Thursday of the 3rd Week of Lent
Jeremiah 7:23-28 | Psalm 94(95):1-2,6-9 | Luke 11:14-23
I missed an entry yesterday due to fatigue. Today’s entry will explain why, and connect it with today’s liturgy…
Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. (Luke 11:17)
There’s strength in unity. No one I know denies that.
Yet instead of following the Way of Truth and Love that has been taught to us since our earliest days, we eschew the conformity of faith for the individuality of selfishness.
Instead of pulling together in the same direction of love for God and neighbor, we try to drag others along our chosen secular path, and get frustrated when they drag us in a different direction entirely.
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
I was too tired to write the last entry, because I’d spent all day going back and forth with my business partner about our goals and directions, and how to Get Things Done. We’re pretty much on the same page now, but it was a mentally exhausting and sometimes frustrating day.
Yet I don’t regret spending all that time and energy arguing about what to do next, because it’s a lot better than us proceeding apace, only to find out later that we were thinking different things.
A company without a clear roadmap is one in which everyone has their own goals and directions, and tries to bring together as many collaborators as possible, before they get poached by other “feudal lords”.
A family without the clear presence of God is one in which personal disputes and grudges reign supreme, and a “me first” attitude pervades every aspect of daily life.
But in all cases, it needs someone to set an example, to point in a certain direction, and to exhort everyone to follow that path.
In a company, that person is the CEO, who has to formulate a sound strategy, then convince all his subordinates to follow it to corporate success.
In a family, that person is the head of the household, whose job is already half-complete: the “sound strategy” has been laid down by God since ancient times, and communicated through the prophets as mentioned in today’s reading.
Following that strategy can be easy, or it can be hard. It depends largely on our willingness to set aside our selfish desires in favor of His commands.
If we Catholics can commit to this, we can achieve what our national pledge exhorts us to be: one united people, under God.
I think it’s worth doing. How about you?
Amen.