“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.” - Deuteronomy 4:9
My routine is back in place, and as I sit here on a Wednesday morning, with a snow flurry or two squeezing out of the cold grey clouds above (literally one or two flurries), I am reminded of all that we already know...
The Law of God is not just some list of things to do, its that inner voice that guides us to do the right things at the right time. Listening to that voice takes time, energy, practice and patience, but it is something that is always with us! As Christians, Christ fulfills and confirms our ability to follow this Law as it is written on our hearts. (cf. MT 5: 17-19) Our job as his disciples is to proclaim that Truth, witness to it, dialogue about it, and ultimately liberate the world with it on our lips and through our actions! (This comes from a DVD lecture entitled Discipleship from NowYouKnowMedia.com, presented by Fr. Anthony Gittins, C.S.Sp., M.A., Ph.D.)
So to coin the phrase from the 80's band Simple Minds, and stretch it towards applying to today's reflection, our Lord is simply saying, "Don't You Forget About Me", or the Law I rode in on!
The GregCast was out on the road March 4th in West Hartford, CT serving the Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School's XBSS Retreat! This video, and blogpost was used for the presentation. Things went well and we got some good video from the evening's presentation that I hope to share on an upcoming GregCast over on YouTube. Pray for me, as I am praying for you!
Dave Grohl, former Nirvana drummer, and founder of the Foo Fighters, once wrote this lyric to a song called "The Pretender": "To keep you in the dark, you know they all pretend!"
This world of ours cares, but only to a point. They love, but only if things go their way. They give, but only what's been budgeted. They try, but only until it starts to hurt just a little. They allow their hearts to be moved, but then harden quickly in the face of challenges and change. In other words, this world of ours has gotten good at wanting to maintain control over their own image, and our life's actions and outcomes as well. The world would rather us stay in the dark as, Mr. Grohl put it, "just another soul for sale."
I would like to offer that God wants us to be free... Free to smile, free to choose, free scream, free to retire, and free to live! My friends, "what if I said, I'm not like the others? What if I said Im not just another one of your plays?" I am free to be determined! I am free to survive the struggle! I am free to never surrender to the darkness of sin and death! Like Mr. Grohl, "I'm finished making sense by pleading ignorance"... I'm echoing the voice inside your head that you refuse to hear! I'm the face that you have to face, mirroring yourself!
Memo to the world: "You're the pretender... And what if I said, I will never surrender?"
The Cardinals of the Church will gather this week, and they are called to open their hearts to the will of the Holy Spirit, and the purpose of God's mission, to allow for His Church to continue to grow as evangelizer of the Good News, empowering us all to become the disciples that they we were born to be!
It's time to consider that being in the light of Christ is a better place to be. It's time to come out from under that bushel basket that wants to hide you. It's time to respond to God's love, and fall in love with His service. And even though it sounds like a contradiction, its time to promise that you'll never surrender to sin and death, so that you can truly live and surrender yourself to God's will.
Reflect...
Who are you, and who do you follow?
What are the hopes and dreams that will help you truly live?
Will you trust the Spirit, and waters of your creation to make yourself a vulnerable witness?
Will you cross the boundaries and allow for faith and forgiveness?
Can you commit to sharing God with everyone you meet?
Can you handle following The Way, The Truth, and the Light?
"Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow. Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD." - Isaiah 1: 17-18
What if God were one of us? Just a lawyer like one of us.
While that's not quite the lyric from the awesome Joan Osborne song "One of Us", I've been dying to reference this tune for a while. The excerpt from Isaiah offers us a glimpse of God who wants to negotiate a plea or a deal with us. Like one of us, He just wants a fair agreement. If you follow the Truth, and do the best you can to help those in need, He'll "set things right."
The actual lyric from the Osborne song is "What if God was one of us? Just a slob, like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home." If justice is the goal, then lets defend the ones who need the help! The wronged, the orphan, and the widow... Society's forgotten ones. While they're not necessarily slobs, they do fit the intent of the song...
God IS one of us, as He is present in the lives of the needy,
He IS the stranger on the bus, trying to LEAD US ALL HOME!
