Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 45: 1- 4-6 Thess. 1: 1, 5b Matt. 22: 15 – 21
If you want someone’s attention, call them by name. If you want to hear someone calling you, you have to be paying attention.
In the course of history, God called individuals who were disposed to hearing the sound of a voice, and thus prophets, saints, martyrs, and everyday people have done extraordinary things, as in today’s first reading when Cyrus got God’s attention and heard, “I am the Lord, and there is no other.”
STOP, like Cyrus, did, and think if you only have one God. Probably not. In the world of addictions, infatuations and consumerism run amuck, all of us are pulled like objects to a magnet to live self-centered lives and fall prey to our internal cravings, which are transposed into all-powerful unGodlike forces.
That being the case, how can we even expose our senses to a call from on high? Can we imagine that God knows my name and can find me wherever I am and actually call me?
Realize that this is only possible for those who have been introduced to God and keep in touch; otherwise, don’t even think of receiving a personal call. But if there is a relationship with God, there will be an openness to the strength and courage to overcome hurdles in attempts to live a Christian life. Paul instructs us: “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and the Holy Spirit, and with much conviction.”
Jesus came into the world to teach us how to deal with life situations, which just don’t go away. Today those who refuse to accept his teachings confront him in an effort to win their point of view. The scene is like the devil powered by caffeine and energy prowling about like a roaring lion hoping that this time the score will be one to nothing in favor of the evil team.
We, like Jesus, must be aware of evil intentions and educate ourselves and utilize a defensive playbook as the sports coaches do to avoid the grip of evil forces that try to win us over. For, as Paul says: “ If God is for us who can be against us if the Spirit of God is within us.”
Sr. Dorothy Maxwell, OP
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