“If today you hear his voice, harden not
your hearts.” We prayed this refrain in our psalm this morning just a little
while ago, but what meaning does this have for us? We can open our hearts to God’s voice and
allow it to lead us and guide us in life.
Or, to the contrary, we can close our hearts to God’s voice and not
listen to what it is saying. Indeed, it
may be a challenge for us to distinguish God’s voice from all the noise and
busyness and other distractions that are calling out to us and filling up our
days.
So, who do we see as the authority in
our lives? That is a good question
today, since today’s readings all deal with the theme of authority. When I was a lay missionary in Ecuador, I
spent a couple of months in the capital city of Quito at our missionary order’s
provincial headquarters in that country, learning the Spanish language in
preparation for my assignment in the jungle.
The provincial of the order, Father Angel Lafita, used to quiz us lay
missionaries in Spanish about the words that came from the readings in the mass
to see how much we were learning and comprehending. I remember one evening at the dinner table
Father Lafita asked me if I understood the word “antojo” which was used in the
psalm at mass that day. I understood
that the word “antojo” meant a caprice or a whim or a craving. He asked me what the “antojos” or “whims”
were in my life. I thought for a moment,
and then blurted out – “libros” – books.
He smiled at my answer, because he knew that I was always reading
something, and that books were my craving and downfall in life. He knew from my answer that I understood the
meaning of that word.
Well, when the crowds heard Jesus
teaching in the synagogue, when they saw him draw a demon out of a man at his
command, they recognized that Jesus was not just one of the common scribes in
ancient Israel, but that he was a man that had an authority they had never seen
before. And if we are like these crowds,
if we do indeed recognize that Jesus has authority - a very special, unique
authority - how do we allow that authority to interact in our lives? This authority has to be more than a whim,
more than a craving or an impetuous impulse.
That authority has to be foundational as to how we truly live. It is good for us to have a passion in life,
something we enjoy doing that brings us joy.
A lot of us here really love to do things such as hunting, reading or
gardening, exercising or following our favorite football team. Those things may be indeed very important
parts of our lives and our identities, but we can’t give those activities
priority in our lives over God, we can’t make them our idols.
Allowing our faith to have authority in our lives is
sometimes easier said that done. Unfortunately,
I think many Americans take a negative view of authority of any kind, but nevertheless,
authority is an important part of all of our lives. If we are faithful to our Catholic faith, we
recognize the authority of the Church in our lives. Within the Church, there are several sources
of this authority. We not only have the
authority of Sacred Scripture & Tradition, but also the teachings of the
Magisterium of the Church, comprised of the pope & the college of
bishops. And as I priest, I take this
authority seriously, just as all of us as Catholics should. When I meeting with someone as a priest, when
I up here preaching or celebrating mass, I am not just Lincoln, but rather a
priest who is representing the Church, who is teaching and preaching and
standing up for what our faith believes.
Many
of the contemporaries of Jesus had a difficult time with the issue of his
authority. They did not deny the mighty
deeds of power that Jesus performed, such as the healing of the man possessed
by an unclean spirit in today's reading from Mark. Yet, the crowds were troubled by the source
of Jesus' authority. By what authority
is Jesus, this carpenter from Nazareth, speaking & performing these
miraculous acts? They wondered: Is he acting by an authority from God, or is it
from the world of the other, the lesser gods & spirits? Through Jesus' healing & teaching at the
synagogue at Capernaum, through the manner in which he acts honorably & not
shamefully, the people start spreading Jesus' upright reputation throughout the
region of Galilee.
As modern Americans, most of us believe we have much greater
power over our lives in comparison to those in the ancient world who believed
in spirits or other things we now consider to be superstitious. Yet, are we really giving God, the Church,
& our faith authority in our lives? Or, are we letting an improperly formed
conscience and the voices of the false prophets in our secular society control
what we believe as a part of our Catholic faith?
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