We do read of the wonderful things God did for the Israelites, and we see the return they made him: ingratitude, forgetfulness, and betrayal. We naturally conclude that they deserve all the punishment he gave them. But who are we to pass judgment on the Israelites? They did not know God as well as we do. They had witnessed God’s love, mercy, and kindness in their regard, but compared to the divine love and mercy we have witnessed in the Incarnation, what God did for them was relatively little. Yet, like the Israelites, we lust too often after evil things, we let the pleasures and wealth of this world come between us and God. We do not perhaps set up a golden calf as our god, but how often does something more trifling, the silver dollar, become the center of our lives and of our devotion? We, too, tempt Christ when we presume we shall get to heaven by means of a
few mumbled prayers and a hasty Mass on Sunday, while the rest of our week is spent in the service of our pagan worldly idols. And how often do we murmur and complain against God when things do not go as we’d like them to go? Let us therefore stop, and take an honest look at ourselves this Lenten season.
HOLY SPIRIT: INSPIRE US
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COMPARING THE ISRAELITES AND US
