Praise
be Jesus Christ, for ever and ever. Amen.
God
is calling to us, even now, return to me with all your heart.(Joel 2:12) During
Lent, Catholics and all Christians are striving to return to our Heavenly Father.
We
are reminded what is required to be close to God in the first reading from the
book of Exodus. It declares the 10 commandments of God, which are the laws of
rightness, justice, and dignity to God and for our neighbors. God gave them to
be written in people's hearts. They are to be the moral base of human society.
These
commandments are summed up in the greatest of the commandments. "You must
love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.
And the second is love your neighbor as yourself."
Christ
himself lived in this world and lived these commandments. Christ the power of
God. Christ the wisdom of God. Christ Jesus showed us by his life how we should
live.
God
wants us to live these commandments in the world; so, they should be pretty
easy to live out, right?
With
2.4 billion people in the world that profess Christianity, these commandments
make the world a better place. But the problem is, to paraphrase the prophet
Ezekiel - Woe is me! I am a sinner and I live among people who are sinners.
We
seem to have a problem living them.
Even
though, we know that these commandments are perfect. They refresh the soul.
They are trustworthy. They give wisdom to us simple souls. We trip and fall.
Believers
profess, these commandments are right. They are clear. If we live by them, our
hearts rejoice. The commandment clarify and enlighten the way of Christ’s love
that we are to have for our brothers and sisters. These commandments,
which Jesus exemplifies by his life, are true and just. They are given for us
to live.
But,
as a people we struggle and have become just like the temple Jesus walked
into and turned upside down.
People
use God’s commandments to make creation a marketplace. We are to worship no
other God; but some use worship as a marketplace. We are to love our neighbor,
but some use the poor to enrich themselves. Greed is to covet. In freedom,
babies are killed. In self-love, parents are forgotten. The world lies, steals,
and cheats and then calls it good.
None
of this surprises the LORD God. The gospel itself tells us that even though people began
to believe in him, Jesus did not trust them all. He knew human nature. He
himself understood it well.
Jesus
saw how the people were disrespecting the LORD God and His temple. In righteous
anger against those who did not honor the greatest commandment, He went into
the temple and chased out the money changers. He overturned the tables of those
who turned God’s temple into a marketplace.
In
God's temple of creation, sin against God and our neighbor is rampant. Look around;
see the things Jesus saw in the temple: disrespect for God, manipulation
of religion, exploitation of the poor, and the abuse of God’s creation and
the world.
Friends,
God calls us for his purpose. God calls each of us to live His commandments. He
knows us and calls us to conform to the image of His Son.(Rm 8)
In
all the sins humanity has, God gave his Son so all would know forgiveness. God
through Christ Jesus wants to give us everything. That includes a right and
just world.
For
that to be, God may ask us to go out and overturn some tables. No, God is not
looking for violence. No, God does not want hate. But, God through Christ Jesus
wants us to believe in His name and live His commandments. He wants us to live
them in the world.
We
have to live them. We have to bring that message to the world by who we are and
what we believe. That means speaking up for what is right. It means living for
the poor, the hungry, and those who are imprisoned. It means living the
commandments to overturn more tables in this world than violence and hate.
Yes,
Our Heavenly Father wants us to live His commandments in the world. This Lenten
season is the perfect time to begin.
Be
good, be holy and preach the gospel by the way you live your life and love one
another.
Praise
be Jesus Christ, for ever and ever. Amen.
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