Word:    The Lord keeps His covenant with those who follow His ways.
Order:    “Praise the Lord, for he is good; sing praise to our God for he is gracious; it is fitting to praise him!’”  (Ps 147:1)

Reflection:

In three weeks time, on February 22, Christians all over the world will observe the beginning of the Lenten season with Ash Wednesday.  And how appropriate are the messages of the readings on the 5th Sunday of Ordinary time in preparing us for this very important event in our Christian life and setting the tone for our personal conduct and guiding our spiritual disposition.  There are three important factors to consider in making the Lenten season more meaningful to us and for our relationship with the Triune God.

First, we must realize that trials and challenges will continue to face us as we go about our day-to-day activities.  And if our mindset has a defeatist attitude, then we become like Job who at the outset could see no ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ when he declared, “When shall I arise?”

Second, this negative mindset keeps us from coming to terms with our community vision and mission, which is to proclaim the Good News of salvation, Jesus Christ.  And if and when we do proclaim it, we find our motivation suspect, tinged with pride and arrogance and self-serving, aimed at grabbing the credit for ourselves, failing to realize that it is the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit that enable us to do our mission.

Third, we should realize that our relationship with our God is always based on constant communication with Him.  The readings tell us that Jesus always found time to isolate Himself from the crowd or mission work, to go to a deserted place to pray and commune with his Father.  If we occasionally find ourselves in unpleasant situations, it is because we are remiss in our prayer life.

Based on the above, what should we be doing in order to free ourselves from the clutches of the evil one?

First and foremost, we really need to establish a regular prayer life and consistent communication with our Triune God and in all things give Him thanks, not only during the Lenten season, but everyday of our lives and through all the liturgical seasons of the year.  In so doing, we can accomplish the following… first, we will eradicate the Messianic complex that hinders us from fully grasping the mercy, forgiveness and love that Jesus has shown in His passion, death and resurrection.  Indeed, we are reminded that it is not by might or by strength, but by the Spirit of the Lord that we are made into the person He wants us to become.

Likewise, we are to fully commit to ourselves to our covenant with the Lord when we said ‘Yes’ to becoming Committed or Covenanted disciples of the Lord in BLD.  We made the promise to faithfully exercise the gifts and fruit of the Spirit given to us and our 8-point Pledge.  Likewise, we are to check and recheck where we are in the mission/vision of our Community.  We are not to be selective in doing our mission work, as exemplified by Jesus himself when he obeyed the will of the Father, even unto death, recognizing that we are all children of God, and can do all things in Christ Jesus by the power of His Holy Spirit.

That, when all is said and done and we meet our Creator face to face, we may be humble enough to say, ‘Lord, dispose of us as you will, we have done our best!’