Delighted with the faith we profess
LENT 2020 – Day 30
Ex 32: 7-14; Ps 105: 19-20, 21-22, 23; Jn 5: 31-47
Moses brought his people out of the land of slavery and they soon became complacent. They turned away from the Lord's commands. Their state of corruption provoked divine wrath. However, God heard Moses' plea for mercy, and this changed the course of history.
God in His compassion sent His only Son into the world with Good News for the people of Israel. But the teachers of the law and the leaders of society saw Jesus as a stumbling block, a threat to their established power and position. They chose not to recognise His divine origin and they rejected His message. Meanwhile, the people continued to live the sordid ways of the world. This was so pathetic that Jesus, who was otherwise subtle in revealing His identity, virtually spelt it out for them. He reminded them that both Moses and, more recently, John the Baptist had come to prepare the way for Him, but to no avail.
It was the same old story of the prophet rejected in his own country…. Alas, such is fallen human nature that we throw away the precious jewels we possess and hanker after trinkets…. We have the water of eternal life but seek water that makes us thirst....
Yes, it is the same old story with our generation as well. How often we forget our Christian identity and yearn to become something else. Are we, then, in any way different from the people of Israel who “exchanged the God who was their glory for the image of a bull that eats grass”?
It is perhaps even more pertinent to ask: Do we feel truly blessed about our baptism in the Catholic faith? Are we grateful to our ancestors who put their past behind them and embraced a new faith that they recognised as truly divine?
As we approach the Paschal mystery, let's remember that we can be either for Christ or against Him; there is no intermediate position.
