Enlighten our minds and sanctify our hearts.
Opening Prayer of today liturgy
The readings of today's liturgy bring us beyond a signpost on our journey. Today we come to a fork in the roadway. The events in the readings bring us to the realization that we must at times make decisions.
King Nebuchadnezzar's demand that the three men who are committed to serving Yahweh change their thinking and serve his gods. In a way the egoic mind described in yesterday's reflection falls apart in this storry. These men do not let their egos control their lives. No golden idols for them at this time in their lives.
We know the result of their decision: the white-hot furnace. And brave men they are: "Even if he (Yahweh) will not (save us in the fires), know O king, the we will not serve your god or the golden statue you have set up" (Daniel).
Each of us is challenged every day by a similar contest regardless of our age. What is the temptation? Simple: do whatever it takes to become a part of the crowd. An immediate thought: watch younger students in grammar and high schools. Most of them will do anything to be a part of the crowd. But this is not a challenge reserved to young people. Adults are victims of the same challenge.
Two current news items: New York state's Governor Spitzer and political candidates. Each was surely challenged by the golden calf: one to succumb to the alluring ways of contemporary morality, the other to succemb to the serious temptation to make statements that may not be absolutely true but may make a person seemingly more powerful in the eyes of the electorate.
In these and many other similar instances where we stand at a fork in the road, the choice for either morality or immorality, failure to take the high road is nothing more than the decision to use the words we know so well: "I will not serve."
Unfortunately there are many today who stand at the fork in the roadway of life's journey who are like those in the gospel reading who do not understand what Jesus is saying: "... the truth will set you free" (John 8:31). Like those who heard Jesus say this, we, too, at time do not see that our sins have imprisoned us: "we have never been slaves of anyone."
The question: does a person realize that sins are much more than simply offending God? Does that person realize that sinning is building a jail for one's self here and now? Sin imprisons a person's very being. Sin puts a sinner's being behind bars of confinement. Sin creates slavery.
Each day life presents the challenge of choice, the fork in the road. Do we choose to do good or do we fail to do good? As challenging as choices may be, we have the gift of God's grace to keep us free.
God has transferred us into the kingdom of the son he loves;
in him we are redeemed,
and find forgiveness of our sins.
(Colossians 1: 13-14)
