Choosing the One True God and His Will for Us

In today's first reading, Hosea 11: 1-4a, 8e-9, the Lord confronts His people for placing strange gods before Him: "When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me, sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like the one who raises an infant to his cheeks; Yet, though i stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I  was their leader."

The Israelites abandoned God and followed other nations in their worship of false gods.  They wanted a king, rejecting God as their king, and fell into idolatry like so many others around them.  We, too, have a tendency to worship idols: wealth, pleasure, sex, consumerism, materialism, power and control, technology, TV, entertainment--anything that we allow to consume our attention and occupy our time above God is idol worship.  With what, we need to ask ourselves, do we spend most of our time to the extent that we do not take time to pray, to study the Scriptures,  to meet out responsibilities to build up God's Kingdom on earth, to foster unity among those with whom we live, to save those suffering starvation--starving physically, emotionally, spiritually, socially--in ways we are able to bring relief?  To and from what do I seek comfort and peace more than I do from God, my Creator?

Let us heed the words of today's responsorial psalm: "Let us seek your face, Lord, and we shall be saved"(Psalm 80) from our misguided pursuit of happiness in place of seeking happiness in You above all!  Save us, Lord, from pursuing security in accumulating more and more material things, in increasing excessive wealth, that crowds out our awareness of You and of our responsibilities to love
others as we truly love ourselves and to love them above material comforts.

Choose Life, Not Death

In today's first reading, Deuteronomy 30: 15-20, Moses has a heart-to-heart talk with his people before he passes on to eternal life. He challenges his fellow Israelites, and each of us,  to choose life, not death! How? By keeping the commandments, serving the one true God, loving God, walking with God, listening to His voice, holding fast to God, turning away from idols, and not worshiping false gods,  (and they are all around them and us)! The responsorial psalm, Psalm 1, further instructs on what it means to serve the one true God: follow not the way of the wicked (and they, too, are all around us), walk not in the way of sinners who press us on every side, do not take a seat among the insolent, the lackadaisical, the proud, the arrogant or those who lust for that which causes death to the soul or spirit. Rather, delight in the ways of God and meditate on God's laws day and night!  In other words, stay close to the Lord, cling to Him, love Him, serve Him, worship Him. In  today's Gospel, Luke 9: 22-25, Jesus also shares his concerns with us lest we forfeit that which gives us life and denies us eternal life.  "If anyone who wishes to come after me, he must deny  himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whosoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What prof\it is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?

When you and I, at all costs, run after false gods, sit with the arrogant, the proud, the lustful, the insolent, the wicked, sinners bent on evil pursuits, are we not then refusing to deny ourselves? Are we not then not refusing to "take up [our] cross daily"?  Is it possible that we fall into these traps because we fail to keep our focus on the Lord, who alone can help to make right choices and to remember our vulnerability to make poor choices that do not lead to life but to death?

May we heed the voices of the Spirit in each of the readings in today's liturgy. Forgive us, Lord, when we turn from you and rely on ourselves alone or seek only the help of fellow human beings, who, like us, are vulnerable to worship idols.

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?

The Choice of the One True God or a God-substitute

In today’s first reading, James 5: 1-6, and in Psalm 49, we are challenged to not get caught up in that which does not lead to eternal life and is contrary to the way Jesus lived.  We are invited to eliminate negativity and any other behaviors that block us from growth in holiness, that is in becoming poor in spirit, charitable and humble disciples of Jesus Christ.  Christianity, in short, is not about becoming rich, though wealth in and of itself is not evil.  When  wealth is chosen as one’s ultimate goal, when it is worshiped or when  it becomes a substitute for God, it is pursued relentlessly. Relentless pursuers of wealth as a "must have," as a God-substitute, are  likely to grow rich at the expense of the poor, cheating others of just wages and the means to support, shelter, clothe, feed and provide education for  family members. Bent on getting rich, some people exploit others, as in the sex trade, human trafficking, slave labor, and drug trafficking. Idolaters of wealth are willing to do whatever it takes to be among the richest people in the world, caring not at all whose spirit and reputation is destroyed by their climb to the top! And the wanna-be-rich  have a tendency to worship the millionaires and billionaires among us.

The psalmist proclaims the behaviors listed above as “the way of those whose trust is folly.” Wealth provides a false security and when “worshiped” leads to destruction.  Our only salvation is the Lord, God. God alone redeems us. God alone is God; there is no other.  Security rests in God and in being disciples of Jesus, in living as Jesus lived. the truly wealthy are those who are kind and loving, merciful and forgiving, and generous in responding to the needs of the poor and oppressed, those who  right wrongs and  live justly.

Upon what or whom do I place my security? For what, in this life, am I looking?  Whom am I following?

Enslavement/Entrapment in God-substitutes

In today’s first reading, Ex 20: 1-17, God says to the people: “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them.”

The worship of other gods, the carving of idols for myself—whatever gets between me and God in such a way that I push God out of my day, out of my thoughts, out of my musings, out of my plans, out of my hopes, out of my dreams—is so easy to do. Without realizing it, I can fill my life, my day, my week, with God-substitutes: work, food, alcohol/drugs, entertainment, friends, success, productivity, the Internet, the i-pad, the smart phone, relationships; in short whatever I use as my only means of sustenance, fulfillment, and relief without seeking God.

