Jesus says: In addition to that,
don’t even be verbally or emotionally or physically abusive in any way.
Jesus calls us out of a
minimalist approach to religious law to a maximalist approach in our
relationship with God.
Do as much good as possible.
Avoid as much evil or wrongdoing
as possible.
So with Jesus, the demands of
charity and justice are limitless.
The possibilities of our personal
relationship with God are limitless.
With Jesus, less is definitely
not more.
He is no minimalist.
He is a maximalist.
