LOVE FOR THE WILL OF GOD

 “SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER”

Daily Spiritual Reflections

15th November 2021

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MONDAY, THIRTY THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

1 Mac 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-63; Ps 119:53,61,134,150,155,158; Lk 18:35-43 

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LOVE FOR THE WILL OF GOD

Not all the problems facing Judaism originated from outsiders. There were those within the Jewish community itself, who instigated others to break the law, as the first reading narrates. “Come, let us reach an understanding with the pagans around us.” They found pagan cultures attractive and perhaps also convenient. Their plan consisted in making foreign alliances, possibly to improve their economic circumstances. In Jewish tradition, making foreign alliances or covenants always endangered Israel’s covenant with God. It brought Israel into close association with its neighbours, an association that could and often did lead to worshipping their gods. They forgot what they had promised God, and that all would go well with them as long as they remained faithful to the covenant and observed the law. On the other hand, when the law was not kept and the covenant broken, disaster could be expected. Thus, the first reading testifies to the fact that to gain material benefits many people left God and followed pagan ways. They chose their well-being over the will of God. 

The choice between bad and good isn’t a hard one. But often, the choices that present themselves before us are between something that appears good for us, and something that we know is what God would prefer. In other words, the things that tempt us are not always bad or malicious. More often than not, they appear good, reasonable and practical. And that is what makes it so hard to resist them. 

The difficulty here is not from outside, but from within ourselves – to set aside what we intellectually deduce to be good for us, for the sake of that which we spiritually discern to be God’s will for us. If we wish then to be faithful to our discipleship, we must be prepared to face this struggle. Let us ask the Lord’s grace to always choose like the “many in Israel who stood firm and found courage.”

Response: Give me life, O Lord, and I will keep your commands.

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