“Idols for Themselves” By Melanie Rigney

“Idols for Themselves” By Melanie Rigney

Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

With their silver and gold they made idols for themselves, to their own destruction. (Hosea 8:4)

The house of Israel trusts in the Lord. (Psalm 115:9a)

At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.  (Matthew 9:35)

Piety

Lord, help me to recognize the idols I have made—and to destroy them.

Study

This reflection is not about whether Confederate statues or Mount Rushmore or anything else tangible should come down.

No, it’s about the somewhat less obvious idols we make for ourselves, the idols that start out innocently and would stay innocent if we didn’t increase our reliance on them, which in turn threaten to reduce our reliance on God.

Many of us have stripped down our lives during the pandemic. Those of us who are lucky still have a steady income, and more money in the bank because we’re spending less on recreation and entertainment. Others of us are even more stressed than they were six months ago because our income has been reduced or gone away altogether, or we’ve been sick or lost loved ones.

If you fall into the former category, maybe your new idols are that nightly drink or extra chocolate or the additional time that gets sunk into social media or the news. If you fall into the latter category, maybe your new idols are the paralyzing fear that you don’t know how you’re going to feed your family or the deepening resentment of the privileged people for whom you shop or deliver.

All understandable emotions and reactions, of course. But you know when they cross the line into idolatry. It’s when they consume you. It’s when they take up space in your head and heart (and bank account) that previously was reserved for God.

We just commemorated the United States’ Independence Day. Resolve to becoming independent of the idols that threaten your spiritual destruction.

Action

Spend an extra ten minutes in prayer today.

Illustration:  hoseascroll_wikimedia_publicdomain.jpg