OUR FAILURE TO KEEP THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT


FRIDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT

Hos 14:2-10; Ps 81:6,8-11,14,17; Mk 12:28-34

Deliverance from Unconscious Idolatry

The scriptures inform us that only God knows the secret of our minds and sounds the very depth of our hearts. There are idols we worship unconsciously within us, which only God knows. The depths of our hearts are beyond our gaze, and our thoughts are sometimes remotely and externally controlled using the things we love. Without divine help, it would be impossible to know of these idols of the nation we have fallen victim to due to our spiritual slumber and lack of prayer vigilance. God sends his word to overthrow these idols the nations (meaning the crowds) have erected in our souls through our inadvertent followership. The unconscious idolatry we are guilty of, which is driven by human base desires, is the target of the purificatory afflictions and sufferings God permits for our conscious conversion to his holy will and worship.

When we find ourselves in afflictions and suffering, we must let our voices rise to God from our afflicted state, confessing our sins and unfaithfulness to God. The humble prayer of repentance is the correct response to God’s gift of the grace of affliction. The prophet Hosea expresses these sentiments. “Israel, come back to the Lord your God; your iniquity was the cause of your downfall. Provide yourself with words and come back to the Lord. Say to him, ‘Take all iniquity away so that we may have happiness again and offer you our words of praise. Assyria cannot save us, we will not ride horses any more, or say, “Our God!” to what our hands have made, for you are the one in whom orphans find compassion.” Putting too much of our affections on creatures is an idolatrous act offensive to God. We must understand that we are always present to things we love. Hence, when we love creatures inordinately, they become idols we worship, for we are present to them more than we are to God. Our presence is an offering we must give God in response to the gift of his presence to us, ultimately expressed in the incarnation of his Son, Jesus Christ. He frees us from our idolatrous attachments so that we may dedicate ourselves to worship him. “A voice I did not know said to me: ‘I freed your shoulder from the burden; your hands were freed from the load. You called in distress and I saved you.”

The slavery of sin is pleasurable to the flesh. The abundance of sensible pleasures is the chain that binds us to sin and the path to hell. God severs the chain using sensible afflictions and pains, freeing our souls to yearn for spiritual life. The sinful soul, sometimes referred to as flesh, does not love God but loves creatures for self. The spiritual soul renewed with faith in God’s word loves God and neighbour. A man living with a fleshly soul does not please God and cannot please him. The purpose of sensible afflictions and suffering is to eliminate the orientation to the senses, a spirit in our souls. A new spirit or orientation to God arises from our humble cry and confession of sins. The new orientation comes from God and represents God’s life in our souls. The new spirit born of the Holy Spirit grows in the love of God. The renewed self can keep the commandments of God by its orientation to the love of God. Jesus teaches this love to be the fulfilment of the Law. “This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The love of God makes us desire to be with him always; it drives us to sacrifice our lives for him and our neighbours for the love of God. Our worship and love of God make us employ all our hearts, minds, and bodily strength to serve him and bring about his will in our lives, the Church, and the world.

Let us pray: Pour your grace into our hearts, we pray, O Lord, that we may be constantly drawn away from unruly desires and obey by your own gift the heavenly teaching you give us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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