Jesus' Call to Repentance

In today's Gospel, Luke 11: 29-32, Jesus says to the crowd: "This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah,"  that is, the preaching of Jonah and the subsequent repentance of the Ninevites.

The generation of Jesus' time and our current generation are no different from one another.  There is an abundance of evil in both generations.  In Jesus' generation, people plotted for Jesus' death and, out of jealousy, murdered him on Calvary between two thieves.  In our generation, people also plot to kill others who get in their way. People may be killed because they are about to expose evil or because they are blocking others from fulfilling their lustful desires or from acquiring properties by illegal, unjust schemes.

Where evil abounds, grace abounds as well. Jesus' death and resurrection brought about our redemption and, for that reason,  it is possible for evil to be transformed into a good. People committing evil are offered the grace to repent of their wrongdoing.  Eyes of men and women in actual or virtual prisons are opened. Hope is restored. Hatred destroyed. Evil does not triumph ultimately!

However, if people do not  heed Jesus' call to repentance and, thus, do not follow the example of the Ninevites, they will remain in the pit that Satan sets for those who follow the ways of evil spirits.

Where am I/where are you in this scenario? Are we following good spirit or bad ones?  Are we even aware of sin in our lives and our need for Jesus?

A God of Justice and of Life

In today's first reading, Ezekiel 18: 1-10, 13b, 30-32, God says to us through the prophet:  "If a man is virtuous...he shall surely live,...But if he...is a thief, a murderer, or lends at interest and exacts usury...[he] certainly shall not live.  Because he practiced all these abominations, he shall surely die; his death shall be his own fault."

Imagine the following  conversation with the Lord in prayer:

"Lord, I turn over to You all those who are involved in what seems insurmountable,  larger-than-life 'mountains' of criminality, deception, and corrupt engagements and decisions that have or will have caused incredible suffering throughout the whole world.  Lord, please have mercy on us and bring those directly involved in evil or those corroborating with the wicked to justice.  May their "empires" collapse and their illusionary power be destroyed.  If you will it, Lord, You can do it, that is, you can bring all people to repentance and to a change of heart, choosing to abandon evil and turn toward the good!"

Of course I will it.  The wicked shall be stripped of all power in My timing.  So, too, will those who collaborate with those involved in evil. I am a God of justice.  I see the evil ways, the ways of untruth, and the corrupt behaviors being enacted by persons throughout the world. I hear the cries of those who are victims of their crimes. I am not deaf to the cries of the poor. 

Just as I did not spare the wicked in Noah's time nor the wicked of Sodom and Gomorrah's time, neither will I spare the wicked of this day and time in any country. Everyone will be given the opportunity to turn from evil and do what is good; everyone will be given the chance to repent and change their lives. Anyone who chooses to continue in his/her evil ways, however, chooses death, not life.   Death, as I said through Ezekiel, the prophet, "shall be his/her own fault".  I choose life for everyone, not death!

Choices of Good or of Evil

In today's first reading, 1 Kings 21-1-16, we read about Ahab, king of Samaria, and his  wife Jezebel. Ahab wanted Naboth, his neighbor,  to give him his vineyard  to use as a garden, as it was next to the king's palace. Ahab, in turn, would give him another vineyard or simply pay him cash for the vineyard.  Naboth refused, as his vineyard was his own children's inheritance. Angry, Ahab refused to eat. His wife Jezebel engaged in actions of deceit, conniving to have Naboth murdered in order that her husband could take possession of the desired vineyard. She succeeded in her evil maneuverings!

Sound familiar?  Deceitful, wicked plotting to get what one desires goes on to this very day and many times such connivance leads to the loss of life--physical death, death of the spirit of an individual or mental demise! And though we may not be the actual person doing the evil, we may be an accomplice in the evil that is being planned, as were Ahab and Jezebel!

We are reminded in today's responsorial psalm that God does not delight in wickedness and that no evil person will stand in God's sight (Cf. Ps.5).  "God hates all evildoers," the psalmist reminds us, and destroys "all who speak falsehood; the bloodthirsty and the deceitful the Lord abhors."

All of us face choices every day of our lives!  In what kinds of choices am I engaged: choices that enhance life for others or those which destroy or diminish life for others?

Discerning Good and Evil Spirits

In today's first reading, Wisdom 1; 1-7, we are told that God "is found by those who test him not, and [that God] manifest himself to those who do not disbelieve him. For perverse counsels separate a [person] from God, and [God's] power, put to the proof, rebukes the foolhardy; because into a soul that plots evil, wisdom enters not, nor dwells she in a body under the debt of sin. For the holy Spirit of discipline flees deceit and withdraws from senseless counsels;and when injustice occurs it is rebuked."  

Truly, believe,  God is at work in those involved in the presidency of the U.S. and in all those involved in our governing body.  The foolhardy are, I believe, being rebuked. Those who plot evil are being denied wisdom. In those "fleeing discipline" and following "senseless counsels" wisdom has withdrawn its presence.  And, finally, "justice is being rebuked" over and over again. When will we wake up to God at work in our world? Or are we blind because we, too, are "fleeing discipline" and following "senseless counsels", disbelieving in our God, and "plotting evil"?  Are we deaf and blind because we dwell "in a body under the debt of sin" ourselves? Have we separated ourselves from God by believing in "perverse counsels"?

