Mass Readings WHAT WE BELIEVE GOD?
What God do we believe? To Love a God or a God accountant? I doubt that we're completely defeated the images of a God who punishes or rewards according to our criteria of reliability or infidelity.
We have often opposed the God of the Old Testament than New Testament : first, severe, if not ruthless, and the second is full of tenderness. The first reading today comes to destroy this perception. Many centuries before Jesus, the prophet Hosea shows God taking the initiative of a forgiveness process very difficult. Like a deceived husband, he began to regain the people of Israel, which he compares to an adulterous wife. It is he who takes the lead, he did everything he needed to renew ties and restore a climate of affection. It looks straightforward to seduce, to win back the heart of the unfaithful wife.
Psalm also echoes the attitude of our God. expressions of his love and mercy can not be counted. So whence comes this image of a stern God? Whence comes this distrust of God?
Today, Jesus confronts this issue directly and invites us to a reversal of perspectives. His interlocutors asked him why his disciples do not fast. According to them, to practice religion seriously, multiply the works. Not exactly! Jesus answered. To practice his religion seriously, it must enter into a personal relationship with God. is the real challenge of our faith.
From here, Jesus gives us two tracks.
First, he said, "when the bridegroom shall be taken, they will fast. " We have seen, it is God who initiates the relationship, all free. He is always there. But often it is we who are not here. Fasting means all our efforts we make to present the presence of God.
The Lord also uses the symbols of the new cloth and new wine. is there anything new in what Jesus proclaims. Indeed, the Gospel, from the first Testament, is like a piece of cloth that comes new take on the old fabric or as new wine whose fermentation burst the old wineskins. The Gospel compels us to renewal.
So if I'm away from the Lord, fasting would be entirely appropriate. Mean by fasting, to find ways to make more room in our lives to the Lord: pray more, listen to his Word, be more attentive to the other. And do not hesitate to make something new, even at the risk of changing habits or forego some pleasures or avoid certain relationships. Short! For Being Christian is not enough to multiply the practices, we must cultivate our relationship with God. Will we enforce them?
Largely inspired by Marcel Demerse, pss, priest and pastor , 8th Ordinary Sun (B), Dec. 2005.
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