Commentary on the Gospel of
When I read the exhortation in the responsorial psalm that we are to have no strange gods among us I thought of the Ten Commandments movie and the scene of the Hebrews waiting for Moses at the foot of Mt. Sinai worshiping a golden calf. I think it is fair to say that the worshiping of golden calves is not something we see or read about anymore. At least not in America. Thus, we might feel comfortable in saying to our friends that “idolatry” is so B.C. and certainly not something that we in the 21st century need to concern ourselves with.
But is idolatry really dead? While we may not be worshiping images resembling mortal men, birds, animals and creeping things that Paul talked about in Romans have we over the years reprioritized God’s importance in our life and have we moved him down the list from someone who should have a daily influence on our life to someone we hear about on Sundays for an hour; assuming we are not too tired to make it church? Has our fascination with the computer, the internet and the countless hours we spend looking at the words and images projected on our iPad become our false gods of the 21st century? Have our hearts become hardened because we don’t have time to hear God’s voice because we have countless emails to read and respond to and YouTube clips to watch and forward to our friends?
So what should we as Christians strive to do? It may be as simple as to begin by assessing where you spend your day to see what your priorities truly are. How much time do you needlessly spend on activities that really serve no purpose? Can these wasted minutes and hours be better spent in prayer, reflection and meditation; or even better, in actual service to others who are in need? Lent will soon be upon us so it is not too early to begin to reflect on what our priorities are and how to soften our hearts to the true Word of God and to listen and hear where God is leading us.
