Second Sunday of Lent, February 25th, 2018
In the beginning of the Fourth Chapter St. Paul's First Epistle to the Thessalonians, we hear St Paul advising them: " . . . .that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. " (I Thessalonians 4:1) In other words, St. Paul is telling them that they have learned and been taught and now he is hoping that they will take what they have learned and have been taught even further. It is only logical, isn't it? I mean think about it. When a baby is born, this little one is dependent on you for everything. But little by little he/she begins to learn a little at a time. As children grow they learn how to do more and more things for themselves. And then as teenagers they "branch out," so to speak, by getting a job . . . learn how to drive . . . go out with friends . . . etc. By the time they leave high-school, they either get a full time job or continue full time in college. They learn more and more as they progress in life and they do more and more things in life until they are fully independent. They live away from home. They pay their own bills. They make their own decisions.
This is what St. Paul hopes for the Thessalonians. He is telling them that they they know how to lead good lives. They know how to lead lives that are pleasing to God. They know exactly what they are supposed to do in life. Now, says St. Paul, you need to put these things into practice. In the society in which we live so many of us know exactly what is right and what is wrong . . . and yet we continue to make the wrong choices. Why is this? How often do we do something stupid and end up paying the consequences and then we say to ourselves: "Why did I do that?" "Why was I so stupid?" "I can't believe I did that."
The problem is that we depend more on ourselves than we do on God. Or, more specifically, we listen more to what WE want and our desires than we do to what GOD wants for us in our life. "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:2) The problem is that we "conformed to this world" instead of being conformed to the will of God. We focus more on what the world would have of us than what God would have of us. We listen more to what the world wants of us than what God wants of us. We listen to the opinions of actors and actresses. We listen to sports-stars. We listen to politicians. We listen to commercials. We listen to fads and gimmicks. How often do we listen to God? We know right from wrong. The problem is that so often doing the wrong thing is easier than doing the right thing. Very often it takes courage to do the right thing in this world that we live in. That is because in this world we have gotten to a sad state. We have gotten to the point where doing what is right is mocked by the world as evil or backwards. And very often those who do the right thing . . . and stand by God . . . are mocked and persecuted and shamed for standing up for what is right. "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:30) What we need as Christians is Courage, Conviction, and Fortitude. Courage to stand against the world when the world is against God. Conviction in knowing that we are standing with God and listening to Him instead of the world.. And Fortitude in carrying out the will of God, to standing up with Him, and moving forward no matter what.
St. Margaret Church gathers together every Sunday morning and we would love for you to join us in our weekly worship of Our Heavenly Father. Mass begins at 9:30 AM. We celebrate Mass in the Chapel of Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road in Indianapolis, Indiana. Please choose to take some time out of your busy schedule to spend some quality time with God.
No comments:
Post a Comment