Deacon Tom Writes,
“We’ve Got To Change Our
Evil Ways!”
A
tip of the hat to Carlos Santana who planted the melody in my head for today’s
reflection You may notice, however, I have changed the “You’ve” to “We’ve” to
make it applicable to us personally. In St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he
recalls the history of the Jewish people and their wandering in the desert”. He
reminds his listeners that while their ancestors were in the desert they, “all ate the same spiritual food, and all
drank the same spiritual drink”…” yet, they were “struck down in the desert” because their spiritual food did not change their evil desires”.
Paul goes on to say that these words, “have
been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come”.
As we listen to these words today, do they give us a better understanding of
Eucharist as our “spiritual food and drink” to help us on our desert journey? Do
Paul’s words lead us into a deeper awareness of Eucharist as a reality in which
we experience Christ and, like the bread and wine, are permanently changed and
transformed into the “Mystical Body of Christ”?
To
live in the “Kingdom of God” that Jesus reveals requires that we make some
significant changes to the way we think, in how we live our lives and how we
related and interact with one another. The process of making these changes is
known by various names but they all produce the same results… “repentance”,
“change of heart”, “metanoia”. These are the traditional words used to describe
the interior work we must do to become productive members of the Kingdom of God
that Jesus invites us to seek.
The
warning Paul gives us today is that we not become like the Israelites of
antiquity who ate and drank the spiritual food provided them but to no avail”. We
have the food of “Everlasting Life”
in the Eucharist and it is indeed life sustaining and life giving…if, and only if… the food we eat
encourages us, no, better yet, gives us the heartfelt desire to “change our evil ways” and live as the
Children of God in whose image we have been made! In the Kingdom of God, if
there is no transformation to becoming more Christ-like, there is no new life!
And, if there is no new life, then our evil ways will have dire spiritual
consequences.
Just
as we read in the gospel, if there are no figs, of what use is the fig tree? If
the Eucharist produces no new life in us, than really, we are no better off
than our spiritual ancestors who, because they failed to change their evil
ways, were struck down in the desert.
On
to the rest of the day, with Santana’s “Evil Ways” playing in my head!
Enjoy
the day!
Deacon
Tom
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