Pay attention — walk in God’s ways — stay spiritually awake
29th Week in Ordinary Time : Saturday 26th October 2019
Rom. 8:1-11; Ps. 24(23):1-2,3-4,5-6;
Lk. 13:1-9 (Ps Wk I)
Do you live according to the Spirit or the flesh? Most people are not entirely sure what this means. When we live in a selfish manner, we live according to the flesh. When our lives reflect love, service to others, and reverence for God in all things, we live according to the Spirit. Our faith is not about ‘being good’ or obeying rules — it means surrendering to Jesus and allowing the Spirit of God to dwell in us. This will lift us out of our limited, selfish egos and help us live for God and others.
When something negative or terrible happens, many people immediately think of divine punishment. The victims must have done something bad to deserve this! Jesus challenged this by pointing to two events of their time — a construction accident and the massacre of some pilgrims at the hands of Pilate. He denied that the victims were any worse than others — it was clearly not a case of punishment. But he used the occasion to warn the people: if you don’t mend your ways and change, something worse is going to befall you!
It would not be God’s punishment. We usually punish ourselves by the consequences of foolish choices and insensitivity to the demands of justice and compassion. Jesus insisted that this disaster should be a wakeup call for everyone.
Pay attention — walk in God’s ways — stay spiritually awake. Make careful and prayerful choices. This is fine advice for any time and place.
Lord, help me to live according to the Spirit.
