Cut off whatever leads you off...

WORD 2day: Thursday, 7th week in Ordinary time

February 24, 2022: James 5: 1-6; Mark 9: 41-50

James today gives a strong warning against riches! This could be warning agains the rich, but can they be our wish for the rich... that they should go to ruins and to the burning fire? That would in no way be Chrsitian. We can wish no one's ruin, not even of those who do harm to us! If so, what is the message that James is trying to communicate? Simply that riches are no good, if they lead you away from what God has planned for you!

That is exactly what Jesus says too, but a little more radical. Not just your riches and your possessions, even your very own hand or leg, if they lead you away from what God has ordained for you, better cut them off, throw them away, instead of you going to the burning fire and eternal ruin. The point is all about being focussed on what God has willed for us. 

This requires that first, we know what God has ordained for us; secondly, we know what militates against that design of God; and thirdly, we have the courage to cut off all that leads us off from our way towards God. Knowing what God has ordained for me, is the gift of Knowledge and Wisdom from the Spirit. Understanding what takes us off from God's presence, is possible only through the Understanding and Counsel that come from the Spirit. 

Finally, having the courage to cut off whatever leads us astray from God, is impossible without the gifts of Fortitude, Piety and Reverence of the Lord. Totally, it is a constant and repeated spiritual itinerary proposed to us, that we may grow incessantly into what we are created and called to be - children of God, in the very image and likeness of God. 

May we have the knowledge, the wisdom and the courage to make every day, choices proper to the Reign of God.