Thursday, February 18, 2010

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

In the last forty years Catholic have become very familiar with this exhortation from the Book of Deuteronomy, Choose Life!
During the Season of Lent we should remember the context of this command; it is more than a political statement. It is more even than a moral challenge. It is God’s invitation to belong heart and soul to him!
The Season must remind us that we have an inexhaustible desire for God, and also that God’s desire for us exceeds all bounds.

Henry David Thoreau once said, “He governs best who governs least.” Many Americans will stand up and salute at that statement, as they did on HeeHaw: Yahoo! We don’t want government to invade our dens, kitchens, bedrooms or boardrooms.
A lot of people say the Church should steer clear of those places as well.  They figure God lives in the neighborhood church with its clutch of aging citizens and that should be close enough. If they should ever happen to feel like praying, they know God is ”very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts…” (Deuteronomy 30:14) [which is to say, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.]

But, to get serious about this teaching, we turn to The Catechism of the Catholic Church:
27 The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man [sic] is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:
The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.1

The Book of Deuteronomy reminds us we cannot divide and subdivide our souls into compartments. God and the human desire for God live in every room. We will love God in the bedroom and the kitchen, the dining room and the bathroom, the utility room and the garage.  We’ll do it even in the chapel! (Many homes have one!)

Notice also the urgency in today’s readings: Today I have set before you…” and “he must deny himself and take up his cross daily!”

There is no time to waste.

That’s why I suggest, along with whatever other Lenten resolution you might make, consider “One thing at a time.” The practice of mindfulness will lead you easily to God.
Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17

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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.

Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.

I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.

You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.