On different
occasions when reading God’s Word, I’ve had this awareness of a strong personal
connection to the people whose stories are being told in the readings. The connection I think comes as I place my
trust that I’m listening to “my” God in the readings, who was “their” God, and
so He’s “our” God [Psalm 95: 1-9]. I
share with them in listening to the instruction, and somehow the connection as
family is made. These people are my
relatives in the sense they’ve gone before me.
I sit and learn about their day-to-day life, a life filled with moments
of glory and moments of sadness.
I felt this
connection today to the people while reading passages in both Jeremiah and Luke.
I found myself relating to the actions
of these people from so long ago; I too had wronged my neighbor and then went
on about relating to God as if nothing had happened, walking into Mass saying, “Hi
Lord, aren’t you glad to see me? I’m
really glad to be here.”
Early in the
7th chapter of Jeremiah, the Lord asks all the people who enter the temple to
worship the Lord, to reform their ways and their deeds, and then He lists some
of the reform for which He’s calling: “if each of you deals
justly with his neighbor; if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the
orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place, or
follow strange gods to your own harm, will I remain with you in this place” [Jeremiah 7:5-7]. And further on, “Are
you to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, go
after strange gods that you know not, and yet come to stand before me in this
house which bears my name, and say: ‘We are safe; we can commit all these
abominations again?’”
[Jeremiah 7:9-10]
Then,
starting with the 23rd verse [Jeremiah 7:23-28], we hear the Lord say, “Listen
to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so
that you may prosper”
[Jeremiah 7:23]. This was the simple
instruction He had given their ancestors when they were led out of Egypt. In our terms God shows His frustration, when
He goes on to say to them (and to us), “but you obeyed not.”
The Lord says we’ve turned our backs, stiffened our necks, and done
worse than our fathers (in obeying Him).
And finally, in the 28th verse, God tells us through Jeremiah, “…this
is the nation which does not listen to the voice of the Lord, its God, or take
correction. Faithfulness has
disappeared; the Word itself is banished from their speech.”
During Lent the Church reminds us to check our slate for all the ways we’re
not listening to God. To come forward
and be reconciled, so that we may come to His House and worship the Lord having
done all the things He’s asked of us first.
In the
gospel of Luke, Jesus had just driven out a demon from a man who was mute, and
the man began speaking. Some in the
crowd were amazed and some of the people asked Him if He had done it by the
power of Beelzebul, and some asked Him for a sign from heaven. I’d probably be standing in this last group,
because I always seem to need proof.
Jesus reasoned that the devil wouldn’t be expelling the devil out of the
man. He talked to them about kingdoms
falling if they’re divided using this example of Satan expelling Satan. And then He told them the kingdom of God is
upon them, since it was the finger of God that had driven out the evil
one. Jesus went on to say “Whoever
is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” [Luke 11:14-23].
We want to
be obedient Lord, but sometimes we’re so distracted from hearing Your
voice. We thank You for this time during
Lent, where some of our TV’s are turned off, and we’ve tried to quiet our lives
of other distractions so that we might hear Your call to be reconciled, and
thus be able to follow You in Your ways.
We pray for the wisdom to know should the kingdom of God be upon
us. Amen.
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