03-27-2014, 04:16 PM
SIN OF INDIFFERENCE LEADS FROM NEUTRALITY TO HOSTILITY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: JER 7:23-28; LK 11:14-23
http://www.universalis.com/20140327/mass.htm
Have you ever wondered how someone who was so in love with God could turn away from Him? Well, no one loses his faith and relationship with God overnight. It is just like the intimacy of a human relationship. If one were to ask this question about our relationship with God, one should begin with his own relationship with others. For example, how could an intimate relationship between two partners, whether in marriage, in courtship or friendship become hostile? Simply because of indifference that sets in as a result of routine. When our relationship with someone is taken for granted and where there is no sharing of the affairs of the heart, we become distant. From distancing, it becomes casual, then indifference, which leads to the lack of empathy with each other. This leads to misunderstanding, friction, quarrel, distrust, suspicion and then hostility.
In our relationship with God, it is quite similar. No one becomes an enemy of God in a matter of days. It is because of our lack of contact and relationship with God in prayer and worship that we gradually distance ourselves from the Lord. We forget, as the psalmist reminds us, that it is “the Lord who made us. For he is our God, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.” When we are forgetful of Him in our daily lives and live as if He does not exist, how can we ever truly feel our need for Him or even be conscious of His love? How many of us can sincerely feel in our hearts, as the psalmist did when he invites us, “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.”?
Rightly so! Jesus warns us in today’s gospel that “He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.” We cannot sit on the fence when it comes to having faith in Jesus. Neutrality towards Jesus and His gospel is tantamount to rejection as well! If one is not for Him, then one must be against Him. Either one enters the Kingdom of God or remains outside the kingdom. So it is a question of either or. The reason is simple because we are created in God’s image and likeness. We cannot find peace and joy in our hearts until we rest in His love. That is why the Lord says, “Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Follow right to the end the way that I mark out for you, and you will prosper.”
Anyone who is not with God will lack inner peace and joy because his house is divided. By not accepting Jesus, we have allowed the kingdom to pass from us. As Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses.” If we are made for God, we, as His sheep and He, our shepherd, then we must live in the House of God. This explains why Jesus challenged His critics and detractors who said that He was casting out devils through Beelzebul. He counter argued that “if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you.” By the fact that He has cast out the devils and they refused to accept Him and believe in Him, that very act of rejection and prejudice will prevent them from entering the Kingdom of God as they have put themselves out of the kingdom.
The cause of our downfall is always pride. We want to be our own Lord instead of submitting to His Lordship. Instead of listening to the voice of God and be receptive to His word, we want to hear our own voice and insist on going our own way. By failing to choose God’s wisdom over ours, we have got ourselves into a mess in life. This, in spite of the blessings we have received from God. “But they did not listen, they did not pay attention; they followed the dictates of their own evil hearts, refused to face me, and turned their backs on me from the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt.” Presumably, this cry of disappointment applies doubly to us. In spite of the many blessings that God has showered upon us all these years, instead of being grateful and thankful, we take them for granted, even thinking that all these are achieved through our effort and hard work. Rather than crediting God, we credit ourselves! This is arrogance, pride, and not knowing where we stand before the Almighty God!
Hence God said “So tell them this, ‘Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God nor take correction. Sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths.’” Instead of bowing down to the power of God at work in Jesus, the religious leaders, because of their pride and fear of losing their status quo, disparaged not only His good works but even His identity by suggesting that Jesus was a collaborator of Satan. Indeed, pride and fear lead us to pass all kinds of unfounded, nasty and unreasonable remarks on our competitors.
What is even worse is that whilst claiming to want to repent, just like the Israelites, we are not sincere. We only know how to lament that God is so far away. But when given the grace to come close to Him, as during this Lenten season where the Church provides us so many opportunities to turn back to Him, many do not take the call seriously. We pay lip service, claiming that we love God and want to see true happiness, but we have no time to relate with Him in prayer, in worship or even attend a good retreat. Truly, this is how God’s heart must be feeling when He said, “day after day I have persistently sent you all my servants the prophets. But they have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they have grown stubborn and behaved worse than their ancestors. You may say all these words to them: they will not listen to you; you may call them: they will not answer.” How tragic and foolish we are!
Little do we realize that indifference towards God will ultimately destroy us! We think we can do without Him and simply rely on our own strength and on human ingenuity and power. We fail to realize that the battle we are fighting is not simply against human forces, as St Paul tells us. “Finally, grow strong in the Lord, with the strength of his power. Put on the full armour of God so as to be able to resist the devil’s tactics. For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world, the spirits of evil in the heavens. That is why you must take up all God’s armour, or you will not be able to put up any resistance on the evil day, or stand your ground even though you exert yourselves to the full.” (Eph 6:10-13) What is worse, Satan is so subtle and sly, for he, as a wise general, will lay siege to where we are weakest, whether moral, emotional, physical or psychological. From that point, he enters into our hearts and misleads us into greater sin, causing us to hate ourselves and fall into depression as he alienates us from others by causing division among ourselves.
