Divine Design - Part of it or Apart from it?

Thursday, 12th week in Ordinary time

June 28, 2018: 2 Kgs 24: 8-17; Mt 7: 21-29

Prophecies, prodigies, spectacles or splendid preaching... nothing can replace doing what God really wants of me. The fundamental attitude required of me here and now, is the clarity that it is not my enterprise, but God's Will that will finally work and that it is the only thing that can give me a sense of true meaning and satisfaction.

The first reading presents to us an experience that is called the Watershed of the History of Israel...the Babylonian Exile! The people went through a tough period in their life... so many out of their homeland and others separated from their dear ones, the artisans and all other capable people in a strange land, while the rest languished in slavery in their own land with a king appointed by a foreigner. The people go back in time, analyse what had gone by and find their own reasoning and in that reasoning they have a lesson to give us: when we do not regard the will of God, when we are so occupied with our plans and projects that we forget the One who is the greatest of all Master Craftsmen, when we do not really pay attention to discerning the signs of the times that manifest God's will to us at an appointed time, we are planning our own ruin. 

We have no dearth of examples today: the unbalanced scientific advancements, the ecological crisis, the insensitive economic growth, the rising political and social unrest...all these are candid instances of disregard of the Divine design.

Accepting the primacy of God within the universe, submitting to the mystery that forms part of the Divine Design, a respectful approach to advancement with a mind of discernment and a holistic spirituality... these are the needs of the hour in today's world. Personally, it requires that each of us develops a personal rapport with the Lord who is the author of the Divine Design, that we may live our life listening to the Lord's Word and carryout to the details the holy and eternal will of God for each of us and for the entire humanity!