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Lenten Reflection - Thursday of the Third Week of Lent
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March 11, 2021Thus, says the LORD: This is what I commanded my people: 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. From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day, I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets. Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers. When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either; when you call to them, they will not answer you. Say to them: This is the nation that does not listen to the voice of the LORD, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.
“I will be your God and you will be my people.” Here is our reminder, amidst Lent and a pandemic, that God has not abandoned us. In the beginning of Lent, we were so fired up and passionate to offer sacrifices to God. However, we soon started to feel the weight of our sacrifices, maybe even failing in our fidelity to them. Now in the third week of Lent, Jeremiah sends us a reminder that despite our own infidelity, God will always be there for us. Although the words are harsh, this is also a reminder to us of what happens when we are not docile to God, when our “faithfulness has disappeared.” Too often, we try to turn our faith into a one-sided ordeal, contrary to the relationship He wants. God wants to work with us. We must be open to listening and not stiffening our necks.
God speaks through Jeremiah to tell His people that they need to remember that religion can not be a substitute for a real relationship with Him. We have to remember our relationship with God is not in our Lenten sacrifices, but in honest prayer. If it was just in our Lenten sacrifices, we would be like the people who “walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to” God. The commandments (our sacrifices) alone are sterile, barren. It is in our submission being obedient to His Word that we bear fruit. It is in our hearts; a sacrifice without love is meaningless. We must begin by letting Our Father work with us, offering sacrifice together, praying together, growing in love and joy of each other’s presences. Remembering that God will never stray from His covenant, despite our own infidelity. It is our job to always turn back to Him when we do, and to recommit our sacrifices to Him with our whole hearts in a prayerful relationship with our Heavenly Father.
