Word, life and practice

THE WORD IN LENT

Tuesday, 2nd week in Lent: March 15, 2022

Isaiah 1: 10, 16-20; Matthew 23: 1-12

What is the use of the Word, if it does not touch me? What is the purpose of all the pious practices if they do not change my life, ever for the better? What is the need in praising God and worshipping God, when we do not intend to live our lives according to the Word of the Lord? The Word of God keeps inundating our lives every day in so many ways, but if there are no effects seen in concrete, what purpose do they really serve?

The Lord today is very clear in telling us - there is only one thing that is needed in life as children of God - that we take to heart the Word of God and change our lives accordingly. There is no merit in becoming great professionals in preaching, nor ardent disciples in following a master! What matters is the Word, the Word from the Lord and living according it... the Word alone shall matter. 

Our judgement would not come on the basis of which camp we belonged to: whether we were of the charismatic fold or the contemplative type, whether we were celebrating in the old rite or in the new rite, whether we are conservatives or progressives - nothing matters, absoluetly nothing of this matters! What matters is the Word, the way the Word touches my life and the way I dedicate myself on a daily basis to the practice of what the Lord teaches us through the Word daily. 

It is not in the titles we annex to ourselves that we show ourselves to be great; neither is it in the positions we hold as a demonstration of our capabilities. It is in the level to which we allow the Word to affect our daily lives and our concrete practices, that we are judged as belonging to God or not, and that is all that matters.