In today's first reading, Malachi 3: 13-20b, the prophets speaks about those who boast of defying the Lord and His will and those who respect the Lord and serve Him . Concerning those who "fear [reverence] the Lord and trust in his name...shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, my own special possession, on the day I take action. And I will have compassion on them, as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. Then you shall again see the distinction between the just and the wicked; between the one who serves God, and the one who does not serve him. for low, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch."
In our pride, our rebellion, our defiance, our wickedness, we may now boast of being independent of the Lord and continue choosing our wills over God's but the day of reckoning will come upon us as a thieves in the night! God is God; there is no other. Whom are we serving? Of what are we boasting? Do we avoid being humble and recognizing our dependence upon God, choosing to do whatever we please, even when we know that we are walking away from God, our Creator, our Redeemer and our Sanctifier?
May we be the blessed ones that the Psalmist speaks about in today's responsorial psalm: "Blessed the [person] who follows not the counsel of the wicked nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night....For the Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes" (Psalm 1).
Lord, forgive me when I acted defiantly, disdainfully, and proudly followed those who were making poor, even sinful choices. Forgive me, when I have chosen the easy road and threw discipline and sacrifice to the winds, refusing to be bothered with walking the straight and narrow! Lord, have mercy!
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