God's Faithfulness and Oneness with Us

Today’s readings are about fidelity: God’s fidelity to the Chosen People and God’s fidelity mirrored in marriage. In Joshua 24: 1-13, we are reminded of the way in which God was one with the Chosen people throughout their history: leading them away from countries in which they were worshipping pagan gods, acting independently of God, alienating themselves from God. He reminded them that He created darkness between them and Egyptian warriors who were pursuing them, that He delivered their enemies into their power that He “sent hornets ahead of you that drove…the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites out of your way; it was not your sword or your bow.” Yahweh also reminded them that they were given “a land that you had not tilled and cities that you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.” In the Gospel, Mt. 19: 3-12, Jesus speaks of the fidelity of married men/women: “…a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh…[T]hey are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.” How do these readings apply to you and me? God is also one with us, leading us away from idols which we choose as god substitutes: materialism, consumerism, sexism, capitalism, liberalism, to name a few, and any of the addictions that take away our freedom. God also delivers “enemies” into our hands, putting darkness between us and that which lures us into sin: our pride, our selfishness, our efforts to control others and to act superior to them, our apathy, our fears, our prejudices and judgments of others, and so on. Furthermore, God gives us “lands” that we did not till, “cities” we did not build and “vineyards” and “olive groves” we did not plant: our faith, our families, our teachers, our counselors, our healthcare professionals, public servants, much of the food that we eat, the entertainment we enjoy, the beauty of the universe, and on and on. All because God loves us!