March 18, 2004 - Thursday, 3rd Week of Lent

Listening to God's Word

Readings:
Jer 7:23-28; Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9; Lk 11:14-23

Introduction

"Listen to my voice," says God through his prophet Jeremiah, and then he complains that God's people fails to listen: they listen to themselves and follow their own ways. Their deeds do not speak the language of God. They do not follow God.

In the gospel Jesus cures the man who was mute. Worse than anyone who is deaf and mute and blind are those who do not want to hear and see, or to speak with sincerity. They do not follow Jesus. Their hearts are divided.

Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
you ask of us not so much
that we observe certain practices
but that our hearts are turned to you.
God, may we do your will in everything,
loyally and generously,
as Jesus did, your Son,
who did your will because he loved you
and who lives therefore with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture Readings

First Reading: Jer 7:23-28

Thus 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.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9

R (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
"Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works."
R If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Gospel Reading: Lk 11:14-23

One day Jesus was driving out a dumb demon. When the demon had been driven out, the mute person could speak, and the people were amazed. Yet some of them said, "He drives out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the chief of the demons." So others wanted to put him to the test by asking him for a heavenly sign.

But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every nation divided by civil war is on the road to ruin, and will fall. If Satan also is divided, his empire is coming to an end. How can you say that I drive out demons by calling upon Beelzebul? If I drive them out by Beelzebul, by whom do your fellow members drive out demons? They will be your judge, then.

But suppose I drive out demons by the finger of God; would not this mean that the kingdom of God has come upon you? As long as the strong and armed man guards his house, his goods are safe. But when a stronger one attacks and overcomes him, the challenger takes away all the weapons he relied on and disposes of his spoils.

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters."

Commentary

DISTINGUISHING schizophrenia from "normal" conditions, R.D. Laing (in The Divided Self) wrote, "In the 'normal' person a good number of actions may be virtually mechanical. These, however do not preclude the emergence of spontaneous expressions, and they are not so completely "against the grain" that the individual seeks actively to repudiate them as foreign bodies lodged in his make-up."

Jesus was fully human, so it would not be a denial of his divinity to think that he did many things in that habitual, "ordinary" manner. But some people claimed that it was by the power of Beelzebul that Jesus cast out demons. This amounted to a claim that his life was split in two: that he was possessed by a power (a "foreign body", as Laing called it) that was only using him for its own purposes; that he was (in Laing's terms) schizoid or at least hysterical. He replied, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste." Jesus is not divided against himself, nor even is the kingdom of Beelzebul divided against itself. It is by the unified power of God that he casts out demons, not by some schizoid self-destructive power. To be possessed by the Holy Spirit is not like other kinds of possession: it is to be enfolded in love, so that there is no difference between what he does and what God does. On another occasion he said, "It is the Father living in me who is doing this work" (Jn 14:10).

General Intercessions

- That we may listen to the voice of our conscience, not only when it warns us against evil but also when it prompts us to do good, we pray:

- That when temptation comes, we follow Jesus our Lord, who overcame temptations for us, we pray:

- That those who are preparing for baptism may learn how the gospel will bring them joy and freedom, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
you send your Son among us
to be our living Word.
May we learn from him
that he did your will in everything
because he knew that this was your way
to reveal your saving love to all.
May we be on his side
and do your will in all things
as a living offering to you
now and for ever.

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
we are perhaps so busy
with our own plans for the future
and for a world we want to build up
that we forget your plans for a new world.
God, may we carry out your plans
by your own rules;
may we listen to your Word Jesus Christ
and forget our own little plans,
that we may build up a kingdom
that stands for ever and ever.

Blessing

"Obey my voice and I will be your God, and you shall be my people," said the prophet. We thank God that God has made us his people. We do our best to live as the people God loves, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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