Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Friday of the First Week of Lent | USCCB
As we continue our
journey through these forty days of Lent towards Holy Week, we are learning
from God through scripture that our relationship with God is not only that of
prayer and attending church, but of our relationship with one another. Yes, we
are to worship God with our whole mind, hearts, and souls, but we are also to
love our neighbors as we love God. True love of God also includes true love of
neighbor.
In our first reading from Ezekiel, we hear the prophet encourage people to turn away from
selfishness and to live according to the statutes or commandments of God. Ezekiel
is encouraging us to live a life centered on God and focus on doing His Will by
following the Commandments. This will preserve our life and we will find peace
and contentment. Ezekiel goes on to say that if a person turns away from wickedness,
“he shall surely live, and not die.” God will be present with the one who turns
away from sin.
In our gospel, Our
Lord is telling us that we are to have love and respect for all people. He
confirms that the commandment of “Thou Shalt Not Kill” goes beyond just
physically killing someone, but also includes when we become angry at someone, then
we are just as guilty of murder. Jesus clearly says, “…whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to the judgement…” (Mattew 5:22) It’s not always easy to love everyone
in our lives. There will always be someone in our lives that we just can’t get
along with, whether family or friend. But we are called to love everyone and to
not wish harm on anyone, no matter how deserving we may think they are of harm.
We are to leave it in God’s hands to respond to those who may hurt us. Further,
if there is someone in your life that you have a problem with, it’s okay to
back away from them, and to pray for them. This will be the best for our own
spiritual growth and happiness.
As we journey
through these 40 days of Lent, let us ask God for His help and guidance to not
only to know, love and serve him in this world and to be happy with Him in the
next, but also pray to God for those in our lives that really get on our nerves
and are in most need of God’s love and forgiveness.
Most of the time I am OK with the people the LORD has placed in my life, although I do get frustrated with the behavior of the 3 year old twins with whom I do speech/language therapy with whom I sometimes need to be stern.
ReplyDeleteThe people with whom I am most angry are people I don't know personally: politicians in power who enable abortion & are trying to ruin the progress we have made in recent years. My frustration is increased when these politicians are people who call themselves "devout Catholics" while acting in direct opposition to the teaching of the Church.
My comfort is that we have states that have enacted excellent pro-life legislation & a pro-life majority on the Supreme Court & a test case that will HOPEFULLY, FINALLY overturn Roe v Wade.
Combined with the Gospel about which you have written about forgiveness & about avoiding anger is today's Gospel in which the LORD teaches us that we must love our enemies (which fortunately does not mean feelings of affection but wishing good for them) & pray for them. It's not easy to accept that the LORD sends rain on the unjust as well as on the just when maybe a flood or a drought would teach them a lesson!
I don't usually call people names, but I do call the present occupant of the White House a "nincompoop", because that is how he viewed him as Vice President & now he is even worse! I think it's an Art description, even though the LORD teaches us not to call anyone a fool.
Sometimes I try to pray for him & I am also trying to pray for Vladimir Putin, who did some good things for the Russian people in the past but who currently is doing horrible things to the people in Ukraine. My prayer for both of them is for their conversion & that the LORD would knock some sense into them! So far that's the best I can do!
Corrections: 1. that is how I [NOT HE] viewed him as Vice President.
ReplyDelete2. APT description [NOT "ART DESCRIPTION"]. Sometimes autocorrect (which is probably responsible for changing "apt" to "Art") is wrong.