Thursday of Week 7 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Saint Polycarp, Bishop, Martyr
Ecclesiasticus 5:1-10 | Psalm 1:1-4,6 | Mark 9:41-50
And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out. (Mark 9:43)
I was walking to a meeting yesterday, and happened to pass through the basement of Ngee Ann City, when I boggled at this advertisement:
“If there’s no candy in heaven, I’m not going.” WHA?!?!
I get that it’s a tongue-in-cheek inducement to a candy coma, but it got me thinking: What would make me not want to go to heaven?
The obvious answer: Nothing. We believe that we will be reunited with Our Father in heaven one day, to sing His praises forever.
So why do we still allow ourselves the secular luxuries of avarice, envy, wrath, sloth, gluttony, lust, and pride?
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
We may snicker at Jesus’ solemn pronouncement that we should cripple our bodies than fall prey to sin. We may think guiltily to ourselves, “He’s kidding, right?”
Yet sometimes it’s the pain of denying ourselves that which leads us away from the Almighty, which helps us focus on our future with God.
We’ve heard of the many saints who practiced mortification for spiritual discipline, from St. Francis of Assisi to St. Ignatius of Loyola, from St. Catherine of Siena to St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
I once slammed my hand against a table to stop myself from reaching for yet another fragrant helping of bulgogi. I got The Look from my old friend, and when I explained my action to him, he grinned evilly and asked me to let him know next time, so that he could, in the name of charitable discipline…
ENOUGH ALREADY!
Or was it “I’ll stab you through the hand with my chopsticks”?
Behold the instruments of thy DOOM!
I’d rather not remember.
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
Lent will soon be upon us. It’s a good time to take a hard look at our decadent lives, honestly ask ourselves what we can live without, and Just Get Rid Of It.
Then we won’t have to worry about missing eyes and limbs in the afterlife.
Amen.