May the Lord give you peace and health in the Holy Spirit.
It is 24th March 2022
We reflect on Jeremiah 7:23-28 and Luke 11:14-23.
Some interviewers asked a catholic missionary priest whether he would leave the people in Sudan for whom he served most of his life and return to his beautiful and affluent country soon. In reply he told them: “I am not a fan of Jesus; but a disciple. So, I have no plan of returning to my country of origin.”
There is a closer connection between discipline and a disciple. A person who constantly discerns and learns the ways of the Lord, directs the entire life towards it and leads others to God is indeed a disciple. Lack of discipline leads to disobedience and
Which is easy? Being consistently good or constantly compromising with the evil? Being stubborn in doing evil or steadfast in doing? To find fault or to appreciate the goodness in others. We are pulled towards being stubborn, finding fault, leaning towards the evil.
The final call for conversion and to be faithful to the Lord from Jeremiah comes in the first reading when the people of God were surrounded by the mighty military machine of Babylonians. People refused to heed his warnings, they were happy with what they were doing and attracted to foreign gods than their own God.
Many people followed Jesus yet there two types in particular Jesus served mostly. The first group was the one who were after miracle, and healing to them Jesus; the other groups are the disciples to whom Jesus spoke about discipline in length.
Jesus healed a person, but people spoke evil of Him. When our hearts are hardened, we refuse to recognise God’s saving power. His holiness Pope Francis teaches us: “either you are faithful, with your heart open to God who is faithful to you, or you are against him: ‘Whoever is not with me is against me’”.
Listening requires a deep respect and love along with a quest for learning in humility. Listening attentively and nonjudgmentally are the prerequisite to be a disciple, a follower, and a believer in God. Paying attention requires a profound listening with heart and sensitivity. Do we want to remain a disciple who heeds and leads or just be a fan who screams and dreams? The question we all need answer is “Are you with me or against me?” in another word Are we with God or against God? God invites us with all tenderness to return to God in listening to God’s voice. Pact of faith is always possible in the path of faithfulness.
“For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7).
Lenten time helps us regroup our disciplined life and examine our capacity to listen to the voice of God and the cry of the poor. May God give us courage to listen to God’s voice to be disciplined disciples.