“Deliver Us From Evil”

Another day, another opportunity to look for the Wisdom of God.

I was startled by today’s readings when first Moses while speaking to the Israelites says:

“Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” DT 30:15-20

Later Jesus will tell his disciples:

Then he said to all,
“If anyone 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 whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?”

Both of these readings hit me between the eyes. Simple yet profoundly difficult instructions. It is important to take time to self-reflect and ask ourselves, what does it mean to “obey God’s commandments and follow his decrees” in 2018? How do we “deny” ourselves and pick up our cross daily? In what ways do we try to gain the world at the expense of our souls health?

I will be honest, I didn’t do this at all today. I thought about it, a lot, but I let my lower self get the better of me more than once. But then it is day 2 of Lent and being delivered from the darkness that lives within each of us will not happen overnight. That is the beauty of our faith and of our liturgical seasons. Our God is so loving and so generous that we are given “time” to recalibrate. Time to allow Jesus to look upon us in our most miserable and undeserving state and reassure us that he knew we needed the pause. He knew, that in all of the world’s madness we would need to turn ourselves directly to him and seek his mercy and his assurance that “there is nothing we can do to separate us from our God” (Eph)

Another Resource:  Examen Podcast by Fr. James Martin, SJ 

A good tool to consider for your daily cleanse. 😀