The Holy Spirit inspired both the Old and the New Testament. We look to both as the best way to understand what the Holy Spirit says. What the Holy Spirit said in the Old Testament is applicable to the New Testament and still is to us today. There is a lively attentiveness to the scriptures. God has not abandoned us. When we read the gospel we should be aware that the same Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament is speaking to us today in the scriptures. As the 1st reading tells us today, we become partners of Christ. Jesus is engaged to a commitment to see through the project. Christ is committed to see us get to heaven if not for this He should have not offered His life for our sake. He has given a firm down payment for us. This holds true only if we hold firm to the end of our lives to that day when God Himself will tell us, “Welcome good and faithful servants.” Amen. Hallelujah!
Hebrews 3:7-14
7 The Holy Spirit says: “Oh, that today you would hear his voice, 8 “Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion in the day of testing in the desert, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me and saw my works 10 for forty years. Because of this I was provoked with that generation and I said, “They have always been of erring heart, and they do not know my ways.” 11 As I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter into my rest.” ’ ” 12 Take care, brothers, that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart, so as to forsake the living God. 13 Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,” so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin. 14 We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end.
Today's psalm reading is used as a preparatory psalm in the Liturgy of the Hours just as it was used in the Old Testament. Each time we hear it, there is an emphasis to the fact that is just the same as it is proclaimed today. During the time of Moses there had been an incident of great rebellion and testing on the part of the chosen people of God. The same message is being said to us because there is a possibility that we also harden our hearts today. Massah means rebellion and Meribah means testing. It refers to the time they rebel when they had no water. Moses struck the stone in the desert and water came out. We can read in Numbers 13 when Moses sent out spies to check out the promise land and when they returned in Numbers 14 they were full of discouragement. They came back and reported that the Land of Canaan is too strong to conquer but Joshua & Caleb, trusted God. They didn’t look at the problems of the walls of the Canaan. But the people believed the spies and concluded that it’s impossible to overcome these barriers. They wanted to choose new leaders and kill Moses & Aaron and go back to slavery in Egypt. Due to their unbelief the whole generation never entered Canaan only the new generation with both Joshua & Caleb did. The goal is to enter into rest in the land of Canaan but they refused because they believed their fears rather than believe what they’ve already seen in God’s miracles in Egypt. Psalm 95 is used so often in the Liturgy of the Hours and encourages us how today we must listen well. They do not just apply to the people in Numbers 13 & 14. It also applies to the Church and we consider ourselves the New Israel. Let God call us to attention. We don’t have to fall back to the same sin of disbelief. No matter how hard the world makes us do so. The Church is beginning to experience persecution. Today we have to keep in mind what God already said in the past especially as we hear the words of His Son today. Jesus Himself gives us a greater authority than the prophets and the angels. When we look at our day, there are a number of strains that we have to alert ourselves. There are New Age beliefs that everything is God including the forces of nature. It is moving towards the act of depersonalizing God by a vague force. It clouds the truth of God the Father, God the Son & God the Spirit. There is this New Age notion vs. the Christian notion of God. The catch here is the fact that there are no demands upon the faithful to be obedient. A hardened heart is equivalent to disobedience. There is no longer a clear distinction about the truths of the faith. It's just a matter of loving nature and taking care of the environment. No other demands like obeying the 10 commandments. The truth is not existent with the New Age. They water down the Person of Jesus and lead others to disbelieve in Him. Certain scholars deny Him as a historical figure or is believed that He had a wife as depicted in the fictitious Da Vinci Code. These are all things that are far from the authentic gospel. The image of Jesus is being shaped to imitate our worst moments and sins. It makes him appear like He is no better than we are and attack His moral character. It is an act of impunity to God’s character as if He is just a character of fiction. It looks like God is on the dock as C. S. Lewis put it. Instead of us being on trial, God appears to be the one who’s on trial. Let us not fall into this kind of thinking nor continue in our lack of faith or let anything shake our faith. Indeed, if today we hear His voice, let us not harden our hearts. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 95:6-7, 8-9, 10-11
R: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
...Oh, that today you would hear his voice: 8 “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, 9 where your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works. (R) 10 Forty years I was wearied of that generation, I said: “This people’s heart goes astray, they do not know my ways. 11 Therefore I swore in my anger: “They shall never enter my rest.”
Sometimes we come to a point when we just have to keep silent and not say anything at all. There are so many reasons why. It could be that some things are better left unsaid. Or no matter what we say the words we speak of just fall on deaf ears. Sometimes or most of the time silence could convey a better message than saying anything at all. In whoever or, whatever situation is involved at any time it is always for the best to follow what God tells us to do and take His word for it than follow our own. Amen. Hallelujah!
Mark 1:40-45
...Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. 44 Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” 45 The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
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