Bible
Study: Micah 2, 1 to 5 and Matthew 12, 14 to 21.
“Woe to those who devise wickedness
and evil deeds on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because
it is in their power. They covet fields,
and seize them; houses, and take them away; they oppress householder and house,
people and their inheritance.” These prophetic words of Micah in our first
reading this morning perfectly captures the all too common situation we find
around us everywhere today. From household wickedness we face from the people
we live with, to that inflicted by colleagues at work to even large scale
wickedness such as Fulani terrorist attacks to organised wickedness such as
that of Kidnapping of our loved ones.
There is a feeling of hopelessness
that tends to overcome us whenever we hear of or encounter acts of wickedness.
The prophet Micah today tells us the mind of God in the face of wickedness: “Therefore
thus says the LORD: Now, I am devising against this family an evil from which
you cannot remove your necks; and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be
an evil time. On that day they shall take up a taunt song against you, and wail
with bitter lamentation, and say, ‘We are utterly ruined.’”
For any act of wickedness, there is
always a time-frame. God gives the wicked time to repent and change. A time
will come for the wicked to pay back. Then it will be their turn to weep and
wail. At the moment, it may seems as if we are completely powerless before the
wicked but we must console ourselves with the fact that God has a time span for
the wicked. The wicked we see today, we are not always going to see them.
In today’s Gospel passage, we are
told that Jesus himself had to withdraw from his normal day to day activities
and go into hiding because he heard that Pharisees were planning to kill him. At
that moment, the Pharisees were in charge, they seemed untouchable just like we
see wicked people around us today. But where are those Pharisees today? What eventually
became of their wickedness? Where they able to wield power over Jesus forever?
Dear friends, do not despair. Life is
just a matter of time. Things will not always be the same. The wicked will not
last forever. Nonetheless, it is enough that we talk about the wickedness of
others, we must also ask ourselves very important questions: Have I been wicked
to others? Have I ever sat down planning how to inflict pain on someone? Have I
ever had bad thoughts against a fellow human being? Have I ever did something
or refused to do something just to purposely put someone at a disadvantage?
When I act with wickedness, God gives
me a timeframe and no matter how long this may last, one day, I must surely pay
back. There is nothing I do that is hidden from God.
Today we celebrate the memorial of
Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This title is given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in honour
of her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order. The first Carmelites were
Christian hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land during the late 12th
and early to mid-13th century. They built in the midst of their hermitages a
chapel which they dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, whom they conceived of in
chivalric terms as the "Lady of the place." Our Lady of Mount Carmel
is the patron saint of Chile. Since the 15th century, popular devotion to Our
Lady of Mount Carmel has centred on the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
also known as the Brown Scapular, a sacramental associated with promises of
Mary's special aid for the salvation of the devoted wearer. Traditionally, Mary
is said to have given the Scapular to an early Carmelite named Saint Simon
Stock.
Let us Pray:
Lord Jesus, I trust in you. I
will not stop trusting you because I know you alone have the solution to the large
scale wickedness I see around me. Amen
Good
morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Happy
Weekend.
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