LENT SERIES DAY 23: THURSDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT (Fasting According to God's Instructions) (https://youtu.be/cP7nU1CjDvs)
Listening to God's Voice
Dear brethren, listening is a virtue in itself, for it is only when we listen that we can learn and understand. Listening to the voice of God keeps us informed, wise and safe. Rebellious people never listen because they are stubborn. The Lord rejects those who harden their hearts and rebuff His voice, but He blesses those who listen and adhere to His voice. Today God calls us to believe in Him and to gather with Him. Let us therefore heed the voice of God and lead holy lives as a people. The Jews in the first reading did not heed to the voice of God and what he was telling them and finally their temple was destroyed, and many taken to exile. “O that today you would listen to His voice harden not your hearts!
Scripture tells us that true peace and security come to those who trust in God and to obey his word. "Obey my voice and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you" (Jeremiah 7:23). The struggle between choosing to do good or evil, yielding to my will or God's will, God's way or my way, cannot be won by human strength or will-power alone. Our enemy, the devil, conspires with the "world" (whatever is opposed to God and his truth and righteousness) and our "flesh" (whatever inclines us to yield to hurtful desires and wrongdoing), to draw us away from the peace, joy, and security which God provides for those who put their trust in him.
Peter the Apostles tells us, our adversary, the devil prowls the earth seeking the ruin of souls (1 Peter 5:8-9). The devil is opposed to God, and he seeks to draw us away from God's plan and will for our lives. God offers us grace (his merciful help and strength) and protection (from Satan's lies and deception) if we are willing to obey his word and resist the devil's lies and temptations. Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your habitation, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways (Psalm 91:9-11). The Lord offers us the peace and security of his kingdom which lasts forever and which no other power can overcome.
Listening to the voice of God enables us to realize that the kingdom of God is present among us. Some of the Jews in Jesus' time could not listen to Jesus and that's why the are attributing his miracle of healing a dumb, in today's Gospel, to the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Jesus' response is that if they criticize Jesus, then they have to criticize their healers too and that the kingdom (Satan in this context) cannot fight itself lest it falls. Therefore, Jesus was using a finger of God to perform miracles, which was a sure sign that the kingdom of God is here with us.
Jesus' reference to the finger of God points back to Moses' confrontation with Pharaoh and his magicians who represented Satan and the kingdom of darkness (see Exodus 8:19). Jesus claims to be carrying on the tradition of Moses whose miracles freed the Israelites from bondage by the finger of God. God's power is clearly at work in the exorcisms which Jesus performed, and they give evidence that God's kingdom has come.
Brethren, sometimes we have refused to listen to the voice of God and his teachings of living in justice, peace and joy and above all love thinking that the kingdom is someplace somewhere. The kingdom of God is justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17) and Jesus shows that the kingdom is already here, in his person, and therefore, listening to Jesus and believing in him is living in the kingdom of God already. This kingdom of God is always in opposition to the kingdom of Satan, which is secularizing the world today. When we don't listen to the voice of God, it means Satan has won us to his Kingdom, which does not last forever. The choice is ours, either to be against Jesus or be for him, putting in mind the consequences of our choices.
Is Jesus the king of your life? Jesus makes it clear that there are no neutral parties. We are either for Jesus or against him, for the kingdom of God or against it. There are two kingdoms in opposition to one another - the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness under the rule of Satan. If we disobey God's word, we open the door to the power of sin and Satan in our lives. If you want to live in freedom from sin and Satan, then your "house" - your life and possessions (all that you rely upon for livelihood, peace, and security) - must be occupied by Jesus where he is enthroned as Lord and Savio. Is the Lord Jesus the Master of your home, heart, mind, and will?
Let us Pray.
O Lord, our God, grant us, we beseech you, patience in troubles, humility in comforts, constancy in temptations, and victory over all our spiritual foes. Grant us sorrow for our sins, thankfulness for your benefits, fear of your judgment, love of your mercies, and mindfulness of your presence; now and forever. Amen (Prayer by John Cosin).
Be blessed.
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