COLLECT: “WE IMPLORE YOUR MAJESTY MOST HUMBLY, O LORD, THAT, AS THE FEAST OF OUR SALVATION DRAWS EVER CLOSER, SO WE MAY PRESS FORWARD ALL THE MORE EAGERLY TOWARDS THE WORTHY CELEBRATION OF THE PASCHAL MYSTERY. THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, YOUR SON, WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN”.
Jer 7:23-28; Ps 94:1-2,6-9 and Lk 11:14-23.
The two scriptures we reflect on today: Jer 7:23-28 and Lk 11:14-23, are warning us that unless our choice is for the Lord, we choose against him. There is nothing like being midway, or being for God and at the same time not for God. This is what the Dagaaba beautifully express in an adage as “Pontire na kaale” (That is, a toad that has its hind legs in water and the fore legs on dry land, or the other way round, because it is not sure which area is safe). Jesus also puts it as ‘Serving two masters – God and Mammon’ (Cf. Mt 6:24). Indeed, if the Lord is my choice, I will listen to his voice and I will be faithful to him. If the Lord is my choice, I will see Him as my personal Saviour and therefore I will give Him my heart. I will always walk in all the ways that he commands me, doing his will, and avoid walking in the hardness of my evil heart. Even when due to human weaknesses I follow the designs of the hardness of my evil heart, I should return to him.
Choosing to be for the Lord means being part and parcel of him because he lives in me and I in him. It means doing things and behaving in line with him, not contrary to him. When we do all the above, all because we choose him and we want to be with him, then he becomes our God and we his children.
The Israelites right from Moses down through to the Prophets and eventually to the time of Jesus, several times made a choice for God. Several times they promised Moses and the Prophets to be faithful to the Lord.
However, it has been proven by scriptures that shortly after making such promises to be faithful to God and to do all that the Lord commanded them, they easily went back to their own ways to follow their own designs, walking in the hardness of their evil hearts as they turned their backs on God.
Our generation cannot be excused from this attitude. At our baptism, no doubt, we each chose only the Lord. We renounced as well as denounced sin and Satan. We promised to give our hearts to the Lord, follow his ways and do all that he commands us to do. We however always easily say all these but carrying them out becomes a problem.
Very often we do things that reveal how we ignore the Lord we earlier promised to give our lives to. Even with this attitude, the Lord continues to speak to us daily or at least annually, either directly through his Word or through fellow human beings. Whenever we go contrary to the choice we made at our baptism, he always exposes our wrongdoings to us through his Word or through fellow human beings, calling us to come back to be corrected by him.
Today, again, God, through the scriptures, laments that “faithfulness has disappeared” from his people, and maybe from the present-day generation. Jesus is not only ignored but challenged in today’s Gospel. We often become adamant, not paying heed to what he tells us to do, stiffening our necks and disobediently doing worse things. We have been given another chance during this season of Lent to listen more to his constant call on us to come back to him, renew our baptismal promises, renew and purify our hearts, free ourselves from disordered affections and be saved. Let us not harden our hearts but humbly listen to him and be saved. Stay blessed and may your day be fruitful.
WE MEDITATE TODAY, THURSDAY, ON THE MYSTERIES OF LIGHT: ‘THE BAPTISM OF JESUS, THE WEDDING AT CANA, THE PROCLAMATION OF THE KINGDOM, THE TRANSFIGURATION, AND THE INSTITUTION OF THE EUCHARIST’. (WE PRAY FOR OPENNESS TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, PRAY TO JESUS THROUGH MARY, FOR REPENTANCE AND TRUST IN GOD, THE DESIRE FOR HOLINESS, AND WE PRAY FOR THE SPIRIT OF ADORATION) “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen”.
PRAYER: “GRACIOUSLY RAISE, O LORD, THOSE YOU RENEW WITH THIS SACRAMENT, THAT WE MAY COME TO POSSESS YOUR SALVATION BOTH IN MYSTERY AND IN THE MANNER OF OUR LIFE. THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN”.
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo
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