neither will they be convinced

Thursday, March 24, 2011
Lenten Weekday

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Jeremiah 17:5-10 Psalm 1:1-4, 6 Luke 16:19-31

Luke 16:31 He said to him, `If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.'"

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked says Jeremiah. It is as if we are prisoners in our own minds. How do we know if what we are thinking is truth or if it is what our mind wants us to think to please ourselves?
God has given us, through the Holy Spirit, the ability to know something about the truth, and that truth is contained in the accounts and the words of the Bible.
We can debate things forever and at the end of the day we still have a question because we do not know if we are being totally honest. Our only hope is in staying close to the Word of God. It is a light in the darkness, it melts away the ice of deception. But what if we don't take the Word of God seriously? What if we reject that as well? Then there is no hope at all. Even if someone should rise from the dead we will not believe it because our minds will only allow us to believe what pleases our flesh. God's Word alone has the power to cut through and appeal to our true selves.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to stay close to your Word, to reflect upon it and let it sink in and change me from the inside.
Amen

how much more

Thursday, March 17, 2011
St. Patrick, Bishop (Commemoration)

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25 Psalm 138:1-3, 7-8 Matthew 7:7-12

Matthew 7:11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

I think that often we have trouble asking for help from anyone, much less God. There is a thread of pride that doesn't really allow us to humiliate ourselves into asking for help. That is why it is hard for us to truly understand this verse. Oh, I think we understand it intellectually, but I don't think we understand it to the degree of living it as a reality.
To be in the place where we are willing to ask for help, we have to have a sense of hopelessness, a sense that there is nothing we can do and asking for help is our last chance. If we are not in that place, if we do not feel that our backs are against the wall, then we will never truly put ourselves in the hands of another. Are we willing to lay prostrate and pray?
To truly believe that God will be much more generous than we can, we must be in a place where we realize that we can't solve the problem ourselves.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to truly realize that I am helpless and that I can't save myself. Help me to truly believe that you have my best interest in mind and to trust in you.
Amen