Sadly, as long as I am too busy carving “idols” or God-substitutes for myself, I am denying myself the gift of knowing God as the source of my being, the One who heals me as no one else can, the One who comforts me like no other, the One who sustains me like no other, the One who guides me beyond flaws, the One who has a plan full of hope for me like no other.

“I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of…that place of slavery.”  “I, the Lord, am your God, who can and will free you from that which enslaves you. Trust me! I love you. I died on the cross for you.” 

The question I am left with is:  Whom/what do I first seek when I feel trapped, enslaved?  Or how long do I struggle with being enslaved before I seek God’s help, spend time quietly in solitude with the Lord? How many "side trips" do I take before laying my “chains” at the feet of  the Lord or  placing them on the altar as "bread" and "wine" to be transformed by the Lord?

Placing My Trust Rightly

In today’s first reading, James 5: 1-6, St. James has strong words for those who become rich by cheating the poor and refusing to share their wealth to make the world a better place for all peoples The Scriptures do not condemn wealth. What is sinful is taking advantage of the poor, exploiting the poor, denying them just wages and thus jeopardizing their ability to shelter, feed, clothe and educate their families. What is also being condemned is trusting in one’s wealth, putting all one’s energies in accumulating and consuming material goods as gods in themselves upon which their salvation depends. “This,” the psalmist says, “is the way of those whose trust is folly, the end of those contented with their lot: Like sheep they are herded into the nether world; death is their shepherd and the upright rule over them,” in eternity, that is. But even here on earth, living selfishly is hell in itself.

Jesus says to us in Mark 8: 35: “Whoever would save their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for the sake of the gospels’ will save it.” Am I willing to be “broken bread” and “poured-out wine” for others? Am I willing to give service to others, helping the poor and oppressed, addressing injustices, sharing my wealth with the less fortunate? Jesus says to us in today’s Gospel, “Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.” And that reward, for rich and poor alike, is eternal life. “God will redeem me from the power of the nether world by receiving me” (Psalm 49), the psalmist says to each of us.

The Writing on the Wall

 In today’s first reading, Daniel 5: 1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28, we read about King  Belchazzar, Nebuchadnezzar’s son who, like his father, worshipped gold ,silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone as gods.  In a drunken state, he ordered that the sacred vessels of silver and gold  from the house of God in Jerusalem be brought to him so that his lords, his wives, his entertainers and he himself could drink wine from them. As they were marrying and worshipping their gods, a hand began to write on the wall. The King was terrified and called for Daniel to interpret the writing. He did so. Mene meant that God had numbered the king’s kingdom and would bring it to an end. Tekel meant that the king was found wanting in God’s eyes. He was worshipping pagan gods but not glorifying “the God in whose hand is your life breath and the whole course of your life.”  Perez meant that Belshazzar’s kingdom would be divided and given to other nations.

Do you and I read the writing on the walls of our lives when we, too, are worshipping false gods, when we have violated the sacred vessels from the Temple?  We are that temple of God.  In 1 Cor 6: 19-20 St. Paul asked “Do you know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? “  Do we glorify the God in whom we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28) or are we engaging in idolatrous worship of material things?

Just as God alerted King Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar, of his waywardness and the consequences of violating the vessels of the Temple, so, too, does God alert us when we stray from the right path. Am I listening? Am I paying attention?

Grief-stricken in Spirit

In today’s first reading, Tobit 3: 1-11a, 16-17, Tobit, “grief-stricken in spirit,…groaned and wept aloud,” acknowledging the sins of his nation:

We have sinned against you,

and disobeyed your commandments.
 So you handed us over to plundering, exile, and death,
till you made us the talk and reproach of all the nations
among whom you had dispersed us.”

He could be, and is, also speaking about the world of today and, in particular, the United States of America, which recently dedicated its “First Atheist Monument” (Newsmax).   This led me to the following dialogue with Jesus: 

“As a nation, Lord, we have sinned against You and disobeyed your commandments, worshipping the false gods of money, consumerism, materialism, hedonism; adoring power, pleasure, possessions and the “freedom” to do whatever the ego desires in asserting its power.  We’ve scorned justice, honesty and integrity. We’ve stomped on wisdom, prudence, humility and respect of humanity, male and female, and all of creation. Greed guides our steps, not wisdom.  So you handed us over to the consequences of our sinful behaviors, our idolatry, our abuse of each other and of the earth, our unbridled passions.  Our wars as well the earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, hurricanes, floods, fires are a symbol of human nature’s unbridled use of “freedom,” its abuse of power, pleasure and possessions, upon which our loyalties and idolatrous pursuits are passionately linked.  Consequently, chaos exists in all segments of our society.

“Thank You, Lord, that darkness is not dark to You.  Wherever we hide, whether behind atheistic idols or other God substitutes, you are there.  Whichever addiction or idol we allow to take control of our lives, You are more powerful than that addictive or idolatrous behaviors. Whichever god we worship, You are still the only true God, who created the universe and all that is in it.  You alone sustain us in existence.  You alone secured our salvation by Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, destroying Satan’s power to destroy the Sacred, the Truth and the Way to You.  The gates of heal shall not prevail against the Church.  Satan has no power over believers, over us whom the Father entrusted to You.”

“Dorothy Ann, keep your eyes on me.  Come to me and I will refresh you.  Fear not those who erect false gods. Pity them; do not condemn them. They know not what they are doing. And remember that I am with you always until the end of time.”