WEDNESDAY JANUARY 31, 2024
WEDNESDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF THE ORDINARY TIME YEAR B
2 Samuel 24:2.9-17
Mark 6:1-6
OVERCOMING OVER FAMILIARITY IN SPIRITUAL LIFE
One the obstacles to spiritual growth is when we become over familiar to the things of God and Christ. Especially when the respect and reverence that is supposed to follow are no more present and when we demystify religion and make it look common.
Jesus was so close to his family and people of his clan. They knew the mother, Mary and his Father, Joseph. A mere carpenter, a middle class persons whose life we share. Jealousy, envy and even too much familiarity has set in. This prevented the people to see the supernatural nature and messianic personality and role of Christ.
These people denied themselves the privilege of witnessing the supernatural manifestations of Christ, because they lacked faith. Their minds were closed to the unique personality of Jesus and his inherent powers. Acknowledging Jesus powers and actions as messiah was so difficult for them. So gaining from such power and being favoured to receive the benefits of such also eluded them. This is what familiarity causes.
The same thing happens to us in the religious circle. Because we become so close to the Church, we routinely or daily attend masses, go to confession and in fact, attend liturgical celebrations and undertake the worship of God, and we receive holy communion daily, we enter the church and stay in the sanctuary as servers, we become so absent minded and demystify the core of our religion that it becomes so common for us.
Our attention at prayer and liturgical celebrations becomes so machanical. We develop coldness in things of God and such loose its appeal on us and faith diminishes that we begin to commonize some serious spiritual and sacred things. We become absent minded, and careless about spiritual things. Their value and importance wane in our sight. We even doubt their importance and relevance.
Sacred ministers loose their respect and value, their teachings are seen as affront on us. Criticism of their lifestyle, their ways, what they wear, eat and even do begin to irritate us and their spiritual call, God’s hold on them, the blessings they give on behalf of God is commonized, devalued and jettisoned. We loose on all fronts. We become their judge and their creator, and we fail to see the grace of office in them, the power of ministration upon their head, the message of God that they give and the anointing that flows from them.
When such happens to us, it is a sign of our loss of the sense of the sacred. A sign of our souls drifting to materialism, worldliness and irreligiousity. It is a sign of the loss of faith.
We must learn to keep sacred things, sacred. Value the powers of God in each one of us, work with great respect, reverence and trust in the powers of God, maintain the spiritual values attached to things and respect their sacredness. Here faith will be rekindled, favours will be received and miracles will be given. We need this faith and trust to be favoured in God in religious matters.
Let us learn to keep the faith and divine respects and reverence so that appreciating and recognising the sacredness of things, they may impact on us and support our earthly and eternal salvation.
Heavenly Father, we strife to be close to you, to know, love and be blessed by you. Help us to cherish, respect, love and honour your presence in sacred things, persons and actions. May we never loose the sense of the sacredness of your name or become disrespectful, judgemental or over critical to things of the spirit and your ministers. Give us faith, which will overcome our life struggles and attain for us eternal rewards through Christ our Lord.
Fr Norbert Uchuno
