sincerity - sin cera - 2nd week lent tuesday 2015

Our first reading today from the book of the prophet Isaiah uses the language of a judge arguing the case in court and pronouncing sentence.  The accusation is basically the dichotomy in the life of people who believe they are religious, a disconnect between what they believe and what they do, between what they do in the temple or in the church, and what they do in our homes and in our communities and offices.  In this reading God is simply asking for sincerity of heart.  A person who says one thing and does another is not sincere.  A person who says he loves God but does not love his brothers and sisters is not sincere in his love for God.  A person who worships God, participating in the mass and not missing his prayers but neglects the needs of the weak and does not give what is right and just to others, is not sincere in his worship of God.

The English word sincerity may have come from two Italian words – sin cera – without wax.  It was a practice in those days that when they make pottery – kalan, banga, they would sometimes hide the cracks with wax.  This is also true in marble sculptures.  One can be deceived to think that the pot he or she is buying is flawless.  Of course heat and constant use will reveal the cracks in time, when the wax is gone and the cracks are revealed.   But an honest potter when asked, are there cracks in this pot, he would answer sin cera – this has no wax.  This is where sincerity comes from.  It is pure, it is without cracks, there are no cosmetics meant to deceive.

Our going to mass should not become wax that covers the cracks of our injustice.  Our saying the rosary should not become as wax to hide away the cracks of our dishonesty.  Our love for the church and for priests should not be as wax to cover our insensitivity to our helpers and employees.  In fact our going to mass should make us more just.  Our rosaries should make us more honest.  Our love for the church should make us more loving to all especially the weak and those who have less.

Lent is an invitation for us to set things right.  Sins, which are as dark as scarlet and crimson, can be forgiven and can become white as snow and wool.  But we have to set things right.  Abi tadlonga na ina, abi kay-oha na ina.  Ano pa ang yara sa akon kabuhi nga dapat ko na tadlongon, dapat kon na kay-ohon.   Don’t just go to confession – kay-oha anay, tadlonga anay then go to confession.  Otherwise even our confessions are just wax acting as palliative to our consciences, daw vulca-seal to temporarily plug the hole.  The invitation is to be sin cera – to be pure, to be without wax.  This is God’s invitation to all of us this lent.