Consequences of Worshipping Idols

In today's first reading, Ezekiel 24:  15-23, the Lord prophesies to Ezekiel that his wife, "the delight of [his] eyes" will die and that he should not publicly mourn her death.   The people want to know what all this means to them and the prophet tells them that they, too, shall lose the delight of their eyes, the Temple in Jerusalem. They, also, are told not to mourn: "[Y]ou shall rot away because of your sins and groan one to another." 

The rationale for the destruction of Jerusalem is given in the response to today's responsorial verse, Dt. 32: 18-19, 20, 21:  "You have forgotten God who gave you birth." We are given a further  explanation in the verse itself:  "You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you.....When the Lord saw this, he was filled with loathing and anger toward his sons and daughters. 'I will hide my face from them,' he said, 'and see what will then become of them.  What a fickle race they are, sons with no loyalty in them! 'Since they have provoked me with their 'no-god' and angered me with their vain idols, I will provoke them with a 'no-people'; with a foolish nation I will anger them."

This passage, it seems to me,  applies to the world of today with its "no-gods" and "vain idols."  Many races, today, have become fickle, disloyal!  The questions I need to ask myself, however,  are:  Have I become fickle, that is, undependable, irresponsible concerning my relationship with God and my service to others?  Am I worshipping 'no-gods,' that is, am I putting my sole security in accumulating money beyond my means,  seeking pleasures above all, clinging to my own whims at the expense of others, seeking the gods of consumerism and materialism? Am I running from one relationship to another and another, being unfaithful to my marriage or religious vows?  Is success my god? Is being in control and having "power" my god?

I am called to love and be loving, as modeled by Jesus in the Gospels. Jesus was obedient to His Father unto death?  To whom am I obedient?  Whom am I serving: God in loving faithfulness and right relationships with my wife and children; God in faithfulness to my vocation in life?

Learning to Love Others beyond the Family in Which I Grew Up

In today's first reading, Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22, we meet Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth.  Naomi's husband, a man from Bethlehem, and her two sons die. One daughter-in-law returns to Moab while Ruth insists on staying with Naomi:  "Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God." What love and what loyalty.  Ruth will not abandon her mother-in-law!

Jesus, in today's Gospel, Matthew 22: 34-40, is asked which commandment of the law is the greatest. It is the commandment lived out by Ruth.  "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind," Jesus responds.  Those loyal to their husbands and wives, to their mothers/fathers-in-law, to their daughters/sons-in-law are witnesses to the love Jesus about which Jesus talks.

How loving and loyal am I to the persons God puts in my life, whether married, single or a member of a religious community? Am I willing to leave my  homeland for another, as Jesus left heaven for earth to reveal God's love for us? Would I, like Ruth,  say to another: "Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you" when I know in my heart of hearts that that is the right thing to do?

Loyalty

As I reflected upon today's first Scripture readings, Ruth1:1, 3-6, 14-16 ,   I am touched by Ruth's loyalty to her mother-in-law.  Naomi, from Judea,  and her two sisters-in-law, Moabites, are on their way back to Judah when Naomi says to them: "Go back home and stay with your mothers."  Ruth says to Naomi: "Don't ask me to leave you! Let me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live.  Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.  Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried.  May the Lord's worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death separate me from you."

Wow!  Have you and I, in following our vocations in life, be that marriage,  religious life, or priesthood not said the same thing. We all left our homes to carry out what we know is God's will for us. Husbands and wives have said to each other: "Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried." "Nothing but death [will] separate me from you!"  We religious and priests say the  same to our religious communities/dioceses, to our vocation, to God's call to serve in the way we hear the Spirit calling us through our superiors, our Church, our community's charism and mission in the world.

What  a God who leads us in the path to salvation: surrendering to God's will as it is revealed in the  circumstances of our lives, as it was revealed to Naomi and her daughters-in-law.