May we remember, at all times, that "God is the witness of [our] inmost self and the sure observer of [our] heart and the listener of [our] tongue. For the Spirit of the Lord fills the world, is all-embracing, and knows what [you and I and all humans say]. We are who we are before God and no other!

The Wondrous Works of God

In today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 145, we praise the Lord for his wondrous works! These works are revealed to  us in both the Old and New Testaments.  In the first reading of today's liturgy from Romans 16:; 3-9, 16, 22-27, St. Paul tells us about all of the people who had been assisting him in spreading the Good News about Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection; in short, his dying to save us from eternal life and to strengthen us in being faithful to our God and Father in the spread of the faith.  In the responsorial psalm, Psalm 145,  we praise God for his greatness, for the splendor of His glorious majesty, and his wondrous works throughout the ages.  We ask for the grace that we will continue to give God thanks (the greatest prayer of thanksgiving is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the celebration of the Eucharist) and persevere in faithfully blessing the Lord by the good we do in building up the Kingdom, as Jesus did.  We pray, too, that we will "discourse of the glory of [God's] kingdom and speak of [God's] might."

God continues to bless us every day, providing us with the graces we need to be His disciples and spread the good news of salvation. This past week I had the privilege to teach a group of fifth graders about the call to holiness, a call given us at our baptism. The inspiration was given me to help the children see the call to holiness in very concrete ways in choosing good (love, truth, forgiveness, kindness, unselfishness,  generosity, obedience and many other virtuous behaviors) over evil (hatred, revenge, bullying, selfishness, stinginess, disobedience and other sinful ways). We spoke of being spiritual wrestlers, of being on God's team, wrestling with good and evil throughout our lives, as Satan persists in tempting us on a daily basis to choose evil over good. With God on our side, we will win the battle!, one day at a time!

God as our Refuge and Nurturer

In the collect of today's liturgy, we pray: "God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that, by deepening our sense of reverence, you may nurture in us what is good and, by your watchful care, keep safe what you nurtured."  Lord, you nurtured what is good in young men and women who were born here in the U.S. of Mexican immigrants--men and women for whom the road to citizenship was opened up by our former president and today closed by our current president! Lord, keep safe these undocumented men and women, many of whom have earned degrees here in the U.S., are contributing members, as were their parents, including those already deported and separated from their children here in the U.S.  May the evil being considered be blocked by men and women of integrity, men and women of good will, men and women open to all races, all cultures and all that is good.

Open my eyes, also,  Lord, when I am planning actions that will bring harm to others, that will deprive others of their basic human rights, actions that could be motivated by hatred and prejudice that I do not even know is operating within me. Free me, Lord, from hatred and bigotry, from unclean spirits, such as those that possessed the man in today's Gospel, Luke 4: 31-37, and that may have taken possession of many serving our country in government positions.   Free government officials, of any nation,  from unclean spirits!

In spite of what I see and hear on the news each night,  "I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living" (today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 27), though right now it seems as though evil is triumphing!   As evil descends upon us, in any form, may we cling to the Lord, who is our "light and [our] salvation...[and who is our] life's refuge," (Psalm27).

God alone Saves

When I opened today’s Scriptures, what jumped out at me was the first sentence of Hosea 14: 2-10: “Thus says the Lord:  Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt.”  How often I collapse through my guilt.  My ego is quickly deflated when the Spirit alerts me to my sinful behaviors and/or attitudes.  This is an invitation to “return, …[Dorothy Ann] to the Lord, your God.”  You need to repent, acknowledge your selfishness, your pride, your deceptiveness, your envy and/or jealousy, your resentments and anger. You need to ask yourself: “What is going on here?” 

The Lord then says to me, further on in this reading: “…[R]eceive what is good, that we may render as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.” “Offering bullocks [or any other animal for sacrifice] was Israel’s way of saying “I’m sorry, Lord. Forgive us our sinfulness, our worship of idols [how often the self, the ego is our idol] and make us right with You, the only true God.   Translating this in terms of the New Covenant, it might read:  [R]eceive what is good, [Dorothy Ann, that is, receive God’s forgiveness, become reconciled with Me, your God, in the sacrament of Reconciliation], that we [the Trinity] may render the offering [of Jesus’ body and blood] in the celebration of the Mass. 

Even more powerful are the next words in this reading: “Assyria will not save us, nor shall we have horses to mount; we shall say no more, ‘Our god,’ to the work of our hands….” The “Assyrias”, that is,  whatever source that is not God  to which  I look to rescue me from my shame--will not save me. Nothing, other than God, has the strength to whisk me away from evil. I have no “horse” to mount other than the mountain of the Lord.

Help me, Lord, to live by this decree, so that in the words of today’s Gospel, Mark 12: 28-34, I will realize that “He is the One and there is no other than he.”