Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you
shall be my people. Walk in all the ways
that I command you, so that you may prosper.
But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed. They walked in the hardness of their evil
hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me. Jeremiah
7:23b-24
“When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his
possessions are safe. But when one
stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he
relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever
is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” Luke 11:21-23
Piety
If today you hear His
voice, harden not your hearts. (Psalm 95)
Study
One stronger. Power is often attributed to Jesus. We heard it spoken by John the Baptist in
Luke 3:16 when the Lord was called “more powerful than I.” The dilemma of strength pervades the imagery
of the Magnificat, the Beatitudes and picture of abject powerlessness that is
evoked in the scene of the Nativity.
So if Satan is the strong
man, the only ones who can bind him up and divide Satan’s house are the Lord (and
his disciples). However, the reality of disobedience and selfishness is laid
out in the first reading from Jeremiah which only serves to underscore the
conclusions today: “Whoever is not with
me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Action
The way to get stronger is
through exercise. Lent is our gym to
practice prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
No comments:
Post a Comment