Forgetfulness

Homily for Monday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time

One of the greatest issues that we face in our spiritual lives is forgetfulness. I know many of us fall into that, myself included. But this is not a problem that is unique to us as Christians. It is a problem that has plagued people from faith from the very beginning.

In our first reading this morning from the Book of the Prophet Micah, we hear how the prophet is calling out the people of Judah for forgetting what the Lord had done for them. In fact, they didn’t just forget what the Lord had done, in many ways, they allowed that forgetfulness to turn into a lack of faith. It led them to reject the love of the Lord. Instead, the people of Judah preferred to live according to their own plans, choosing to obey worldly ways and disobeying the Law and the commandments that God had given to them.

The words of the Prophet were meant to stir the hearts of the people of Judah back to right relationship with the Lord, to reconcile them with the Lord, and to bring them to a moment of conversion. If they didn’t repent and turn back to God, they were sure to face destruction. And ultimately, we know that did eventually come true. Their kingdom would fall and they would be exiled in lands that were not their own. And yet, despite all of that, the Lord also promised that He would never leave them, that He would restore them.

What about for us? So often, we fall into this forgetfulness. We forget all that the Lord has done for us. The Evil One loves it when we forget the many blessings the Lord has given us throughout our lives, when we forget the many graces He has poured into our hearts. He wants us to think that the Lord is far from us, that the Lord doesn’t have our best interests in mind, that the Lord isn’t concerned about our well-being. That is blatantly false. All we have to do is look at the actions of the Lord in our lives and in the lives of our ancestors in the faith.

God has never left our sides. He has never left us. He never will. There will be times when don’t feel His presence with us, when we think He is far from us. That’s when we have to allow our faith to keep us grounded, when we must rely on the truth that our faith teaches us. God promises that He will be with us always. He never goes back on that promise. If He did, that would make Him a liar and that’s not who God is – it completely goes against His nature.

Today, if we are struggling in our faith, if we are feeling as if God has abandoned us or has pulled away from us, bring it to the Lord. Share it with Him. Look back on our lives and remember the ways that He has been with us in the past and give Him thanks for those times. Ask Him to renew our faith, to deepen our faith. God is always with us. He will never leave us.

Today may we make this our prayer: Lord, give us the grace to always remember how You love us and to remember that you never leave our sides. Amen.

Image: Micah Exhorts the Israelites to Repent, Gustave Doré – Doré’s English Bible. Public Domain. Wikicommons.