“O that
today you would listen to the voice of the Lord. Do not harden your hearts!”
Have you noticed
how Jesus never beats around the bush? We just heard how Jesus wasted no time
with the unclean spirit, but immediately commanded it: “Be
silent, and come out of him!” Just seven little words,
but how very effective! The unclean spirit wasn’t happy about it and convulsed
the man, making him cry “with a loud voice”, but it “came out of him”.
It will be just
like that for unrepentant souls when they draw their last breath on this Earth
and in this mortal life. Hard, rebellious souls behaving like evil spirits will
find that Jesus will not beat around the bush with them either. Proud,
controlling, and nasty souls will find that in the radiant Presence of God;
they can no longer avoid facing the truth, all the truth. They will have one
last chance to admit all the truth, to humble themselves, and to repent before
God.
“The
Lord is near to all who call on him!”
Jesus was just as
firm with the religious leaders because they were hypocrites and didn’t really
care about the people; they did not love ordinary people but showed them
contempt. By being firm with the leaders, Jesus was giving them a chance to
repent and accept Him. We are not merciful like God. We are more like the
religious leaders; instead of like God. We easily judge others. We want God to get
rid of those who do evil and harm in the world. We think that we are good, and
we want to receive all of God’s blessings and graces, but we have a hard time
accepting that God is merciful to everyone; even those who behave badly. He
wants to give everyone a chance to accept the Father’s love and to learn to
love their neighbour.
We human beings
have a hard time accepting that there can be such different attitudes in God.
Deep down, we doubt that God is really that good, that kind, that
understanding, and that loving. We are a little like the People of Israel to
whom Moses spoke. God wanted his people to believe that the words Moses spoke
to them were the very words that God told him to tell them. So, God used fire
and thunder, similar to a volcano, to make a deep impression on the people. As
a result, they were terrified and didn’t want to hear God’s voice any more.
“O that
today you would listen to the voice of the Lord. Do not harden your hearts!”
We need to learn
the ways of the Lord. God needed to get their attention because they were so
stubborn and proud and didn’t want anyone to tell them what to do. Sadly, that
sums up the human condition, our mortal condition. None of us want to be told
what to do. With an attitude like that, we are behaving as though we were God,
but we aren’t. We cannot have a personal relationship with God without the
humility to admit to the Lord every day the truth about who we are, what we are
saying and doing, our attitudes, and how we are behaving towards one another.
We need to know when we mistreat others, to stop doing it, and to ask
forgiveness. When we refuse to wake up; God will let the troubles of life shake
us up to get our attention.
“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”
That is why Saint Paul was
trying to teach the Corinthians to put God first; to try to please God before
trying to please other people in our lives. If we live in such a way as to
please God; then our behaviour will definitely be humble, kind, caring, and
loving towards others. We will even be willing to be merciful to those we don’t
like; even to enemies. We will even pray for evildoers; asking God to bless
them with the grace they need to wake up and start doing good.
“O that today you would listen to the
voice of the Lord. Do not harden your hearts!”
Here is a simple rule of
thumb, easy to remember, that can help us to please God at all times. When
something good happens to anyone else; we can rejoice with them and thank God
for his goodness. When we see someone doing what seems to be wrong or evil; we
can ask God to show them the right way. Then, we can use that bad behaviour as
an opportunity to examine our conscience and ask God: “Lord, am I doing something
like that too?” If we are doing anything similar but didn’t realize it before;
we can ask God to forgive us and help us change.
“The
Lord is near to all who call on him!”
Our life on this
Earth is in between the time when Jesus walked this Earth and the eternal life
of Heaven. On Earth, Jesus exercised great authority over evil spirits and the
hard-hearted religious leaders. Jesus continues to exercise that authority in the
heavenly realm, but on Earth from now until he returns in glory; it is
different. Jesus leaves it up to us to build the kingdom of God on Earth. The
Father loves us, the Holy Spirit gives us life, and the Lord Jesus supports us.
The Most Holy Trinity wants to rule this world through us. In every situation
of our lives, God wants us to speak his words of life, to show his mercy to
others, and to build peace on Earth. We are weak, but God wants to exercise his
authority and power through us. He is waiting.
“O that
today you would listen to the voice of the Lord. Do not harden your hearts!”
“Mary
Mother of God, St. Joseph, help us walk in
the steps of Jesus. O my
Jesus, I trust in You! Thank You; You who are God, the
Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
In silence now, the Holy
Spirit helps us to unite our offering of ourselves to that of Jesus….
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