In today's first reading, Ezekiel 19: 21-28, God reminds us, through the prophet, that, "if a wicked [person] turns away from all the sins he/[she] has committed, if [this person] keeps all my statues and does what is right and just, he/[she] shall surely live, ...not die. None of the crimes he/[she] committed shall be remembered...; [this person] shall live become of the virtue he/[she] practiced." And the opposite is true of the person who abandons living a virtuous life and resorts to a life of wickedness. None of the good that person has done shall be remembered and such a person shall die as a consequence of turning to evil and abandoning the good.
Those are strong words that speaks of God's justice. Good leads to an abundance of life while evil leads to death, the absence of life! Abandoning doing what is right grieves God, who does not rejoice in any one of His sons or daughters walking away from a life of virtue. God, I believe, weeps when we turn toward evil, lured to such by Satan's lies that such is rewarding, wise, pleasurable and a producer of happiness and security. Satan could not be further from the truth that Jesus teaches when He says: Those who save their lives will lose it and those who lose their lives in goodness, in virtue, in denial of self and in self-sacrificing love will save it! At another place in the Gospels, Jesus reminds us that when we pour out their lives in full measure, we will receive the same in return. In another passage, Jesus says to us: Do unto others as you would have them do to you!
May you and I heed Jesus' words and trust His promises of fullness of life to those who follow His way!
No comments:
Post a Comment