Indeed, we must remember that Jesus is the only strong man who can overcome the wiles of the Evil One and protect us from him. “So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.” It behooves us, therefore, to take heed of the warning of the psalmist, “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.’” Let us defend our house by establishing ourselves as the House of God where God lives in us in the Holy Spirit. Let us actively seek the Lord with all our soul, mind and strength and we will find Him. (cf Dt 4:29) And Isaiah says, “In returning and rest, you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” (Isa 30:15)
SCRIPTURE READINGS: JER 7:23-28; LK 11:14-23
http://www.universalis.com/20140327/mass.htm
Have you ever wondered how someone who was so in love with God could turn away from Him? Well, no one loses his faith and relationship with God overnight. It is just like the intimacy of a human relationship. If one were to ask this question about our relationship with God, one should begin with his own relationship with others. For example, how could an intimate relationship between two partners, whether in marriage, in courtship or friendship become hostile? Simply because of indifference that sets in as a result of routine. When our relationship with someone is taken for granted and where there is no sharing of the affairs of the heart, we become distant. From distancing, it becomes casual, then indifference, which leads to the lack of empathy with each other. This leads to misunderstanding, friction, quarrel, distrust, suspicion and then hostility.
In our relationship with God, it is quite similar. No one becomes an enemy of God in a matter of days. It is because of our lack of contact and relationship with God in prayer and worship that we gradually distance ourselves from the Lord. We forget, as the psalmist reminds us, that it is “the Lord who made us. For he is our God, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.” When we are forgetful of Him in our daily lives and live as if He does not exist, how can we ever truly feel our need for Him or even be conscious of His love? How many of us can sincerely feel in our hearts, as the psalmist did when he invites us, “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.”?
Rightly so! Jesus warns us in today’s gospel that “He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.” We cannot sit on the fence when it comes to having faith in Jesus. Neutrality towards Jesus and His gospel is tantamount to rejection as well! If one is not for Him, then one must be against Him. Either one enters the Kingdom of God or remains outside the kingdom. So it is a question of either or. The reason is simple because we are created in God’s image and likeness. We cannot find peace and joy in our hearts until we rest in His love. That is why the Lord says, “Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Follow right to the end the way that I mark out for you, and you will prosper.”
Anyone who is not with God will lack inner peace and joy because his house is divided. By not accepting Jesus, we have allowed the kingdom to pass from us. As Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses.” If we are made for God, we, as His sheep and He, our shepherd, then we must live in the House of God. This explains why Jesus challenged His critics and detractors who said that He was casting out devils through Beelzebul. He counter argued that “if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you.” By the fact that He has cast out the devils and they refused to accept Him and believe in Him, that very act of rejection and prejudice will prevent them from entering the Kingdom of God as they have put themselves out of the kingdom.
The cause of our downfall is always pride. We want to be our own Lord instead of submitting to His Lordship. Instead of listening to the voice of God and be receptive to His word, we want to hear our own voice and insist on going our own way. By failing to choose God’s wisdom over ours, we have got ourselves into a mess in life. This, in spite of the blessings we have received from God. “But they did not listen, they did not pay attention; they followed the dictates of their own evil hearts, refused to face me, and turned their backs on me from the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt.” Presumably, this cry of disappointment applies doubly to us. In spite of the many blessings that God has showered upon us all these years, instead of being grateful and thankful, we take them for granted, even thinking that all these are achieved through our effort and hard work. Rather than crediting God, we credit ourselves! This is arrogance, pride, and not knowing where we stand before the Almighty God!
Hence God said “So tell them this, ‘Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God nor take correction. Sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths.’” Instead of bowing down to the power of God at work in Jesus, the religious leaders, because of their pride and fear of losing their status quo, disparaged not only His good works but even His identity by suggesting that Jesus was a collaborator of Satan. Indeed, pride and fear lead us to pass all kinds of unfounded, nasty and unreasonable remarks on our competitors.
What is even worse is that whilst claiming to want to repent, just like the Israelites, we are not sincere. We only know how to lament that God is so far away. But when given the grace to come close to Him, as during this Lenten season where the Church provides us so many opportunities to turn back to Him, many do not take the call seriously. We pay lip service, claiming that we love God and want to see true happiness, but we have no time to relate with Him in prayer, in worship or even attend a good retreat. Truly, this is how God’s heart must be feeling when He said, “day after day I have persistently sent you all my servants the prophets. But they have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they have grown stubborn and behaved worse than their ancestors. You may say all these words to them: they will not listen to you; you may call them: they will not answer.” How tragic and foolish we are!
Little do we realize that indifference towards God will ultimately destroy us! We think we can do without Him and simply rely on our own strength and on human ingenuity and power. We fail to realize that the battle we are fighting is not simply against human forces, as St Paul tells us. “Finally, grow strong in the Lord, with the strength of his power. Put on the full armour of God so as to be able to resist the devil’s tactics. For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world, the spirits of evil in the heavens. That is why you must take up all God’s armour, or you will not be able to put up any resistance on the evil day, or stand your ground even though you exert yourselves to the full.” (Eph 6:10-13) What is worse, Satan is so subtle and sly, for he, as a wise general, will lay siege to where we are weakest, whether moral, emotional, physical or psychological. From that point, he enters into our hearts and misleads us into greater sin, causing us to hate ourselves and fall into depression as he alienates us from others by causing division among ourselves.
Indeed, we must remember that Jesus is the only strong man who can overcome the wiles of the Evil One and protect us from him. “So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.” It behooves us, therefore, to take heed of the warning of the psalmist, “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.’” Let us defend our house by establishing ourselves as the House of God where God lives in us in the Holy Spirit. Let us actively seek the Lord with all our soul, mind and strength and we will find Him. (cf Dt 4:29) And Isaiah says, “In returning and rest, you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” (Isa 30:15)