Thursday of the Third Week of Lent
LISTENING TO GOD’S WORD
“Listen to my voice,” says God through his prophet Jeremiah, and then, he complains that God’s people fails to listen, that they listen to themselves and follow their own ways. Their deeds do not speak the language of God. They do not follow God.
In the Gospel, Jesus cures the man who was mute. Worse than anyone who is deaf and mute and blind, are those who do not want to hear and see, or to speak with sincerity. They do not follow Jesus. Their hearts are divided.
Reading 1: Jeremiah 7:23-28
Gospel: Luke 11:14-23
Prayer
Lord, our God,
you ask of us not so much
that we observe certain practices,
but that our hearts are turned to you.
God, may we do your will in everything,
loyally and generously,
as Jesus did, your Son,
who did your will because he loved you
and who lives therefore with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Reflection:
16 March 2023
Luke 11:14-23
The Finger of God at work
In the day’s liturgy, the Church wants us to examine our conscience on our faithfulness to the Lord. Faithfulness to the Lord is not about attending Sunday Masses. It is about being aware of not allowing ourselves to be stubborn and deaf, shutting the Lord out and doing what we want.
When Jesus performed miracles and healed the sick, the stubborn Jewish leadership said it was through the power of Beelzebub, the leader of demons. A person with a hardened heart is unhappy with the Church and the faith in the Lord, puts God aside with an excuse, and discredits and slanders God. Pope Francis explains the passage and says, “One cannot be with Jesus and be at a distance. Either you are with Jesus or you are against Jesus; you are faithful or unfaithful; you have an obedient heart or have lost your fidelity.”
Our hearts may be as hard as stone, and many times we may have discredited and disobeyed the Lord, but there is still time. This is the time of mercy of the Lord: let us open our hearts because he is in us.
Jesus says the Satan is strong, but the one who comes in is stronger – Jesus himself. He is mightier than all the evil powers, and the ultimate victory shall be with him.
In his parable, Jesus suggests he is engaged in spiritual warfare with Satan. Saint Paul expressed similar feelings in his letter to the Romans: ‘Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more’. The evil one stares on our faces daily in our moments of sinfulness, and we are so prone to our weak behaviours. Yet, the promise of Jesus is a huge consolation – that there is a greater power – the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit. The devil cannot win and the ultimate victory belongs to God.
We are sometimes blind to the hand of God working in us. We fail to appreciate the good that people do; Have you come across people who say, “by sheer luck, I escaped this accident” or “It was a coincidence that there was a doctor available, so that the patient could be attended to in time”?
When we recognise only the “luck”, or “chances” or “coincidences”, we fail to acknowledge the hand of God in those circumstances and places. There is nothing that happens by chance or by coincidence. And there is nothing called “luck” in the life of a believer. The Word of God poses this question for our reflection: Are we grateful enough to acknowledge the miracles that the hand of God works in our lives or do we take them for granted?
The Finger of God at work – Youtube