Thursday, Third Week of Lent

Daily Readings for Lent
Today's readings: March 11, 2010
First Reading: Jer 7:23-28;
Responsorial Psalm: 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 ;
Gospel: Lk 11:14-23 ;

And here's an audio file and a video of a priest offering reflections.

First Reading:  Jer 7:23-28
Thus says the LORD:
This is what I commanded my people:
Listen to my voice;
then I will be your God and you shall be my people.
Walk in all the ways that I command you,
so that you may prosper.
But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed.
They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts
and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.
From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day,
I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets.
Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed;
they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.
When you speak all these words to them,
they will not listen to you either;
when you call to them, they will not answer you.
Say to them:
This is the nation that does not listen
to the voice of the LORD, its God,
or take correction.
Faithfulness has disappeared;

Responsorial Psalm  95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R.         If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R.        If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R.        If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R.        If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Gospel   Lk 11:14-23
Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute,
and when the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.
Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself,
how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

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Commentary: A few years ago, I was really annoyed with Jeremiah - I thought he was overbearing and just liked to get into people's faces. But years later, I read a section in Jeremiah,  chapter 20, v7 that helped me understand the kind of man Jeremiah was. In this passage, poor Jeremiah was having an interior crisis and he begins a lament to God, that basically says - You duped me and You are too strong for me, God. I try and be quiet, but I have no control and You, God compel me to speak. The poor prophet was just wired the way he was when God created him. Understanding that, it makes it a lot easier to listen to the words Jeremiah is trying to share to his countrymen. Jeremiah knows full well that his words will cause his friends to hate him, and the truth is, he loves them all very much, yet he has no choice but to speak the words. So, if you look at it another way, Jeremiah was only guilty of being the man God asked him to be. And that made me think about God and the box we all tend to want to put the divine in. God is bigger than my box.

I began to look at God in another way. I wondered if God was so big, the only way to see Him better, was to see Him in everything and everyone. And I thought of this everything/everyone as a giant jig-saw puzzle. I used to spend most of my time with people in my little part of the jig-saw puzzle, because it was more comfortable. I needed to branch out.

My final thought today - I am thankful for the people who give me hard words to hear, realizing that in virtually every case, they are only trying to help. And have something for me, a gift, words that I needed to hear.