Waking Us Up

Homily for Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

This first reading this morning and even the Responsorial Psalm should make us pause and think for a second about the state of our world, and more specifically the state of our own country. 

It seems as though our great nation has forgotten all that the Lord has done for us; we have forgotten about the prosperity He has given us. We have sinned against the Lord in so many ways, embracing things in the name of freedom and liberty only to discover that they’re leading us to slavery. Our nation, our world is being led to destruction because we’re not taking the time to follow the ways of the Lord, we’re not stopping and listening for the voice of the Lord. 

Sometimes we can miss what God is asking us to do or we can miss the voice of the Lord because the Evil One has made the way of the world so enticing. That’s why it’s so important for us to take the time to truly discern what voices we’re listening to, which influences we’re choosing to follow. It takes a deep, intimate, personal relationship with the Lord. So we have to do everything we can to foster that relationship. 

The Lord is trying to wake us up. He’s trying to get us to return to following the commands that He has given us because in doing that we’re embracing true freedom. The Lord has our best interests in mind. He knows the tactics of the Evil One – He knows how the Devil works and He’s trying to protect us from walking down the wrong path. 

Today may we pause and take some time to simply ask the Lord for help in hearing His voice more clearly. May we ask Him for an outpouring of grace from the Holy Spirit, asking to have the courage to take a stand against the ways of the world and to follow the will of God in all that we do.

If we don’t wake up soon, I fear that the Lord is going to further destroy the prosperity of this great nation of ours and we’ll be led to experience the same destruction of the people of Israel. We have to return to the ways of the Lord. The first step has to be taken today. May we be the ones to lead the way. 

Photo: Judean people being deported for exile in Assyria; wall relief from the South-West Palace at Nineveh. Photo by: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin. Used under Creative Commons License.