By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
THE WORD IN LENT – Friday, First Week
February 23, 2024 – Ezekiel 18: 21-28; Matthew 5: 20-26
Through the desert, God leads us to freedom… The desert is never the end; God’s people, God’s children, cannot lose hope. It is only hope that defines me as the child of God. I cannot lose heart; my spirit cannot grow faint. I cannot give up; the moment I give up, I cease to be a child of God. This explains why, for example, a decision like suicide is so unacceptable to the Christian faith. Even the milder forms of giving up, like depression, pessimism, nihilism, negativity, discouragement, rash judgements… are all unchristian equally, let us beware!
The Word today invites us to a great hope that, God never ever gives up on us! Never does God take pleasure in the death of a wicked person – God reminds us of this through Ezekiel. But what God wants is that people realise their fault, their limitedness, their failures, their wrongdoings, and their imperfections, and take the right decision promptly to return to the right ways, the ways of the Lord. What God wants of us this Lent is the same – that we renew our spirits and get back to the Lord.
While getting back to the Lord, we have to be sincere and clear in conscience. Our way back to the Lord through the desert, as we already said in the days just past, is always a way that we need to traverse together! It is in communion with my brothers and sisters that I can get back to the Lord. If I think I am journeying well towards the Lord, but I realise that my relationship is strained with some of my brothers and sisters, either I am deceiving myself or I am being a hypocrite. Because of those strained relationships, I am not at all on my way to God. Jesus is crystal clear on this point.
Whichever point we find ourselves at, if we realise there is something that is not right between me and my brother or sister, I cannot proceed! I cannot say, ‘let me go ahead and ignore these issues; there are more important issues’! There is no issue more important than a right relationship; there is nothing more important than love in our Christian calling! First, let us set that right, for that is the fundamental point of renewal that God wants from us. Then we shall truly return to the Lord, with renewed spirits!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He holds doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.