Reverencing the Lord and Following His Way

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!

Reverencing the Lord and One Another

In today's first reading, Ephesians 5: 21-33, St. Paul talks about marriage and the need for love and respect for each other. In Genesis, the message is that a man is to leave his mother and father and become one with his spouse.  Both are to grow in mutual love for one another,  become united in mind and heart toward a common goal: that their children grow in their relationship with the Lord, come to know the Lord and embrace their faith and call to become spiritually mature individuals. That maturity needs to be modeled by parents.  Spiritual maturity, a call to self-sacrificial love,  is the same for persons in religious life and/or priesthood. We are here to become one with others in our goal to be one with the Lord Jesus and His will for us.  God wills that we grow to greater unity with God and with one another, that we are fruitful and multiply goodness--the goodness of bearing children in our image and likeness and who grow in their image and likeness of God!  How do we do that? by personally living humbly in our relating to each other, in being reverent of one another,  in forgiving one another, and in being compassionate and understanding of one another!

In today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 128, those are declared "blessed" who fear the Lord, that is, reverence the Lord. Reverencing the Lord begins with reverencing ourselves and one another.  Those who "fear the Lord, who walk in his ways,...shall eat the fruit of [their] handiwork; [they] shall be blessed...and favored."

May you and I grow in reverence!